Some Encouragement
Day Two of the tournament would see the Birds improve with two wins, to return to a neutral 2-2-2 record in 3761st place.
Chu Xin Lee, one of the few holdovers - who's still on offer - would put himself in the shop window with his clever eleventh minute opener against Austrian Division Five club vorwärts steyr. The match had newbies
Lau Chu Soon and
Chad Thach score too alongside
Teo Chuan Yong in what should be a boost to morale, with
Bhavya Panigrahi extending his tourney streak with a late penalty. Defender Peter Kobleder got a couple back notably from open play, for a 2-5 final result.
This led into a 0-6 thrashing by Polish V.151 runners-up Kroolewscy, as they combined a formidable defence, with a banner day by Argentine forward Teo Berardo. The muscular Berardo was unstoppable with a hat-trick, as Panigrahi's run finally came to an end, as he chipped a penalty wide of Paweł Odrowski's goal in the 35th minute, but the goalie had it covered anyway. A narrow 2-1 win over Danish fourth divisioners Mudderlogen.dk followed, with Thach and Chu bagging before Jonathan Fanøe's 81st minute reducer from the left.
That would be a familiar scoreline for Farmer Bunnies, who would encounter it twice this day in their Heroes of 2014 Trophy duties, first being on the right end of it against American Rhode Island-based Divine Providence FC. The Division Five side had trainee midfielder Justin Thomas come up tops with his 27th minute corner conversion, which was however sandwiched by
Djoko Tambusai's double on the counter.
Danish V.181 champions Ørestad United then reversed the scoreline on them, with
Billy Camperio's opener cancelled by Enver Gülyüz after five further minutes in the first half, with
Gilberto Sorondo very busy in goal. Former Chinese U-20 defender Ling Jiekang won it with an unsaveable free-kick curler in the 67th, as
Lim Su Liang and
Mushtag Al-Nameeri missed half-chances. German Division Sixers RB Bremen then salvaged a one-all draw, with Roemer Verhaegen coming good four minutes from time, to equal Lim's early strike.
International returned to form this second day, with defeats against Romanian V.84 winners Tzarz Old Boys, and Italian H.I. Division Five side Reggaeville. The Tzarz match exposed plenty of the shortcomings that had so plagued International in the league this season, with Marcel Totorean leading them to a 5-2 rout. It was closer against Reggaeville with Alessandro Chighine's 62nd minute goal to give them a 3-2 lead looking like not the final word, but
Subhi bin Hj Ahmad's eventual sending-off for a second yellow would dash those hopes.
There would be a 4-4 draw against French fifth divisioners Mana team in between, which boasted International's attack at some of their best, in a classic possession-versus-counterattackers setup.
Hardi bin Besar and
Osertz Indurain garnered braces en route to a 4-2 lead in the 73rd minute, but that oh-so-regular complacency would then set in, leading to Nicke Liedén tying it back up from Manu Wingelaar's magic pass with three minutes remaining.