Leri Acknowledged
Grilled International received welcome news that their 20 year-old Georgian midfielder
Leri Bezhanishvili had caught the eye of his national scouts, with the Crusaders U-20 serving notice that he had made the shortlist for the squad. International assistant coach Abdillah bin Mohd thought the potential call-up long overdue. "Leri might not have won the plaudits, but he's amongst our best pure mids, bar none." Abdillah assessed. "In possession, there are few better."
This was backed up by Bezhanishvili's stellar work in International's 5-0 thrashing of Guatemalan V.33 side Santa Cruz Barillas FC in the opening round of the Battle for Division V, with only
Chua Jun Long - who struck the final goal in the 81st minute - clearly a cut above. Curaçao peer
Remond Bergervoet was arguably on a similar level, although
Safari bin Hj Jali and
Umut Koza stole most of the attention with their timely finishes.
Over in Moldova's SportKlass Arena, Bunnies man
Toh Eng Guang won his third youth international cap, as Singapore held the Congolese to a 1-1 draw in the U21 Nations Cup. Joker 9 hotshot Chan Jian Jian got the ball rolling as he juked the opposition defence to crack it past José Bungiena on the hour, but Serge Tatukila equalized nine minutes later on a superb counter, not long after Toh had clipped a tasty pass by Dylon Chi awfully wide.
There were then some hair-raising moments for Toh, as he nearly yielded a quick second goal to Congo on the restart, but he managed to clean up after himself by chasing Joachim Cintu down, before he managed to line up his shot.
Vishnu Tallapaka didn't think too badly of Toh for that lapse. "It was always a tall order, being the sole central defender at this level." the Buns boss argued. "He already made a great effort at it."