International Ascend
Grilled International's rise to Division Four of the Hattrick International leagues has been a long time in coming, and it would finally be confirmed today after they dislodged Austria's Violett United from IV.59. The Squadra Viola offshoots had finished sixth after a tough campaign, though not for want of support, as the virtually full house that awaited Grilled International told.
The smoke from the cheeky pre-game fireworks that the travelling fans had set off would still be lingering when Violett took the lead, as Croatian fullback Edo Marđetko unleashed an uncompromising piledriver off Samy Bellamy's second-minute layoff. Goalie
Querubim Santos Couto's day would go from bad to over in a twinkling, after he got his knee jarred badly by Volodymyr Zevulturenko on their very next possession. The Polish forward would be booked, but Couto couldn't continue, and left his post to
Vadym Gorozhankin and the armband to
Didi Reidenbach.
Violett's early dominance was tenuous, though, and they would revert to boisterous physicality, a department in which they did hold some advantage. That said, some International players such as
Fausto Perono were hardly shrinking violets either, and the fiery Italian forward would give Jakob Geier something to think about, with his charge from behind in the 19th minute.
The second yellow card would be immediately followed by another foul as the hosts retaliated, to their detriment, as it happened; Reidenbach lined up the free-kick only for
Tommy Dongelmans to loft it towards the far post, where it came off a bunch of heads into the path of
Hardi bin Besar, who automatically booted it in. The hometown lad wasn't expecting that, given that he had started as a makeshift defender, but he certainly savoured the moment once it had sunk in!
There was a quickfire exchange several minutes on, as Melxor Aldana's reaction stop on
Zaini bin Hj Kaling's excellent effort was turned into a counterattack in numbers, that was only stopped by
Osertz Indurain's considered foul. Piet-Hein Achtenberg drove the resulting free-kick inches wide.
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh then put International ahead on the half-hour after good movement from the forwards, and Jakob Geier would be taken off due to a mild concussion.
It remained all up for grabs as International remained exceedingly vulnerable when out of possession, but they were not having much luck in finding more goals, with Violett being reasonably competent at redirecting prolonged attacks.
Didi Reidenbach lifted his free-kick over the wall in the 50th, but couldn't get it down enough, and he would then be cautioned in the 60th as the match only got more heated.
Extra-time seemed a distinct possibility when Haydar Said equalized for Violett, to great acclaim from the home fans, after 74 minutes.
Fausto Perono wasn't about to let promotion slip by him again, however, and he would pick Carsten Jensen off, as International swarmed forward. The fullbacks tried to cover, but Perono would nick it past Aldana to secure the win.
Overjoyed International gaffer
Roar Olaisen would eschew interviews afterwards. "There's plenty of research to be done, before I have things to say." the Norwegian head coach confessed. "We weren't looking past this qualifier, and now that it's done, new vistas have opened up."
