CBL 2 - 3 Grilled Birds
Árvashines
Wonder Defender
New Grilled signing
Zoltán Árva made a huge splash just two days after landing in Singapore, as he recovered from a shaky start to become hero of the day with two hugely important goals. Hosts CBL had their own debutant in German midfielder, Ludolph Obermayer, but while a standout for them, he wasn't able to affect the game as strongly.
CBL had been undefeated for 19 games going into this match, and even bumped Chemistry off in the last Cup round thanks to a second-half scoring spree. The loss of worldly-wise Swedish midfielder Patrik Gunnarsson to injury was well compensated for by the S$9 million capture of Obermayer, and Grilled's travelling contingent probably feared the worst after he inspired his side to a 2-0 lead by the eleventh minute.
Liehner had decided to break up the successful Han-Talib partnership in central defence by shifting Talib out wide and having Árva take his place, and clearly Grilled's backline had not quite come to grips with that. None of them was onto Alexandre Reis after Manuel José Echeandía twisted past Sid on the left side, and Reis could do little but score with a monster of a shot.
Sid continued to have trouble with the slippery Spanish winger, and was cautioned for dragging Echeandía down in the eighth minute. Echeandía would return the favour a little later on Spirig to get booked too, but by then CBL were two up as defender Roberto Pedrero cut past Han with a telling run and touched the ball past Valdir.
Grilled appeared dead and buried as CBL continued to tighten the screws, and José Bartolomé Ruiz might have finished it off for real when he struck a smart effort to the far post, only to see it bounce back to a scrambling Valdir. With Spirig replaced by the relatively limited Fjällbratt as a precaution, things were looking dim for the Birds.
Reis began the second half by putting another volley just wide, but it was time for Árva to show his stuff. The Hungarian defender displayed good determination to stay on his feet and get past João Dantas, and though his goal wouldn't win any awards for aesthetics, the fact that it ended up in the back of the net was enough for the Grilled fans.
Heartened by that, the Grilled side appeared to change tack as players began taking potshots instead of trying to pass it to their strikers all the time. This rattled the CBL defence somewhat, and resulted in MacKinnon's first goal of the season as he lashed in a low scorcher that bounced right in front of want-away goalkeeper Stefan Wahry.
The hosts had to rein back their natural attacking game as Grilled found their flow in counterattacking, though they still had their chances to win it outright. Ex Spanish U-20 midfielder Sergio Aragón Reyes dribbled past Talib and beat Valdir with a superb shot, but it landed against the crossbar.
Full-time came, and Grilled looked the happier side as they had come from behind, and still had the undoubted class of Valdir to look forward to should it end with penalties. There was no need for that, as Árva chipped in with a golden goal in just the second minute of extra time, via a precise long ball from Edmond.
