The Crazy Comes After
Ortega Onto Joke
There was never much question about Grilled Birds qualifying from Group D of the Bovag Cup, not after they had already garnered full points from the first two rounds, but it was never quite a doubt that they were going to enjoy their time with Peruvian V.196 side crazy s.a. either. Despite leading their league thus far, crazy s.a. had lost both previous matches in the tourney, and to clubs that the Birds had beaten handily, and 38 year-old Italian skipper Sebastian Gisaldi would be candid about this being a learning experience.
Their homegrown set - particularly Arnao, Terrones and Carvajulca, representing different generations from their academy - had spirit, and Gisaldi would attempt to marshal a vigorous pressing effort whenever Grilled advanced, but neither would be sufficient. Bakhtiar had made some allowances, with
Prokop Mottl and
José Luiz Velho starting wide when they were clearly better options available, and the Jaška/Yuta defensive pairing had to moreover be way down the Birds' preference list. None of these concessions would matter materially, and
Salah Kamel would open with a nice grounder, after a busy first seven minutes.
Kalle ter Berg has not often gotten the chance to try his hand at free-kicks, and he made the most out of his 22nd minute take, curling it just beyond Orlando Lahoud. There would then be much jubilation, when well-liked club senior
Yuta Nakakita reacted quickest to a deflection on a corner, to drop a glancing header in for 3-0. The 39 year-old might not have long left at the club, but he is at least enjoying it here.
Ten more minutes would pass before the Birds added to their tally, with Velho being the main driver of Grilled's next two strikes. First, he would make full use of disarray down the opposition's left, and got past Eduardo Pucuhuayla on the outside before making the most of a tight angle. Velho would send a hanging, flat cross in on his next run, and
Salah Kamel was its equal with a massive final leap.
That made it five goals down for crazy s.a. at 37 minutes, and even their most diehard fan would have to accept that they probably wouldn't be winning this one. There would be a cosy moment for them, though, as a lazy link-up between Yuta and Jaška would let Erick Ortega in for a consolation - but from how the duo were smiling afterwards, they weren't trying too hard.
Chan Ze Han, humourless as ever, would force the lead back to five soon enough anyway, and Sebastian Gisaldi would then be booked for a bad takedown of
Teo Chuan Yong.
Half-time saw goalkeeper
Manuel Vadalà come off for
Cameron Law, and Velho for
Heng Dong Chu, who would however inexplicably be less effective than the Brazilian. No matter, Chan would be there to spearhead the assaults, as the rest of the Grilled squad appeared to have adopted the mercy rule to an extent. Not the Number Eleven, as he bullied the defenders into giving up an open shot in the 57th minute. Orlando Lahoud made an exceptional save, but
Kalki Parvathaneni couldn't resist poaching the rebound there.
Teo would be taken off for
Chu Xin Lee next, partly as a precaution, which coincided with crazy s.a.'s next big chance. Joaquín Arnao - about to celebrate his 19th birthday - was left with the ball after a sweet cushion off the chest by Terrones, but he would slam it off the goalpost, to his own great disappointment. Chan would be only too happy to demonstrate how it should be done, as he wrapped up his hat-trick in the last minute, before Kamel had an injury time cracker stopped.
