Rajas Dimmed
The resounding win saw Grilled Birds advance to face II.1 club Vulturii Singapore next, as
Tian Yonghang refused to read too much into the final score. "Regency were not putting out their best - as is their right to do, mind - and we profited. That's all."
It was the end of the line for Farmer Bunnies, who fell 0-1 to leaguemates Brighton UK. Rafael Maria Silva Barroso slid onto Herkules Andersson's breakaway run in the 12th minute after a tentative Buns counter had been sprayed wide by
Judah Cho, with Brighton fullback Loh Chuan Kiong off for a groin concern in the 25th. Alas, the Buns never quite managed to figure out Brighton's possession game, and
Amaya Ravula failed to be their saviour too, being unable to find an opening twelve minutes from time.
"It's painful to exit at this stage, but that's what it is."
Guan Ming Kum sighed. "Repeating the same story gets old fast."
Grilled International hung on by the skin of their teeth, as they prevailed in a penalty shootout against Sweden's Raja IF, in the H.I. Ruby Challenger Cup. International were the underdogs, but an unadventurous mentality by Raja saw them sit back after overthinking a free-kick in the second minute.
Chua Jun Long made International's best opportunity in regular time with his exciting 20th minute dribble, but
Arcadi Sansalvador couldn't keep up.
Extra time came around, and it was Raja who looked like going through, as Frits Pettersson headed home after a fine run and cross by Henke Wiing down the left wing. International continued striving, however, and
Helmy Syamsuzaman found one of the most important goals of his career, when his grounder made it through past Seth Edman with eight minutes remaining.
Edman would go on to score Raja's first in the shootout, before
Umut Koza and
Remond Bergervoet found the net after four straight misses on both sides, but Patrick Pöllauer then kept his team in with a calm stroke to the left post. Sudden death saw Lars-Owe Wiking and
Phua Li Kong both fail to find the net, and after Henke Wiing poked his right at
Darshana De Abrew, the Sri Lankan goalie settled it himself.
"Do I have to do it all around here?" he joked afterwards - but his teammates were only too happy to agree for once.
