Standards Maintained
The Birds repeated their four-of-four start in the Supporter Week Trophy tournament from two seasons back, with wins over Deportivo Herniant, Arriaca, FC L'Auge and Mediterraneo. The opener against Argentinean Third Division club Herniant was the closest-run of the lot, with hometown favourite Julio Daniel Andrade taking them back to 3-3, from 1-3 down.
Lee Lee Hao would win it with a slippery run through the centre in the 70th, though.
Lee's winner followed on his unforeseen declaration right before the tournament, that he was open to a move out. "I view myself as a starter." the 33 year-old said, hinting at a disagreement with the coaching staff as to his utilization in the coming campaign. "If that cannot be, I have to consider my professional interests."
This didn't affect his performances in the following games, as a 5-0 against Spanish side Arriaca led into a 9-1 massacre of FC L'Auge.
Rinor Isufi was sent off in the 37th minute after losing his temper against one of the Swiss club's defenders, but the goals flowed nevertheless, with
Yuki Irie,
Tian Yonghang and
Gennady Dvorak picking up a pair each before the match was done.
A wildly-successful first day concluded with a 6-2 victory over another Spanish opponent in Mediterraneo, who took the lead in the eighth minute through wingback Severo Serra's blindside run taking advantage of positional indiscipline on Grilled's right. The Birds powered back confidently, however, and
Hoàng Trung Quá would get two neat strikes in against young goalie Danilo Quesada Carrión.
Djan Bacelar noted Mediterraneo's comprehensive preparations in doubling up on
Low Aik Jia, with Kenneth Dalhuizen stifling the winger heavily together with Serra. "They definitely did their homework, and Low had a tough time out there. He did well despite that."
As to the chances of Grilled making it into the prestigious last sixty-four and thus the knockout stages, the Brazilian head coach merely laughed. "Historically, this would take nine wins. We can talk about it once we get to eight."
Bunnies' performance was far more mixed, as they led off with a nil-all stalemate against Austria's FC Dauerwelle. They then beat Lithuanian fifth division side FK Gegužiai 3-0 on sharp counterattacking, only then to lose by the odd goal to Costa Rica's AC Swiecie and Cyprus club SPARTACOS.