Kicked While Down
The away win had Grilled Birds six for six in the league thus far, and
Chan Ze Han's two today would have him at double digits already, well on track to surpass the 18 goals with which he won last season's Golden Boot with. "He's still getting sharper every day, it's frightening." longtime teammate
Kalki Parvathaneni said. "I may have seen faster forwards here, and stronger ones, but none that are smarter on the ball than Chan."
It was a special day for
Hwang Teck Fu too, as he celebrated an unlikely maiden league goal, after entering late as an unplanned substitute at centreback. "The guys told me it would come, but I would much rather not have had to wait for this long." he grinned. "Anyway, at least that's done with!"
Phantasm Hotspurs kept within three points of Grilled with a 6-0 smashing of Mayuyu AKB48, that had Masyhur Zulfadhli ascendant; they will have an Emerald Challenger Cup quarter-final to contend with, though, while Controlar put themselves level with Mayuyu on twelve points, even if they made heavy work of a 1-2 result at Snohodez. Next opponents EF City dismissed LAVINO QUAY 3-0 to put some space between themselves, with winger Lim Chang Tse starring with a snappy 33rd minute finish - and then a yellow card.
It is not looking good for Farmer Bunnies, who are stuck in seventh place after a 0-3 home loss to Really McCoys. Without any attacking confidence in recent weeks, the Buns have been relying far too much on set pieces, and an early flub by
Vitaliy Efendiev coupled with atrocious late misses from a 42 year-old
Mushtag Al-Nameeri, did not help matters.
Mangrove Pittas and Bot Team FC continue setting the pace with big wins against the Foodies and WhiteSandsMechs respectively, as Brighton UK held Leed Celts off 3-0, but stressed Buns head coach
Vishnu Tallapaka emphasized that he was not looking at others right now. "We have a ton of problems to fit, and frankly most of them are self-inflicted."
The same might be said of Grilled International, who were schooled 6-1 by Amelinho Kickers in yet another match where they got completely let down by poor defending. "It's not even a matter of quality at this point." team captain
Safari bin Hj Jali had to admit. "It's a question of fight, of heart - and as much as it shames me to say this, we don't have it right now."
Saudi forward Rami Al-Mutawa would show International what they were missing with a top-class brace to cap the win, with
Umut Koza providing the consolation off a rare
Waldemar Gołata delivery. With this defeat, International are all but out of title contention even at this early stage, with FC Bojons stretching their perfect record with an 8-0 whitewash of Nice AS. Black Panther nudged Ponyhof out through a seventh minute Kareem Mukhalad strike, in the only other active fixture of the round.
