Loudly Dismissed
Perçin Finisher
It would be the end of the line for both Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies at the quarterfinal stage of The Global Trophy, but the Birds must have felt the more hard done by, as they were tripped up by Bulgarian II.4 strugglers FC Silent Thunder. Under the same management umbrella as Germany's Gelus Lords and Barbados H.I. club FC Atlantic Hurricane, Thunder might have been the punching bag of their league, but as their recent 4-1 win over BuHeTy proved, they could be a handful on their day.
It remained to be seen whether they would turn up, then, and there weren't all too many signs that they would, their weekend boost notwithstanding. They did have 31 year-old German captain-coach Andreas Huefnagels in top form, as he took personal responsibility in the centre of the pitch. Spanish striker Edgar Román would hang about
Mateja Jeftić as
Gilbert Webb was dropped, as Thunder sought to play on the counter, as so many others have against Grilled.
Well, Thunder would if nothing else indicate that they weren't about to be walkovers, as young Chilean centreback Ignacio Reyes led his fellow defenders in welcoming the Birds forwards with tough love. None of them were afraid to get physical, and they were nimble enough to get away with it too. Additionally, they were clever enough to read Grilled's free-kick plans in the 15th minute, which allowed Huefnagels to work his magic in return; sadly for him, Román wasn't on the same wavelength yet.
Thunder would work it out on their next real opportunity, some ten minutes later after
Bilal Mohammad Harun hit an uninspired effort right at Gergely Raffai. The Hungarian Number One was always looking out to kick-start a breakaway, and he would find countryman Bertalan Hetesi racing away on the right wing, with a beauty of a throw. Hetesi would close in on Grilled's goal as Román made himself useful by peeling Jeftić aside, even as Arsenio Devia appeared from nowhere to apply the finish.
That was a head-turner, to say the least, and Thunder were only too willing to let Grilled do all the work next - which possibly was not the best approach, as sustained pressure brought another free-kick in the 33rd minute, this time converted by
Kalki Parvathaneni after a fake-out. There would be a huge double save from
Chan Ze Han and then
Moey Xin Seng, which developed into a second counter-attacking goal for the Bulgarians, this time from the opposite flank. Biser Filev did much of the running, and Roberto Artusi supplied the critical overlap.
Moey Xin Seng wasn't amused at how his teammates hadn't tracked Filev there, but that didn't change the reality that Grilled were again behind. Thunder would only get more conservative, and the Birds would find cracking their lines get only harder, as the match progressed. Reyes and company had figured out most of the favourite patterns of Grilled's forwards, so it seemed, and it would ironically take a counterattack of Grilled's own for them to earn their next shot on target.
Chan Ze Han's options were severely limited by Atanas Kicheec's coverage, however, and the best he could do was a weak strike to the side-netting.
Thunder were first to secure reinforcements, as they got the high-performing Gergely Raffai off for Italian backup Alex Frosi, possibly due to a thigh strain; Frosi would last just three minutes before being beaten at his back post, unfortunately for him, as
Kalki Parvathaneni sent one long from the left flank. There seemed to be nobody available at first, but
Chan Ze Han made up the necessary ground with a tremendous surge of pace, which transitioned into an even more astounding leap and header.
Now, Chan had never been particularly famed for his aerial prowess, which went to show just how complete of a striker he had made himself into. The game appeared Grilled's for the taking with some of the Thunder chaps noticeably deflated by the equalizer, and from how the two sets of players were moving, one had to give the Birds the advantage if it stretched into extra time.
Indeed, it could well have been all over had
Bhavya Panigrahi kept it inches lower on his dipping free-kick from the right corner of the penalty area, as the Thunder players began to fall into disarray. Only Huefnagels' intervention held them together at this point, but given how Grilled were going at them now, it seemed like it would take a miracle for them to survive for much longer.
That was exactly what was in stock, after
Bernie Egan's excellent cross was somehow uncharacteristically missed entirely by
Chan Ze Han, free in front of goal. Frosi's relieved clearance was met by a collected take from the experienced Filev on the left touchline, and he would leave Panigrahi behind with an ace turn. Thunder had a three-on-one going on now, and it was left to former Turkish youth international Oğuz Perçin to give them the lead for a third time.
With only eight minutes plus stoppage time remaining, the Birds wouldn't have much to waste, but fortune simply wasn't on their side today. Bilal would attempt redemption with a stellar athletic drive flying in from the right, only to watch it clip the outside of the post. Thunder turned out to have enough in the tank to see it through, and that was it for Grilled's tournament.
