Almost Believable
Sweet Sid
Grilled survived a second-half surge by The Beribeliabilable, with the Sentosa-based club striking twice in the space of three minutes to sow doubt into the visiting side. Unfortunately for the hosts, Grilled were sitting on a three-goal lead by then, and with no further change in the scoreline won through to the seventh round.
Grilled maintained their policy of sticking with their first team for the Cup, even though it appears to have taken its toll on some of the players. To make things even more interesting, The Beribeliabilable have signed American midfielder Mick Jacobson on a one-match contract.
Jacobson, who has two Masters games under his belt with Ecuadoran giants El Barcelona S. C., partnered Polish mainstay Michal Ochalek and Latvian veteran Ritvalds Knakis for the occassion. Home favourite Lan Chun-Wah would provide the threat upfront.
Having identified Beribeliabilable's defence as their weakest link, a not uncommon trait of Cup challengers, and still without the inspirational van Liere, Grilled chose to go heavy through the middle. Martinsson and Simon stayed central as teammates supported them amply with direct runs, but in the end goals were to come through more unorthodox means.
Jacobson as expected was a formidable presence, and Grilled's well-tested trimuverate were hard pressed to maintain control despite playing out of their skins. Grilled could certainly not be faulted for underestimating their lower division opponents, as Paullin in particular charged like a madman and took a fall in the hosts' penalty area.
Brazillian central back Luiz Rodrigo Marinho staunchly maintained that he never laid a foot on Paullin, which had a ring of truth to it as Paullin appeared to be out of his reach when the incident occured. The referee saw differently, and awarded the penalty despite sparing Marinho a booking. Sid went for it, and we know the end of the story.
Anders Fredgård got lucky in a similar incident at the other end, as he hacked at Beribeliabilable's captain Chun-Wah perilously close to his own box. The results were reversed this time as Fredgård was yellow carded but only a free-kick was granted, which Chun-Wah duly blasted over the Grilled goal.
Han Kok made inroads to the opposition goal with amazing pace off Sulaiman's quickly taken goal-kick, and Jacobson smartly brought down the master sprinter before he got too far. At least, it would have been clever had Grilled not Sid in their squad; As it was, the Polish setpiece king beat Romanian goalie Petre Bica for the second time with a bending special.
A full-blooded tussle between Simon and Marinho followed, ending with the pair lashing out at the ball while on the ground without caring too much if they kicked one another by accident. Marinho got the worst of it, getting a nasty gash in the thigh, while Simon collected a couple of bruises of his own, and a caution to boot. It was the end of Marinho's involvement in the game, though, as he had to be replaced with Johan Thygård.
With by far the best of Beribeliabilable's defence men gone, Grilled tried to turn the screws by hammering the weakened backline, but were plagued by some poor communication for the remainder of the half. They had to wait until the 53rd minute to make it 0-3, when
Quah Han Kok raced onto a weighted Martinsson pass to slide the ball home.
With the match apparently in the bag, Grilled slacked off somewhat, and the spectators were not surprised when Jacobson buffed his already considerable resume with a debut goal. His high-speed wall passing was simple yet sublime, and Grilled defence simply couldn't get a handle on him as he smashed one past Sulaiman.
Although Beribeliabilable's defenders, especially Res Allenbach, were visibly tiring with the dual responsibility of marking Grilled's strikers and getting forward to chase the game, they made do with a great team ethic, with the midfielders filling in admirably.
Wingback Przemek Rusek made their policy pay off as he overlapped brilliantly to make it two-on-one against Fredgård, who couldn't prevent him from feeding Chun-Wah on the edge of the six-yard box. The captain squared it into the path of the onrushing Ulf Vinterner, who rode Bona's last-ditch block to run the ball into goal.
There was to be no third goal for the home team, as Grilled refrained from venturing forward, though there was the odd dicey moment. Sulaiman dealt with the long range efforts comfortably, though, and Man of the Match Mick Jacobson would have to leave for Argentina's MILLONARIOS CARP without the satisfaction of a victory.
