Reversal In Fortunes
The third day of the Supporter Week Tournament saw Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies swap their experiences, as the Birds ended on a high, while the Buns wound up in a sea of red.
Grilled began the day with a 4-2 win over German Division Six club Franken Eagles, who conceded four before the imposingly-named Alexander-Johan Graf von Blücher-Altona led a rally of sorts.
Gennady Dvorak, who had scored a brace, would be dismissed late in the game for a rare moment in which he lost control, assaulting centreback Uğur Maraşlıoğlu after eating a hard tackle.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim would step in for the suspended Dvorak in the next fixture against Swiss Division Five side steinbock kicker, who worked their way to a three-all draw.
Rinor Isufi was outstanding in the earlier going, ending with two excellent solo goals, but the Birds ran out of steam, and Christian Zwygart volleyed in an 84th minute equaliser.
Their tournament campaign would then conclude with Chillmood United, who had been a qualifier away from entering the Bundesliga, scarce seven seasons ago. An acrimonious rebuilding process has seen them fall all the way to the seventh division, however, and Grilled kept the symbolism up with a 7-0 victory, including a tasty
Tian Yonghang hat-trick.
As said, it would end very poorly indeed for the Bunnies, who conceded seven without reply. The one-nil loss to Swedish Division Four club FC Del Boca Vista might have been overlooked, given how active they were on the counter after Kalle-Pekka Vikström's eleventh-minute headed opener, but Finnish goalkeeper Alari Sallo produced a stellar run of saves.
Next up were German Division Five long-timers Endstation Uraha, who appeared to have settled for a draw, after a very closed game. Swiss winger Tinu Offner had other ideas, though, and blazed past
Vishnu Tallapaka in the second last minute, to hand it to Marcial Guzmán Alfarache on a plate; the Bunnies' last-ditch advance only saw Uraha win a corner in injury time, from which Simon Frankenhausen scored a second, after
Vivian Grubenmann misjudged the flight of the ball.
This did a number on the team's confidence, and they would go down tamely 0-4 to Senegalese Division Two club Pionniers de St-Louis in the final game. The entire squad underperformed as French striker Faouzi Fadou ran riot throughout, and it was over as a contest by half-time.