Risp II Fade
Cyril Provides
The players of Taiwanese Dragon League hosts Risp II cut intimidating figures in their renowned wine-coloured kits, but Grilled Birds would not be warned off. The record three-time Chinese Taipei Emerald Challenger Cup holders were about ten minutes from splitting the points in today's World Battle matchup, before Polish right winger
Cyril Künzler again rode to the rescue.
Risp II had certainly outshone their Swiss forebears in national-level trophy terms, having collected four Challenger Cups and five Division Two titles. Their Western influence remained uncommonly strong, though, with zero locals in their entire squad for the day. They would be led out by their uncompromising German striker Ralf Kliwan, whose stiff demeanour belied his remarkable flexibility in breaking through defences.
Grilled were, of course, without Islom Davlatov, after the forward had secured a transfer out to the Chinese leagues. New signing
Salah Kamel made the bench wearing the Number Seventeen shirt, with his previous Number Seven currently the property of Birds skipper
Moey Xin Seng. Kamel's decision to come to Grilled had reportedly not gone over very well at England's Podland United, with Cambridgeshire's premier club apparently certain that they had signed the Palestinian star.
All that commentary would retreat into the background as the match began, with the teams giving the impression of being evenly matched. Risp II, who have maintained several go-to formations, went for a 4-5-1 here, with a preference for taking it wide. This became a battle of wills against the Birds' usual direct focus, which would tip towards the latter around the 20th minute.
Bilal Mohammad Harun, not liking his available options, went for a low, hard grounder that just about crept past Leiv Vidar Bjorøy then.
Risp II took barely three minutes to create an equalizer, as Kliwan took control. Grilled had perhaps gotten too impetuous after taking the lead, and
Neeraj Muthyala would be abandoned against the opposition's entire midfield, after a careless attempt at reversing one's dribble from Moey. Risp II pressed their temporary numbers advantage by the book, and Kliwan was left with a straightforward finish, put away for 1-1.
There would be no more goals for the half, but not for want of trying.
Vikram Mudaliar turned on the turbo and ripped past Italian centreback Santino Virgadamo - no slowpoke himself - in the 28th minute, but the timely intercession from Mateusz Chyrzyński forced the Grilled striker wide. It would instead be Risp II who appeared the more likely to go ahead as half-time neared, as Santino Virgadamo's free-kick pinged off the post, and Lari Vihinen's follow-up lob was kept out by
Massoud Dob.
Moey Xin Seng, who had been several notches below his usual standards, would be replaced in midfield and as captain by
Chan Ze Han for the second half. This was a noticeable upgrade, and although Risp II had Grilled's patterns more or less figured out before, Chan injected additional unpredictability that had the Birds creating real chances again. One of those fell to
Bernie Egan in the 57th, and he did very well to elude his marker and swing it in at the far post.
Vihinen's corresponding moment would arrive in the 71st, as Risp II resumed their exploitation of width, and Ondrej Francl was left strekaing down the right flank with nobody in a position to catch him.
Bhavya Panigrahi tried to delay the cross as long as he could, but simply turned it into a late pass that laid it on a plate for Vihinen.
It wasn't at all clear who would prevail after this, or if there would even be a winner at all, as space began popping up all over the field.
Kalki Parvathaneni took on Uroš Vinter in an exciting duel, in which the Slovenian came out on top with a picture-perfect sliding tackle at the correct instant. Grilled would take the lead for the third time eventually, and it would be from
Cyril Künzler coming in from the wing, and catching Bjorøy out with a dipping shot.
This was the cue for
Salah Kamel to make his Birds debut, and his entry for Bilal would be followed almost immediately by another Künzler failure, with the Risp II fans mostly disbelieving that they had been caught the same way twice.
Heng Dong Chu nearly made it five with his strike onto the goalframe, which brought with it the game's only yellow card for Ondrej Francl's late tackle. Filip Sønderlund would have one last go as the final seconds went by, but
Massoud Dob was equal to it with a two-fisted block.
