Pride Of Arrogancae
Outclassed
With
Maikel Rotteveel unavailable, Grilled were simply no match for the might of Arrogancae, who recovered from their first defeats this season in both the league and the Cup with a comprehensive 4-0 hiding of the Birds.
Twenty-four out of twenty-seven available points doesn't lie, and the hosts burst out of the gates with a confidence borne of repeated victories. They were inches away from scoring in the fourth minute as captain Seyit Kerimov sent a dipping corner that was headed to the back post by Cornelus van Schie, but to Grilled's great relief Freerk Dorrepaal had started his run a second too late.
Lik-Tsun shone with some great positioning to deny central striker Roberto Valiardo several times, but the Spanish striker would have his moment thanks to Dorrepaal's engagement of the Grilled centreback. Árva tried to keep between Valiardo and the ball, but was a foot slow, leaving Valiardo to slide it between him and Valdir for the opener.
It was uphill all the way now, as Arrogancae poured forward with all the enthusiasm of a team close to winning the league. Grilled defended stoutly, but Brazilian fullback Luís André Silva Godói pounded the length of the field right on time to jump over Han Kok and glance in a second.
The Birds had barely reorganized themselves when Valiardo found himself with only Spirig in his way, after Grilled's central defenders had gone up for their first corner. The Spanish forward twisted Spirig inside out before sending a grounder past a red-faced Valdir before reinforcements could arrive. Kerimov got into the act with a full-blooded charge on MacKinnon that got him a yellow card.
Grilled fared little better in the second half as Einar Hansen easily made it four, and it could have been worse had the hosts not called their troops back.
Zoltán Árva's awkward fall threatened to make a bad day worse for Grilled, but thankfully it was a false alarm and he was soon back on his feet.
Subri at least had a chance to get a consolation goal, after a bit of dallying by Nidetzky allowed him to get behind the Arrogancae defence, ball at feet. Macedonian national goalkeeper Nadzakov was out as fast as lightning, however, and that was enough for Subri to hesitate and end up losing possession to Silva Godói instead.
