Kinder To The Fire
Islom To The Fore
The was no time for self-pitying after Grilled's virtual elimination from The Global Trophy, as they switched their attentions posthaste to the Mönninghof Cup. Argentine sixth division outfit Kinderboys Reloaded were the victims here, as they were taken to the cleaners by a Birds selection with a lot to prove.
Grilled had plenty of reason to worry, as Kinderboys lined up in two banks of five - given how they had been countered perfectly by Magik in a similar formation, this didn't seem something that the Birds were cut out to handle. Happily for the Birds, their opposition weren't half as good defensively in this instance, and their eschewing of a true target man further cut their options down.
As before, it was the revitalized
Kalki Parvathaneni who stormed the barricades, but he would actually succeed this time, turning Romijn's sharp cross in from a tight angle in the tenth minute. It was all proceeding very quickly at this stage, and after
Neeraj Muthyala was booked for a series of aggressive tackles,
Islom Davlatov poached two goals almost out of nowhere.
Now three down and with no clue what was going on, Kinder searched desperately for answers, but none were forthcoming. Captain Joonas Kauhaniemi orchestrated a short-lived spell around Grilled's box, before a sweet procession of passes mostly down the right side saw Parvathaneni bearing down on goal. Antonio Gufo partially smothered the attempt, but couldn't gather the ball to himself before
Mohammad Ramli Saliman put his foot in.
Islom Davlatov would complete his hat-trick as early as the 27th minute with a pinpoint header, after Künzler plastered it across goal, and the Birds were nice enough to go slow after that. The lull didn't extend far into the second half, however, and
Kalki Parvathaneni couldn't resist buffing his own scoring record in the 53rd, following a failed interception by Matias Tomás Papasiano.
The visitors were not entirely happy that there was still half an hour to go, and an unintentional-looking bump between Ignacio Gomez and Saliman would nearly combust into an all-out brawl.
Moey Xin Seng had the presence of mind to pull his teammate away just as he seemed about to throw a punch, fortunately, which probably saved Saliman from an immediate red.
Hovaness Noubaryan would cannily bring forward his substitutions slightly to afford his players the time to calm down, and
Mohammad Ramli Saliman would rub it in by scoring on Grilled's very next attack.
Chan Ze Han was probably better-placed, but Saliman took it on himself, and sent his drive straight between Gufo's legs to boot.
Kinderboys were on the verge of being enraged, but had no real footballing recourse, at least until a rare charge from Héctor Rodolfo Novelle worked out almost too beautifully. Leaving Künzler on his butt, the winger found Gomez screaming for the ball, but the midfielder would be agonized at smashing it onto the crossbar.
Yuta Nakakita would head it right over, with Kauhaniemi breathing down his neck.
Islom Davlatov would up it to eight after gliding in from the left, and young Fernando Gernetti was clearly less than enthused at aiding this particular lost cause. A bit later,
Kalki Parvathaneni had his own bid at a treble spurned by the woodwork, and the game then dwindled in intensity, after a prickly Saliman lashed out to get his second yellow.
