Salamanca Scorching
Ramos Rampage
Grilled found no joy against the defensively solid Atco Salamanca of Spain, in a faceoff between 4-5-1 formations. The hosts took their time finding the measure of the visiting Birds, and even then didn't overcommit - their first goal came from a very long pass right down the centre to a marauding David Santa María, who dug low to loop a dipping ball over Bao-Tam.
Mirchev, more a attacking specialist, became midfielder enforcer as he hounded the opposition mids relentlessly. His will was not backed up by his tackling skill, unfortunately, and his ardour was swiftly damped by a prompt yellow card. Salamanca never let up on their pressure, and through it came their second, with Heintzschel scoring after
Fu Dijiang was robbed in a vulnerable position.
Sandor Deme was looking unusually shaky as Grilled's leftback, and was left exposed by a quick bit of trickery from German winger Norbert Pietler. Unable to make up the lost ground in time, he could only watch as Pietler fed Ramos for the third goal. The local forward had the time of his life against an unschooled Grilled defence, and knocked in a penalty after Chuancheng tripped him in the penalty area.
Ramos was substituted in the 55th minute, after Salamanca were 6-0 up from Valerio Botana's tap-in and a scrappy Alfredo Novoa finish. In for him was Croatian veteran Niko Telak, who was more interested in pacing himself. Too bad for Grilled that his languid style wasn't copied for the rest of his side, with Heintzschel copping a yellow card for blocking Tuan-Mu's free-kick deep in the Grilled half, an act that left the Grilled defender puzzled.
After another goal by David Santa María thanks to poor communication by Seng-Huat, Hjortlind lost his cool yet again and bumped Botana maliciously when he had little hope of retrieving the ball. The referee decided to spare the red card, so Grilled still had eleven men in the game when Botana got his revenge by nodding in the eighth and final goal.
