Rozus Rear Up
Amazing Four Minutes
After Neighbours United conceded a walkover in the Insane Hard World Cup, Grilled were free to arrange their own friendly, and decided to host a match with Polish side rozus TEAM. The weather didn't cooperate as a thunderstorm swept over the western regions of Singapore, and the sides had to trudge out onto a very heavy pitch.
Less than two thousand die-hards turned out despite the rare sight of a home friendly, and they could hardly be blamed given the sad state of affairs.
Ivaylo Mirchev tackled himself as much as he did tackle Zenon Kozikowski after catching a foot in a puddle, but the unforgiving referee felt that an early booking was appropriate.
With the players hardly able to move the ball around, the visitors finally broke the deadlock with a tactic seemingly inspired by rugby. After getting a free-kick, they simply pushed half a dozen players into Grilled's penalty area at the same time, and with the low visibility it wasn't hard for one of their number to shift the ball into goal before Valdir could get a fix on it.
With the usually sprightly
Tapesh Chowdhury unable to use any of his skill, Grilled relied on the ever-willing
Ciro Penati as their main outlet. The Italian went with the basics of getting his head down and running with the ball, and though it was hard going this eventually resulted in a scrappy goal by Mohd Firdaus.
The visitors became unhappy when their goalkeeper José Gato was accidentally elbowed by Fjällbratt in the 40th minute, and their coach was incensed when Gato was again bumped by an overeager
Ahmad Tharmini bin Selamat. This was all the Spanish goalkeeper could take, and he was taken over by Albert Surma.
Fjällbratt headed Grilled into the lead after sixty-six minutes, and of all things the substitute goalkeeper Albert Surma had to be replaced too, after he slipped and fell awkwardly on his ankle. With no other keepers available, winger Henryk Kosno warmed up and donned gloves.
An incredible spell of four minutes then occured, as Feliks Wiciak and Jaroslaw Dryl struck within a minute of each other to get rozus back in front. Grilled found themselves chasing the game in the blink of an eye, but Mirchev had the presence of mind to try Kosno with a hopeful shot at the first possible instant. Kosno was indeed not a very good goalkeeper, as he dove but landed too late to prevent Mirchev's gamble from paying off.
The visitors won a corner straight from the restart, and the six foot three Roman Denkowski was a sheer tower as he directed a header through Valdir's guard despite Lik-Tsun's close attention. The action was not over, however, as Mirchev blasted another hasty strike at Kosno, who again let it past him. Kosno improved slightly and even managed to hold on to a good effort by Chowdhury, as the match ended in a four-all draw.
