Borussia Teachings
Rieuwerd Onward
Delhi I-League club Borussia 09 Glauchau gave Grilled Birds the taste of top-flight competition that they had long missed, but the Birds may not want another lick for some time, from how they were absolutely outclassed by the Indian giants. Grilled might have multiple Challenger Cups in their history just like Borussia, but this was about as far as the similarities went.
Fresh off taking Kinderboys Reloaded for eight, the Birds could scarcely have dreamt of being on the receiving end instead.
Borussia would establish their superiority in short order - even if their young defence wasn't the best they had to offer - though the Birds must have thought them in with a short after the first fifteen minutes. As it turned out, the hosts were simply completing their warm-up.
Vikram Mudaliar had been giving an okay impression of himself in midfield up until about then, but with Przemysław Szota and Konstantin Schäftlarn getting serious, Grilled's middle collapsed like a sack of potatoes.
Hoàng Trung Quá didn't help by running out to cover without checking his side, and Rieuwerd van Helmond was left with all the space in the world, to attack and open.
It would be 3-0 by the 24th minute, with former Syrian youth international Kenan al-Shhmea claiming the left for his own. A striker in his childhood days, al-Shhmea forced
Krystian Rykowski into a partial block with a devastating shot, leaving Konstantin Schäftlarn a tap-in. A few minutes later, he was at it again, though Indonesian winger Budi Melayu provided the final assist for Schäftlarn instead.
The Birds were getting nowhere offensively, despite earning a respectable percentage of possession, and
Islom Davlatov flirted with danger by shoving regular goalie Ivano Carmellini in anger. Although he escaped with a yellow, Grilled were steadily deteriorating, and only some luck kept Rieuwerd van Helmond from adding just one more before the break.
Neeraj Muthyala would follow Davlatov into the referee's book, for hauling the flamboyant Dutchman down in the 38th.
A largely-ineffective
José Luiz Velho was taken off for
Prokop Mottl, who promptly did no better against player-coach Javad Inanlu on Grilled's left. A spurt of energy kept Borussia away for some minutes, but not for long, as Prathap Agrawal made it five from a tidy central move.
Vikram Mudaliar thought he had been unfairly boxed off from challenging Agrawal's shot, but his efforts to discuss this with the match official - up to and including holding up the restart - was punished by yet another booking.
Rieuwerd van Helmond completed his hat-trick with a direct volley in the 63rd minute, but the bigger question was how many men the increasingly-intransigent Birds could finish with. Joaquín Genís Llàcer was struggling to keep the game under control, and he really didn't need
Kalki Parvathaneni deliberately bowling Linus Gottling into the hoardings. A free-for-all ensued, and after it was broken up, Parvathaneni was off. Grilled skipper
Moey Xin Seng tried to get Llàcer to dish out some discipline the other way too, but ended up with a card himself.
With little more to gain from any unpleasantness, Inanlu did his bit to put ice on the match, instructing Nipun Patil to take his time coming on for Prathap Agrawal. Of like mind, Noubaryan introduced
Remco van der Ban more to impose a time-out than anything, to which Inanlu responded with Rahul Jagwani.
There would be two more before Borussia were done, however, as Rieuwerd van Helmond rounded Rykowski after his teammates had exposed the overworked custodian. Inanlu then placed the finishing touch on the lesson, knocking in a penalty after Hoàng's handball in his area. Llàcer apparently considered reaching for his pocket, but let it slide after a moment's thought.
