Peor Protection
Leong Unpicks Lock
Grilled's friendly against Costa Rican Division Two leaders Peor es Nada wound up being an exercise in patience, as the visitors strangled the life out of the Birds' offence despite starting with mostly reserves. Former U-20 international Val Gallagher demonstrated considerable maturity in marshaling his troops despite his tender age, with aid from longtime sidekick Sick Madrigal.
The third man in their formidable midfield was the precocious Jorge Arturo Gutiérrez, already a weathered campaigner despite barely being out of his teens. Together, they limited the Birds' rather more experienced playmakers to a bare few openings by closing down passing lanes, which frustrated the home fans to no end.
Spectators were not exactly happy at the constant pressing, but then again could not quite accuse Peor of resorting to anti-football; The pacy Luca Braghin kept
Ling Fuquan honest on the right flank, and they even claimed the first real chance of the game in the 21st minute, as Gutiérrez ran into space down the side.
His first attempt at a cross came off
Gene Filippone, and he remained cool enough to spot lone frontman Bladimir Rodríguez come out from behind
Qassem Madaini and call for it. The pass in was placed near-perfectly, and only brave goalkeeping from
Krystian Rykowski kept them from going ahead.
It was a good period for the visitors, as Rodríguez clipped a couple more shots on target, while Gallagher drew an excellent flying save from Rykowski. Grilled in comparism looked slightly one-dimension as they tried to force the issue down the middle, and
Che Harun bin Sabtu was a bit too predictable on the day.
The Birds freshened things up with the inclusion of a specialised midfielder in the second half, as
Clément Meyer replaced a persistent but largely ineffectual
Chow Ying Lee. This immediately gave Grilled more control, as the French newcomer set about making a series of calming short passes.
Rhythm restored, Peor found it rather harder to peg Grilled back, and soon found their earlier hard running taking its toll. Braghin for one was losing his legs, having shouldered much of the responsibility for his team's attack, and Ling breezed past him in the 68th minute to plant a decent cross into the box, which
Leong Wan Kang connected well enough with to score.
This drove some self-doubt into the visitors, who conceded again within three minutes. A tame-looking sequence saw Meyer more or less stroll to the head of the opposition penalty area, where he then suddenly dashed forward with the ball. Angel Ulate made a belated effort to get into the way, but was brushed off as Meyer sidefooted it past Portuguese goalie João Quadrilheiro.
Peor head coach Enrrique Chaves, who also holds a dual appointment with the national youth squad, was visibly displeased with the capituation, but the Birds were now too hot to stop. Bellamoli was unlucky to find the post following a near flick on from Leong, who soon after left for
Nicola Vandeneynde to get a run-out.
Finally,
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim came up with a visionary assist for
Ling Fuquan with eight minutes remaining, to tie the exhibition up.
