Flames 4 - 2 Grilled
385 spectators had come to Isle of Flames Arena this cloudy day.
Reto Rager was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Corrado Cantone and
Arnaud Amoudroz. Flames had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Lineup: Baaijens - De Gasperi, Sarpa, Wendig - Cereo, bin Mohamad Nawi, Lai Chang, Feinbier - Al-Rasheed, Yiu Po, Marquart.
A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Grilled. The following players had been chosen: Dias Paes - Zywczyn, Lik-Tsun, Árva, Talib - Spirig, MacKinnon, Branbilla, Han Kok - Rotteveel, bin Ku Zainol.
Flames decided to play creatively. Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Grilled on this day.
Maikel Rotteveel's speed was clear to see after 11 minutes as he darted past his marker and struck an opening pass to
Subri bin Ku Zainol who scored the 0-1 goal. The crowd was on its feet 21 minutes into the match, as Flames's
Micha Marquart found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. Flames broke through on the left 25 minutes into the game, with
Kok Lai Chang firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 2 - 1 lead. Cheers filled the stadium as
Kevin Wendig broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the 3 - 1 goal for Flames. By now, Flames were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. With 28 minutes played, Flames's
Micha Marquart tried to nail the coffin shut, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. A counterattack by Grilled after 38 minutes could have resulted in a goal, but
Sylweriusz Zywczyn, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 - 1. Flames claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 65 percent.
49 minutes into the game,
Frans Baaijens had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came
Chia Yau Liang. The Flames captaincy was handed to
Serxio Cereo. After 67 minutes, Flames raised their score by one when
Detlef Feinbier's dangerous low cross was cleverly tucked in at the near post by
Omer Abbas Al-Rasheed. 4 - 1.
Omer Abbas Al-Rasheed should probably have put his team up another goal after 68 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by
Valdir Dias Paes kept the visitors in the game.
Detlef Feinbier had a fantastic opportunity to put Flames up another goal 74 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. Grilled were desperate to get a goal back and pushed forward through the middle 75 minutes into the game. After a scramble in the box, the ball dropped to
Maikel Rotteveel, who smashed it home to make the score 4 - 2. After 79 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by
Kevin Wendig might have resulted in another goal for Flames. However,
Valdir Dias Paes made a spectacular save. Flames held the ball, with a clear 65 percent of possession.
Flames's top performer was clearly
Kok Lai Chang.
Chia Yau Liang on the other hand, had a terrible day.
Subri bin Ku Zainol performed admirably for Grilled. On the other hand,
Han Lik-Tsun's play was disheartening. The match ends 4 - 2.