Nearer To Ideal
Grilled Birds went undefeated on the second day of the Supporter Week Tournament, beginning with a four-all draw with Belgian V.250 opponents AS Neervelp - who are currently on an eleven-match win streak in competitive games. That wasn't enough to save them from the timeless
Moey Xin Seng, who retrieved a
Gandhik Chitre miss, laid it off, got it back and volleyed it home in the fifteenth minutes to get things going.
Andy Cuddy and Claaß Fußbahn would have AS Neervelp in front at half-time through some slashing play, but there would be much late drama in store, beginning with
Chia Kwang Tse weaving in to equalize with eleven minutes left, Aldo Škrgatić matching that, and Chitre forcing another tie. Cristian Salabert seemed to have won it with an insane no-look interception and finish in the 88th, but
Lim An Keng exchanged with
Chan Ze Han down the right, easy as pie.
A 2-1 win over Greek Division Four side Aprothimos Glyfadas followed, which had Chan and Moey hit early headers, before a Brady Henderson counter in a rough-and-tumble affair. A 1-1 draw with Slovakian fifth divisioners TJ Sokol Dolná Lehota ended the day, with Chitre sniping the top right corner beautifully through a crowd, sadly cancelled by a late Dirck Westrell counter.
The Buns appeared to have done enough against Russian IV.60 champions FC Lenin hutor, with
Jerad Meyer sneaking through after 72 minutes in what had been a tight and closed match. They didn't count on the ferocity that Lenin could unleash when cornered, however, and goals from Igor Mortin (twice) and Yuriy Romantsev crushed them in the final ten minutes.
It would be a lot more smooth-sailing against English VI.1 participants Innox, as the Kent-based Brutes were downed 0-3 by some straightforward if solid wing play by the Buns. Transfer-listed
Sunil Patel had free reign down the left, and supplied
Vitaliy Efendiev and then
Billy Camperio for a comfortable two-goal lead at half-time. Efendiev would then have the last word with a textbook dipping free-kick, in the 74th minute.
Botswanan III.8 club Lumberjacks Vrbovsko II, undefeated for twelve games, then held the Buns to a bore draw that arguably suited both their purposes just fine. Roland Gerovac's booking for a cynical foul in the 17th minute basically characterized the match, which was mostly unwatchable until an exchange about the 80th minute that had Roland Gerovac go inches wide from a corner.
Vishnu Tallapaka could have taken it from a signature free-kick three minutes later, but went marginally high.
Grilled International continued faring pretty well, as they recorded two wins and a draw, beginning with a contested 3-2 over German sixth division side SpVgg Uffeln Buhn.
Wang Hanxuan carried International most of the way here, scoring twice with
Chua Jun Long unlucky in front of goal. Lino Silva made the finish very interesting with a highlight reel dribble and goal four minutes from time, but International held firm.
The forest-green Nymosen IK of the Danish fifth division then claimed a three-all draw, having run up an early lead through Rick Schons and then Edcleyson Lordello, both goals coming from poorly-defended corners. A rampage by Dongelmans, Atzenhain and finally
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh overturned their advantage, but Nymosen stemmed the bleeding through Lex De Ketelaere's floating header. Late pressure from International had Nymosen buckle, but not break.
There would be a 4-1 versus Swiss VI.234 club FC Hummelwald to sign off, even as they took the lead in an unlikely fashion, with Sri Lankan winger Channa Premaratne shocking
Querubim Santos Couto from no angle at all from the right.
Arcadi Sansalvador didn't take long to answer off a great team effort, however, and International had their four goals before the interval.