Capelos Caper
Go Joe
Nearly ten thousand spectators were at the 76500-seater El Inmueble Mayor for Los Capelos' meeting with Grilled Birds, little wonder in a city the size of Ciudad de México. Los Capelos were very strong on the right, boasting tall Dane Thomas Jespersen in the thick of the defence and Thai kid winger Witthaya Krajangthong there. Kolesov's immature defensive skills were of no matter to Krajangthong, and Siu-Cheung was too ill-equipped to deal with his enterprise and conceded a corner. He would have felt it was a good deal, but forward Iván Barcelona's inswinger was put past Öhmo unopposed by Jespersen for a lightning lead.
Grilled fought back through Ju-Hau and Rottman, and eager striker
Joe Stern showed off his flair at dead balls with a curling free-kick from a comparatively safe spot that bent around a four-man wall into the bottom corner. A minute later, he was at it again, as Rottman's pass was missed by the defence and Stern went through. Capelos goalkeeper Ignacio Bustos Gisbert bravely dove for the ball, but Stern was faster.
Grilled tightened their play and directed their passes to the right flank, and were untroubled for the rest of the half. In the 33rd minute, Stern outran the large Capelos sweeper Salomone Ortega Santiago to complete his hat-trick with a high ball. Los Capelos were not taking that lying down, and Krajangthong made a surprise burst down the opposite flank forcing Magunsson into a rash challenge which earned him a card.
Grilled were uncoordinated at that point, and Capelos nearly pulled one back as midfielder Justo Ochoa found only the left goalpost after underperforming Swiss winger Patrice Beusch had done well to direct his header to him. In the ensuing rush for the ball Iván Barcelona clattered hard into the ever-willing
Tim Hobson, who rolled around in pain for some seconds. Half-time came early, saving Grilled some jitters.
Capelos were far smoother in the second half, always running at the tiring Grilled midfield and getting the best of the chances. Beusch asserted his presence in the game, and the raw wing duo of Magunsson and Kolesov had little time to attack. Kolesov had his moment in the 72nd minute, as the hardworking Bulgarian did well in holding the ball up until support arrived. Rightback
Nor Suhaimi bin Che Lah's fine finishing from a squared shot-pass from Hobson put Grilled up to four-one.
That was followed quickly by
Zhan Ju-Hau's goal from Stern's interception of a defensive pass. Grilled were cruising along by then, before Kolesov got booked as he struggled to stop the impressive Krajangthong. The handful of diehard Grilled fans cheered when old favourite
Tim Hobson broke through with bravado in the 80th minute, but Amado Ramos kept pace and Hobson's eye for goal resulted only in shaking the goalframe. In the closing seconds, Iván Barcelona threw the ball in disgust after a call went against him and was duly ejected since he was already on a yellow after the Hobson tackle in the first half.
