Matraca Massacre
Same Mistakes
Grilled's defence again proved that it could not cope with quality flanking maneuvers, as the first-team trio of Sulaiman, Sid and Bona conceded four times against blue-clad Real Matraca in Guatemala. Their Mario Cancinos Padre stadium held nearly ten thousand home faithful, who went home happy with their team's progress in the Futtrimmi Cup.
The Birds appeared to have learnt little from being taken apart by the team that never was on Sunday, and even though Alcántara certainly did not underestimate the opposition, fielding five big-name players, Grilled's naive midfield offered no resistance against the fleet Matraca attack. Han Kok vainly attempted to stifle the tide by himself, to no avail.
Grilled should have been forewarned when Guatemalan U-20 midfielder Juan Alberto Sandoval got several free strikes on goal in the opening exchanges, as the three-man defence struggled to cover a large area thanks to relentless wing play. The breakthrough eventually came when a corner kick was directed back to Guillermo Rangel, who shook the goalframe with a roaring strike to the bottom corner.
Pedro Cubas, who had supplied the touchback for the first goal, then scored himself with a fantastic header off veteran winger Gilberto Granados' cross. Most of Grilled's youngsters were caught ball-watching for this one, a problem that will have to be rectified if any of them are to make the breakthrough into the first team.
It got worse as Grilled's players looked like they were waiting for the half to end, and Rysiek Kubel took the chance to weasel past three half-hearted tackles to make it three for the hosts. Alcántara hollered for his players to keep their concentration, but Dante Stuart made a mockery of that call by making a great diagonal run into the box, timed perfectly to slide a fourth past a furious Sulaiman.
Matracas then showed more interest in guarding their formidable lead, and Grilled found it tough going even then with a rather immature midfield. Swee Pheng looked lost, and Abd Hamid did little better against the well-drilled Matraca players.
Grilled tried some wide runs of their own, which turned out well when the hosts' wingers had overextended themselves.
Allan Ødegaard sped in from out wide in one such situation, and supplied a tantalizing chip for Hjortlind to outmuscle his marker and thump past Vietnamese goalie Wang Seung-Han.
Hopes were raised of a late, late show as
Lim Chuan Jing made his first telling contribution of the game with a determined rampage down the right side, showing great courage to get up immediately after being caught in a late challenge. The referee played the advantage, and Chuan Jing was rewarded with an assist when his sharp pass was cushioned by Simon, who wasted no time in guiding it into an unguarded corner.
Unfortunately, it was not enough, as Matraca held out well. Local boy Aker Sanz stopped the goalbound Han Kok in his tracks with a shoulder charge, and Sid uncharacteristically decided to square the resulting free-kick, leading to it being harmlessly gathered by the goalie.
