Cambodian Crushing
Gustavsson Gunning
Grilled tasted defeat for their fourth friendly in a row, this time to five-time Cambodian Cup and three-time Cambodian top flight champions, DLM Cambodia. DLM may have been stuttering in their league this season, but were still more than strong enough to dominate Grilled from beginning to end.
It didn't look so bad at the start, as the Birds matched their hosts stride for stride in the opening quarter, even putting in a few imaginative combinations. The game turned when much-storied Swedish striker Björn Gustavsson, with 367 goals under his belt and still going strong at 33 years of age, eased past Huihong on the left and blasting in from José Isidro's clever ball.
That was soon followed with another for Gustavsson, this one from his head as he rose at just the right moment to go over Tuan-Mu. Hardo Aron and Janis Svilpis continued the rout with goals of their own, as the match began to get overheated for a friendly. Mirchev displayed the scratch marks on his thigh after Andreas Helin had raked his boot over it, which earned a yellow card for the Belgian but little sympathy from the partisan crowd.
Olaf Fritthum struck against the post as the home fans chanted for more goals, and things might have gotten ugly when bin Yaacob appeared to back deliberately into Tulys Lemkis as the two watched for the ball in flight. The referee gave bin Yaacob the benefit of the doubt, but Lemkis wasn't faking it when he remained down, and had to be replaced by Andy Vetter just before half-time.
Björn Gustavsson got things going again in the second half by completing his hat-trick in the 61st minute, before substitute Andy Vetter impressed with a killer low drive that gave Bao-Tam no hope. András Andreánszky made it 7-0 as he cut in past the demoralized Huihong and placed his shot nicely.
That was the last straw for Grilled's leftback, who launched the ball rather more powerfully than could have been reasonably expected into the grandstand on a routine clearance. That bit of petulance was rightly punished by a booking, and Gustavsson deservedly had the final say as he cheekily dribbled past Bao-Tam to cap his wonderful outing.
