Grilled 8 - 4 Joker
A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 57376 to
The Cooking Pot.
Luis Henin was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Love Nilsson and
Michał Dymański. It was a very hot day and some players suffered from this, especially those relying on tough physical play or a lot of fast runs. For the technical ones, on the other hand, this was ideal conditions. The following players had been chosen by Grilled:
Germanakos -
Keng Chuan,
其材 (Qicai) -
Reddy,
Teck Fu,
Kwang Tse,
Khairul,
Trindade -
Thach,
Chitre,
An Keng.
Joker's lineup was:
Schimmelpfennig -
Cildermanis,
Franco,
Maceiras -
Schumpbach,
Yi Da,
Satishchandra,
Singh,
Rehn -
Jian Jian,
Fu Yew.
Grilled Birds fielded a 2-5-3 lineup. For Joker 9, the formation of choice was 3-5-2. Joker showed off their supernatural (14) creative tactics. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 2 minutes allowed
Ang Yi Da to score for Joker. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. Grilled's
Paulino Trindade put his head to a well placed ball, lifted in from the left, and scored to make the score 1 - 1 with 4 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock. The guests almost went up by a goal after 22 minutes when
Chan 'Jayjay' Jian Jian came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. Grilled's
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy was shown a yellow card after 27 minutes for slicing down an opponent.
After 28 minutes,
Mohd Marzuki Khairul came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 2 - 1, giving Grilled the lead. 29 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as
Aw Keng Chuan broke through, making the score 3 - 1 for Grilled. 3 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time.
After 73 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and
Paulino Trindade gave the Grilled supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 4 - 1. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Grilled scored another to make it 5 - 1 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for
Lim An Keng after 75 minutes. Grilled's
Chad Thach lived up to his reputation for finding unexpected ways to get the ball in the net when he sent a nifty little pass over to
Paulino Trindade who finished for 6 - 1 with 76 minutes of the match played. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for
Paulino Trindade. Grilled's
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. Morale on the visitors' bench was greatly improved when their player
Ang Yi Da reduced the lead to make it 6 - 2 after 82 minutes, following a pass from the right. 85 minutes into the match, Joker's
Chan 'Jayjay' Jian Jian demonstrated his famed speed as he raced past his marker and passed the ball to
Mario Schumpbach who chipped it in for 6 - 3. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Grilled's
Chad Thach increasing the lead to 7 - 3. As the 89 minute mark approached, the Grilled coach decided it was time for a substitution.
Aw Keng Chuan reluctantly made way for
Damian Hutter on the pitch. As
Aw Keng Chuan left the field, the coach signaled to
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy to be the new set pieces taker. 89 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Gandhik Chitre gave
Bilal Mohammad Harun a quick hug as he left the field. The referee announced 3 minutes of stoppage time, giving fans a slim hope that their team could get one more attack in before this was all over.
Bilal Mohammad Harun of Grilled seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 8 - 3 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy. Joker fought on and, after 90 minutes,
Vikas Satishchandra was able to reduce the deficit to 8 - 4 after some excellent moves on the right side were finished off with an incredibly clever chip. The match ends 8 - 4. Grilled enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession.
Most important Grilled player was
Lim An Keng. On the other hand,
Bilal Mohammad Harun's play was disheartening.
Hans-Ulrich Rehn performed admirably for Joker.
Jens-Harald Schimmelpfennig turned in a dismal performance, however.