Valdes Vroom
Tang Tricks
Grilled were taken to the cleaners by visiting Argentinean side Valdes Sport Club, whose yellow shirts and blue shorts far outmatched Grilled's green and silver in the friendly. It was the sixth friendly in a row where Grilled had failed to score, no thanks to Liehner's refusal to risk any of his more established midfielders.
Israeli expatriate striker Sidney Tang was in a productive mood as he prowled Grilled's backline, as the recently promoted
Mustaffa Kamal bin Mohamed actually had a decent game at centreback, in comparism to Seng-Huat. Neither was able to stop Tang when he intercepted a lazy square ball that stuck in the mud, though, and Bao-Tam flung himself too late to prevent the goal.
Although the rain made displays of skill difficult, noted dribbler Catalino Chamot wasn't dismayed as he used simple speed to nudge past
Hu Huihong and score twice. Ripoll had similar easy against a discouraged Huihong, as he cut back a short cross that Péter Siti thumped into the net. Stefan Hansson got the fifth goal by the 35th minute, but by the looks of the over 3000 diehards staying in the stands, they hadn't expected better from Grilled's ramshackle reserve side.
Valdes midfielder Sebastián Martín Pérez was one of the few visiting players who was noticeably affected by the weather, as he kept stumbling on the well-worn pitch. Not that it held Valdes back, as Vítor Luzes scored off yet another fine Ripoll cross, before Hansson crudely cut down the teenaged
She Pingzheng. That was the end of the game for She, who was stretchered off for
Fu Dijiang to enter.
That was the only lull in an otherwise one-sided game, as the visiting side beat Bao-Tam three more times through Macudu and Tang, who completed his treble in the 79th minute. The spectators hadn't lost their sense of humour, though, and cries of
"We want ten!" rang out around the mostly-empty stadium. Valdes had no such luck, as Bao-Tam made a series of late stops to prevent that.
