Kbzon Clipped
Majestic Mudaliar
The S-League ended their World Battle foray on a high note, as
Vikram Mudaliar's last-minute winner got them the win against the Campeonato Chileno. Former national champions Kbzon Lalo F.C. appeared to have the better of the game - if marginally, but it would be the fine margins that would count, and that would be Mudaliar today.
The Campeonato Chileno has certainly kept its fans engaged, with just five points separating the three co-leaders from Kbzon in seventh place. That had to leave Kbzon's supporters with plenty of hope of staying up, and they certainly had the quality to pull an escape off. Dutch forward Arvid van der Heide and Hungarian playmaker Norbert Birkmayer were both top-of-the-line players, and when a defender as sturdy as Fredy Roger is being described as their key role to reinforce, one has to suppose that this is a team with few weaknesses.
Not that Grilled were that problematic either, but a thrashing by a seven goal margin tends to seed doubt for awhile. Wednesday's friendly probably went some way towards rectifying that, and Serpin's picks would see him give more players a chance at redemption.
Moey Xin Seng would resume his captaincy at centre forward, with Mudaliar and Kalki providing flanking pace in attack.
Kbzon would sound the first alarm, and very swiftly indeed, as they held the ball confidently from kick-off for over a minute. That had the Grilled players fan out to their liking, and a delightful ball over the top would find Cuban international Juan Sarcos, who had bet correctly on it being just over
Gilbert Webb's reach.
Massoud Dob went down promptly in reaction to Sarcos' grounder, which could have beaten a less-accomplished keeper.
A grateful Webb cleared to touch, and the Birds would spend the next five minutes or so, simply getting into the groove.
Salah Kamel was doing excellently in calming the game down, and with Grilled settled, they would begin to pressure Kbzon in return. Moey looked for and won a free-kick against Kbzon skipper and former Austrian U-20 star Thomas Wimmer in the 14th minute, which led to a lengthy set-up process. All that preparation did pay off, as
Wu Jinglong lifted it straight to Kamel, who nodded it on for
Kalki Parvathaneni to whip home.
Grilled were flying after going into the lead, but Kbzon stabilized in turn without too much ado, and largely herded Grilled's forwards around the periphery of their box. As such, the Birds found most of their opportunities on the wings, the pick of which was
Chu Xin Lee's delivery in the 28th minute, which Moey narrowly missed. Two minutes later, Kbzon would be back level, as Israeli forward Milton Ryan beat a circuitous route around the front door, before curling it sweetly past
Massoud Dob.
It would be Kbzon to take the lead next, as Sarcos made up for his early non-conversion, with an audacious lob in the 39th minute. However, the Birds were not lacking in the comeback spirit either, and
Vikram Mudaliar would mop up, after player-coach Mannus Blankendaal had deflected
Chan Ze Han's thunderous rising effort onto the crossbar. Blankendaal would have no time to rest, as he was then involved in a double save - first from Mudaliar, and then
Wu Jinglong.
That was surely more than any goalkeeper could be expected to do, and Blankendaal would be given a standing ovation from most of his club's fans, as he made his way into the tunnel for half-time. The match would take its time to pick the pace back up, and a lazy first fifteen minutes of the second half would have
Teo Chuan Yong's entry for
Kalle ter Berg as it's highlight. Teo would immediately set about making things happen, but the actual impact would be limited through little fault of his own.
And then, Kbzon were suddenly ahead yet again. The Chilean team had not spent much time in shooting range at all, but when they did, they tended to look markedly more dangerous than Grilled. Thus was it in the 67th minute, as Mats Norrlind advanced seemingly without care for any of his Grilled opponents.
Bhavya Panigrahi was left to decide whether to confront Norrlind or stay with Van der Heide, chose the former, and had to watch as the Dutchman scored from the assist.
Kbzon wouldn't be celebrating for long, though, as the Birds stuck back instantly through
Chu Xin Lee, as they made directly for the opposing goal from kick-off. There was no pretense at tactical subtlety now from Grilled at least, which seemed to work, as
Salah Kamel would soon smash a powerful drive off the upright.
Eren Serpin would try to pour oil on the fire with
Cyril Künzler and
Bernie Egan coming on, and it would be Kbzon fighting to preserve the draw from then on.
They might very well have done so, and would hold out reasonably comfortably, to the final minute of regular time. On what could well have been Grilled's final possession of note, Moey apparently played it too long behind Thomas Wimmer... only for Mudaliar to burst beyond the defender at a frightening clip. It remained as to whether the forward could control the ball properly at such pace, which he could. The angle was tight, but Mudaliar flashed it past Blankendaal's flailing arms to win the game and series.
