Éirinn Hold On
Ramírez Final Save
Grilled Birds would collect a fourth World Battle draw for the season, after they were finally caught by Bosnia and Herzegovina II.3 side Éirinn go Brách, with almost the last kick of the game. 30 year-old Argentine Bassan Ramírez would be the perfect foil for them this day, as he fed wonderfully off their main striker Ljubomir Hadić, to garner the requisite hat-trick.
PoglabadoN might have effectively captured the league title, but last season's bavarac_Vinnie kup winners Éirinn go Brách were not about to mope about. It would be a 3-5-2 with Spanish custodian Zaki Rakham, homegrown national hero Šime Vidolin skippering in midfield, and Hadić leading the line. On form, however, it was longtime Number Eight Ilian Serdar who had been their main influence in midfield, over and above Vidolin.
The Birds got off to a quick start, perhaps with a potential third title on their mind for Sunday, with
Bernie Egan linking up excellently with
Heng Dong Chu for the first ten minutes or so; when the opener came, however, it would be from the middle instead, with
Chan Ze Han looking to set up the give-and-go against French centreback Maxime Roulleau. Egan had other ideas, and continued his run to just barely slot it past Rakham from an unpromising angle.
It was going pretty well for Grilled about now, and it was 2-0 a couple of minutes later, as
Chu Xin Lee tricked his way gloriously from the right wing, when it seemed so much easier to pass. A steamrolling might have been on the cards had
Bilal Mohammad Harun kept his effort from distance just inches lower, but that raking 20th minute strike came straight back off the crossbar instead. Éirinn were not about to pass up on the counterattack it afforded them, and
Douglas Carapaica would have to bring Hadić down within sight of goal. Roulleau sized it up for a long while as his teammates got into position, before bending it slightly wide of the top right corner he was aiming for.
The miss did embolden Éirinn, who began to assemble a number of probing efforts from out wide. Few of them came to much, before ex-Filipino youth international winger Noli Lad drew Douglas to the byline with a mazy, threatening run. The Panama defender did force him to the corner flag, but hadn't counted on Lad releasing it to Behrid Bumba just on time, and Bumba's cross would in turn be met strongly by Ramírez's head for 1-2.
The match was starting to get particularly open at both ends, and Éirinn's increased fervour meant that it was hard to pick who would score the next goal. It wound up being the Birds, as
Moey Xin Seng put a foot in on a subtle midfield exchange in the 37th minute, chipping it into position for
Teo Chuan Yong to attempt a half-volley, which he executed flawlessly. Éirinn were swift to reply to this, though, and from their next free-kick a minute later, Roulleau would deliver it into the box, and Marijan Kranjčar outmuscle
Heng Dong Chu to bang it home without overdue delicacy.
Half-time had
Salah Kamel return from his thigh concern, replacing
Moey Xin Seng, whose age was undeniably starting to show a little. Kamel didn't look at his best, but this was enough to about hold his own against Bumba. For creativity, the Birds would increasingly turn to
Chu Xin Lee with Heng finding little joy against Ricardo Guillarte's close coverage, and Chu lived well up to expectations with another clever change of direction in the 52nd. Bilal saw it coming a fraction before anyone else, and the ball into space would again be collected by and feinted past Rakham, by the Birds maestro.
It would take more than that to put Éirinn down, what with the combative Hadić calling for it at every opportunity, and it would often take two men to keep the tall striker under wraps. This unavoidably opened room up for anyone else near him, as it did for Ramírez, who presented himself as a secondary option 58 minutes in. Serdar adjusted his pass accordingly, and Ramírez did his part by making some additional yards with an exaggerated stepover, before thrashing it past
Jānis Salmiņš once more.
Grilled weren't doing all that badly in defence, that aside, but
Hilal Bakhtiar still saw fit to switch it up with twenty minutes to go. Off came Douglas and Jeftić, with
Gilbert Webb and
Sølve Lunde given a chance to prove themselves. This they largely did, up until some uncalled-for ebullience in injury time. Webb went up for a corner and got it on target against Rakham, whose save would however become the platform for a fateful Éirinn counter. And it just had to be Ramírez to finish that, after Lunde flubbed on the interception.
