küplüce Tutoring
Moey Stymied
One setback was followed by another, as Grilled Birds were tamed by current Turkish Süper Lig leaders küplüce. Currently in the brighest period of their history, having won at least one major national trophy in each of the previous three seasons - in addition to the Titans of 2008 tournament - this was probably not as terrible of an indication as it might have appeared. Moreover, seeing as küplüce had likewise been knocked out of the second round of the Hattrick Masters, by Yemen's Broscute on penalties, there was something to be said about them being well-matched with the Birds.
Seeing as küplüce had, like Haha, gone for a defensive posture, this World Battle contest was naturally a fine opportunity to observe whether Grilled had gotten over this particular hurdle, but it seemed not. Turkish legend Sabit Pomakoğlu was a one-man army up top, and this was before getting into Kouandete Houde Aditi and Douglas Carrillo, both longtime national heroes in their own right. Loyalist midfielder Hakim Aşina was their designated playmaker, with former Canadian international sweeper Thomas Fraser assigned to man-mark
Moey Xin Seng.
Against such detailed planning, the Birds could do little to make an impact, and the initial skirmishes would largely be won by the Turks. küplüce were packed with quality all over, and Aliaksej Maistruk would lord it over Grilled's midfield fighters through both size and skill. He would play a wonderful no-look slice wide to Aditi after 14 minutes, that the Benin winger floated barely wide of the far post in turn.
That was but a sampling of what küplüce were capable of, and the next fifteen minutes or so would proceed in like vein, with their playmakers taking the mickey of Grilled's almost at will. Their major objective was to open up space on the wings, which they managed quite often, and this allowed Carrillo to swoop in to open the scoring in the 27th minute. The Costa Rican icon might have had another a few minutes late, but
Massoud Dob saved with one hand.
This developed into the Birds' first really threatening attack of note, with küplüce having committed much in the lead-up, and
Salah Kamel would for once get the better of Maistruk and company with a daring rush straight up the middle. Excellent understanding with
Vikram Mudaliar had Kamel's one-two come off perfectly, but Chilean goalkeeper Eduardo Pradel remained in his way, and apparently his 36 years of age hadn't diminished his reflexes one bit.
Kamel's attempt did at least shatter küplüce's erstwhile dominance, and forced the match back into something of an equilibrium. The Birds then came out of half-time seizing the initiative, and it was the turn of küplüce to sweat.
Salah Kamel was again in the thick of action about the 51st minute, but he sidefooted
Chan Ze Han's knock-on weakly to Pradel. Grilled persevered, and Moey would finally elude Fraser's attentions in the 60th minute to line up a shot, but that cannoned off the crossbar.
As if a switch had been thrown, küplüce would now be on the front foot, and the ball would be delivered on to a breaking Sabit Pomakoğlu via Eustasio Puyol's cultured left foot.
Mateja Jeftić was spot-on with his challenger before Pomakoğlu could recover fully, only for the ball to be claimed by Hakim Aşina; the Turkish midfielder got on the outside of
Bhavya Panigrahi to take his shot, which would be just about turned around the post by
Massoud Dob.
Grilled were cranking the pace up for want of choice, but this in fact seemed to suit their opponents more, from how play panned out. Although
Chan Ze Han had kept his positional discipline up better than most, even he would be caught out in the 73rd minute, which allowed Aditi a clear run. The miss brought a response from Mudaliar and
Wu Jinglong's arrival for
Chu Xin Lee, but these proved only distractions as Łukasz Bulwiński mopped up küplüce's ensuing combination, for 2-0.
That also landed
Moey Xin Seng a yellow card for taking Aşina out after he had laid the ball on, but the latter didn't seem to hold any grudge about that.
Cyril Künzler would come on for
Chan Ze Han with five minutes remaining, but not even the Pole's ample experience could do anything to help the situation.
