Iranian Blues
Happy Lee
Iranian Division Two club Chelsea IFC became the latest in a growing string of international sides to give Grilled's travellers a lesson, as they put five past the hapless Cheung to record a home victory.
Lee Jie Siong was a standout as he made up for missing the weekend league game, scoring twice to put some balance on the scoreline.
It was astonishing that Grilled's callow midfield actually competed on level terms for most of the match, which might mostly be attributed to Lee's marshalling, but the same could not be said for Grilled's creaking defence.
Fabian Bona couldn't cover enough ground on his own, and Swedish right winger Jan Silfwerfeldt breezed past Alcántara to clip in the opening goal after just eleven minutes.
That was disappointing for Grilled since they actually had a superb chance right before that, when young midfielder Edmond Ramezani played a backpass without looking and sent it straight to Mirchev, who unfortunately rushed his strike wide. Not that Grilled would have a lot of time to reflect upon that, as Finnish playmaker Markus Iiasalo sank a good volley past Cheung soon after.
Silfwerfeldt again had the run of Alcántara on the half-hour mark and made it 3-0, before Belgian midfielder Vincent Van Oversteyns incautiously stuck his head to a waist-high ball and caught Seng-Huat's boot as a result. Fortunately there was no great harm done, but Chelsea's coach decided to take Vincent off as a precaution and continue a man short.
Lee then polished off a winding dribble by
Ciro Penati, who despite his poor attitude has won his fair share of admirers at Grilled. Certainly his direct play was hard for 33 year-old Amirhossein Piroozi to track. Cheung then made his first good save of the night off Rian van der Berg's powerful attempt, as Grilled completed the half in good spirits.
Chelsea closed the game off early in the second half as Roxan Tordjman's solid shot was followed a minute later by Silfwerfeldt getting his hattrick, with Alcántara shaking his head in resignation. Chelsea's three man strikeforce would end the match barren as local boy Sam Toranji misfired from twelve metres, and Lee gave the few visiting fans something to remember as he took his first direct free-kick for Grilled and swung it past Masoud Kianfar into the back of Chelsea's net.
