Much Improved
The Birds would thus enter the last eight of the Sapphire Challenger Cup, where they will play Singapore Red Dragons a second time in three weeks. Grilled captain
Ha Qicai warned his teammates not to put too much faith in the past. "The Dragons were masterful against Batok Earthquakes, so it will hardly be a walk in the park."
Many familiar names join Grilled Birds here, with leaguemates Arcturules and Glory Paradiso both also advancing, the latter to face a Sarcastic Fringeheads team staging a revival. Featureship FC are in too after expectedly getting the better of Farmer Bunnies, even if the Buns did a lot better than Sunday in holding Featureship goalless for some 111 minutes, before Balakrishnan Limaye raced through for the deciding goal.
Despite going out, Uruguay defender
Mauro Fau praised his fellows for keeping to the gameplan. "We totally smothered them for the first half, and had we held out for just nine more minutes, I would have us as favourites in a penalty shootout." he sighed. "But I think they knew that too!"
It was a hastily-arranged flight out to Germany for Grilled International, where they visited VI.237 club BSG Chemie Jena 1903 in Thüringen.
Chua Jun Long and
Remond Bergervoet both hit braces as they took apart a weak Chemie midfield, though Alexander Schömig did get one back in their 1-6 defeat.
