City 1 - 5 Grilled
Dark skies made the crowd of 29726 at
6th Avenue Block a little nervous, but the rain held off.
Steven Conn was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Sergio Gómez de Lamadrid and
Uri Pijoan. City fielded:
Wahid -
古井 (Furui),
黒宮 (Kuromiya),
Kiong Wei,
Rong Da -
Li Rong,
Shim,
Fitri Helmi,
Chang Tse -
Kang Kok,
Leong.
Grilled's starters:
Germanakos -
Keng Chuan,
Panigrahi -
Ferzan,
Thach,
Kwang Tse,
An Keng,
Parada -
Reece,
Balde,
Ze Han.
EF City entered the field in a 4-4-2 formation. The visitors, Grilled Birds, chose to start the game with a 2-5-3 lineup. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 15 minutes allowed
Federico Parada to score for Grilled. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1.
Chan Ze Han received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 21 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The Grilled fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. After 33 minutes a well-practised indirect free kick routine by Grilled was easily anticipated by the defenders. The players forward were so well marked, they were left with few viable options. Grilled's
Federico Parada was shown a yellow card after 35 minutes for slicing down an opponent.
Chan Ze Han could have put his team up another goal 39 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post.
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan of Grilled took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 40 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 3. City had a brilliant opportunity to reply as
Tay Kang Kok received a high ball from the right, striking the ball in the air. Only
Dimitris Germanakos's reflexes saved him. 0 - 3 was the score after the first half. Grilled claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 75 percent.
Ibnou Balde would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise.
Orest Tokarz entered the game for Grilled as the match clock showed 46 minutes. 46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Bhavya Panigrahi gave
Gilbert Webb a quick hug as he left the field. Grilled's
Orest Tokarz got himself booked for a foul. After 62 minutes, Grilled's
Chad Thach burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 4.
Joe Reece of Grilled was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle.
Joe Reece came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over
Saliman Wahid but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. At 70 minutes into the game, City's
Reid Shim deftly knocked the ball home after an impressive run down the left, reducing the visitors' lead to 1 - 4.
Chia Kwang Tse of Grilled received a yellow card after 74 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. With the scoreboard showing that 75 minutes had been played, Grilled nearly put themselves up another goal after
Aw Keng Chuan came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. Good work by the City defensive line after 76 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found
Reid Shim alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. After 89 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving
Chan Ze Han off the field.
Kalki Parvathaneni took his place. As
Chan Ze Han exited the field,
Gilbert Webb volunteered to be the new set pieces taker.
Gilbert Webb was the new captain of Grilled - handed the armband by the departing player. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 2 minutes of added time they, nonetheless, welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. Grilled's
Joe Reece made it through the home team's defence on the right hand side 90 minutes into the match. After rounding the keeper, he only had to place the ball in the unguarded goal when a defender slid in and cleared the ball off the line. After 91 minutes, Grilled secured the 1 - 5.
Orest Tokarz, always a physical player, created some space for himself where there used to be a defender and then applied the finish! 91 minutes were showing on the scoreboard when Grilled's
Chia Kwang Tse received his second yellow card and was sent off. The match ends 1 - 5. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Grilled, with 74 percent of the ball.
Yip Li Rong performed admirably for City.
Saliman Wahid on the other hand, had a terrible day. Grilled's top performer was clearly
Lim An Keng.
Gilbert Webb was a disappointment, however.