Iven Ho
Grilled's narrow victory meant that Singapore's II.2 did it against their Mexican equivalents, after newbies are newbies also pulled a win against former Copa Zafiro Olmeca holders, Sporting de oro. A solid Emanuel Dos Santos hat-trick wasn't enough to hold newbies off after they had struck twice in the opening three minutes, and Ernesto Cabrera's abortive run in from the right with five minutes remaining, meant that it ended 5-3.
Hungarian wingman Ottó Zabos's treble counted for more against Joker 9, with Tejas Gopalakrishnan offering scant consolation from Mateo Busquets' lazy pass in the 72nd minute, when they were already six goals up.
Tian Yonghang insisted that it didn't matter. "It's a team effort, like the individual games."
Tian might have Farmer Bunnies on his mind in saying that, as the Buns' own 1-3 reverse to Re@l M@drid 1902, didn't stop II.4 from defeating the Romanian II.3 on aggregate.
Lau Keng Kwang answered Olivar Jakobsen's volleyed opener at the first asking, but Dutch playmaker Iven van Marle's electric pace was too much for the defence, as they couldn't lock down two of his best dribbles.
Fortunately, Featureship FC and coming opponents frunzelite both won, with the former beating recent Cupa Independenţei winners First Aid 2-1 through a breathtaking Badrul Zaman Limaye curler from well outside the box. frunzelite's defence frustrated FC Cernoleuca to no end in the final fixture, as Zainal Zain and Klaus-Philipp Ommers scored in either half for a 2-0 result.
