Jin Not In
Ulf Unbinds
Historic East Coast team jin jan eah tried to put a stranglehold on Grilled as they have done to their last three Cup victims, winning by a single goal in low-scoring affairs each time; Grilled were subdued but not surpressed as they came through with three valuable strikes from limited chances.
It was full house again at the 61000-seater jin jan eah Arena, and jin set the tone for the game by swallowing up free space from the kick-off, making Grilled pass aimlessly in defence while they figured out how to break the vise. They didn't find a solution for twenty minutes, during which rightback Mårten Eriksson was booked for apparently flooring
Ma Dai-Lin. There was some merit in his teammates' protests that the slippery grass exaggerated Ma's fall, though.
Lan Tuan-Mu, a workhorse in defence, was next to suffer as he stumbled, disorientated, after an aerial duel. Not wishing to take further risks, Pakpao was summoned to replace Lan in the heart of defence.
That bit of drama over, Ulf piled on the heat as he spun away from his marker in telepathic empathy with Dai-Lin, who released his short pass at the same instant. Zainuddin bin Darus dived on reflex, but not quickly enough. Longtime jin jan eah defender Dave Bradley committed a schoolboy mistake when he rolled a ground ball that got stopped by the mud.
Ola Martinsson saw his chance and won it, using one more step to line up his shot into the bottom corner.
The home ground were less than optimistic knowing that attack wasn't their side's strong point, but American forward Harrison Tucker gave them reason to hope with his third Cup goal of the season. On-form Swede winger Johan Andersson tricked Alcántara and centered the perfect ball for the burly Tucker to bump home.
The second half saw bad misses from Kek-Tjiang, Rottman and Hjortlind, who all choked when faced with open goals. Two-one appeared the final score when
Ola Martinsson just missed a spectacular long range effort from an acute angle, but Hjortlind confirmed Grilled's place in the last thirty-two with a singular effort in the 85th minute. jin jan eah's midfielder Byron Noland got a late booking, and Englishman Bradley was knocked up in a clash with Martinsson in the last minute, but it didn't make a difference.
