Japie Jamboree
Terkel Treat
Grilled's stint to the Netherlands was instigated mainly by
Hidde van Liere, who was horrified that the club had never visited his home country. Ironically, he was left chatting on the bench as Grilled's new boys ground out a narrow 2-0 win over Division Two defence trainers De Japie's.
De Japie's 5-4-1 had set the game up to be an attacking exercise for Grilled, but by no means a trivial one with two Under-20 internationals in their backline. Thai lad Ritnarong Suwarnawikarn is famed as one of the best nineteen year-olds in the world, while Lin Keng-Meng has five caps for China. Bulgarian sweeper Zlatko Hadzhistoyanov was certainly no slouch either.
Grilled in turn gave Bao-Tam, Dai-Lin, Barbour and Chiew-Yen their first real game in a long while, though Bao-Tam and Dai-Lin certainly had a low-stress outing at the back. Recent signing
Terkel Borup paired up with Han Kok as promised, and could have a debut goal when he found his own way through to face Frank Bel in the De Japie's goal, only to finish poorly.
Packet of energy
Quah Han Kok got himself in the thick of everything, getting a yellow card, a wonderful miss and a dangerous giveaway all in the first half. Suwarnawikarn was a paragon of excellence, and made the left wing totally unprofitable for Grilled with Barbour outclassed. Langeland pounced on a bad error by Thijmen Rademaker in the 41st minute though to give Grilled the lead at half-time.
The white and yellow stripes of De Japie's seldom ventured past midfield, but their fans seemed used to it. Some even good-naturedly cheered when
Terkel Borup revealed a small gap with a long-range pass right to
Chen Chiew-Yen, who held on just long enough to wham a drive into the net.
It could have been more as Langeland and Chiew-Yen overhit their last shots in the 89th minute, and
Nui Pakpao raised some hackles with an out-of-place late tackle on lone striker Joey Heuveling, but all in all it was a rewarding experience for both sides concerned.
