Reality Check
Ha Qicai shook hands firmly with opposing skipper Chadi Selawi after the final whistle, but there was no hiding which of them was the happier - or had discharged his duties to the fullest. "I need to apologize to my teammates here, there were some unacceptable lapses." Ha said grimly. "Otherwise, frunzelax were simply the better team on the day. It happens."
The Birds will thus have to lick their wounds with frunzelax going on to meet Galactic Eagles CF in the quarterfinals, as
Tian Yonghang dismissed what might have been had he thrown more into the mix. "Yes, the supporters will be asking, what if Gústav was on from the start, how about
Joe Reece or
Chad Thach and all. But it's over now. We can only continue moving onward."
On the friendly front, Farmer Bunnies made a trip to Guyana to meet IV.3 team Malmö Stads FF and came out 2-0 winners, if in the process losing
Prakash Bhujbal to a recurrence of his right knee injury in the 52nd minute. That was more than a little concern from how he had just fully recovered from the same against FC Phondle less than a month ago, and
Vishnu Tallapaka acknowledged that more in-depth rehabilitation might be warranted.
Otherwise, it was mostly smooth sailing with
Amirul Jufri Khairil beating Shon Brandon from a very narrow angle in the 24th after a minor stoppage for
Toh Eng Guang to get a possible concussion looked at, and the largely-uneventful half would be followed by Toh himself adding another with a stiff right-footed strike, 72 minutes in.
Grilled International were not exactly tested either in a 5-0 sweep of Nepal's The Himalayan Mountain Dogs, with the IV.18 hosts mired in administration troubles. They did still attract more than three thousand faithful to The Dog's Wuaf Park, only to be absolutely overrun with
Chua Jun Long contributing two, and potentially a lot more. Goalie Sunil Singh did make a show-stopping save against
Egidius van der Duin in injury time, so there was that.
