Futbol Flicker
Birds Battle Back
There were disturbing indications that Grilled Birds might have been headed towards a third loss in a row, but they would shake the stench of defeat off them in a stellar second half ravaging of Madrid's Ara Futbol Club. The Spanish sixth divisioners had pulled out some of their best soccer in a brilliant first half an hour, but a reversion to their mean would see Grilled dismantle them with almost painful efficiency.
Ara had advanced by shutting Switzerland's Jura-Oldstars out 2-0 in the previous round, in which their tight central defence had once again been identified as their main strength, in an otherwise balanced but unremarkable 3-5-2. This defence would be centered around Turkish captain Dündar Hişam, a no-nonsense hard man of the old school, with the like-minded Richard Reinhardt and Pedro Jamaica to his left and right respectively. Toni Abanto and Jude Cowper made a fine juxtaposition of young and old on the wings, being 18 and 37 years of age respectively, but they were united in their dedication to tracking back from the front.
It didn't help that the Birds were being lazy in their approach, with some of their players seemingly thinking that the win was in the bag, and they would be shaken up by Ara Futbol Club's far more respectful approach. None of the Spanish club's midfielders held a candle to Grilled's collection on paper, but this wouldn't matter when none of the latter bothered to chase, as was the case with a concerted Ara push in the sixth minute. If Bilal and fellows were expecting a routine counter, they would be badly mistaken, as the opposition's raw numbers saw Jamaica slip it past
Manuel Vadalà for the lead.
Vadalà's plea to be in charge of goal for this tournament appears to have been heard, what more with
Jānis Salmiņš needing some minor admonishment for his current form, but truth be told, the Italian doesn't seem the answer to the Birds' goaltending woes either. He would be shaky enough on several Ara crosses, and
Mateja Jeftić wouldn't help with his badly-taken 19th minute penalty, which Ara's Dutch veteran Kevin Dudok smothered handily.
Ara Futbol Club then made it two against all expectations, as they exploited
Kalle ter Berg's reluctance to follow Abanto on Ara's left. The youngster might be something of an unpolished diamond, but he was definitely not lacking in a willingness to run himself into the ground. That was enough to get him to Grilled's penalty box, and he then further impressed with the presence of mind to spot Rafał Krzywousty gliding free at the other side. The pass was good enough, and Krzywousty hit it firmly under Vadalà.
Hilal Bakhtiar was spotted covering his face with his palms at that combination of slack defending and bad goalkeeping, but the Birds would at least haul themselves promptly out of this latest hole. Grilled were dangerous enough on their own attacks, Ara's stout defence considered, and they could not prevent another penalty being awarded, this time for an illegal check on
Bernie Egan. Jeftić was eager not to commit the same mistake, and he would put it low to the right of Dudok this time, in textbook fashion.
The Spaniards would maintain their lead - if barely - to half-time, which was slightly worrying in itself, although the Birds had enough of the possession that one had to think that they would turn it around. As it was, it wouldn't take too long. Three minutes into the second half, Kalle's attacking instincts would come good, as he advanced on a series of one-twos with
Vikram Mudaliar down the right. Once within range, he would go for the near top corner, and hit the target with uncommon precision.
Ara were no longer able to keep up the high-tempo press that they had employed to such effect before, and this would precipitate a wholesale collapse from the back. Mudaliar would have them - particularly Reinhardt - bothered with his constant little runs from the right, one of which necessitated another good stop by Dudok in the 51st, and it wouldn't be long before Grilled took the lead for the first time. Egan took on Jamaica one-on-one on the other flank, and the Brazilian was ill-suited to a pure footrace, not against such acceleration. 3-2, finally.
Bakhtiar would not leave matters to fate here, as he made his changes, with
Kalle ter Berg's rediscovered industry not enough to save him from being replaced by
Wu Jinglong on the right. As for
Heng Dong Chu, he had been merely adequate, and it thus came as little wonder that
Kalki Parvathaneni would enter for him here.
Grilled were certainly in the driving seat now, and it soon became a question of how many more they could score.
Chan Ze Han was in overdrive, and would receive special attention from the Ara defenders, when Egan swung it in from the left. The referee let the rather obvious shirt-pulling go then, but he couldn't turn a blind eye when Hişam held Chan back a second time, several minutes later. That made the Birds' third penalty of the day, which was not taken very well by the opposition support;
Mateja Jeftić had gotten the hang of it in any case, as he confidently went for the top left.
Four would become five with barely any delay, as
Wu Jinglong again took pains to remind the Grilled fans of why he continued to deserve a place in the squad. Most 37 year-olds would be seeking to wind down their career in a lesser league, if not outright retire, but Wu could never be accused of not having a thirst to prove himself. Reinhardt would be a shadow of his former self by now, and there would be no slowing the former Chinese youth international, as he scooted past to jig Dudok too.
