Srebrenica Last Stand
Decisive Late Breach
Bosnia and Herzegovina II.4 side Srebrenica 28 division nearly kept Grilled Birds to a draw despite being bombarded all through the second half, and much of the first, but the Birds would eventually claim their just reward. Regardless, it remained an excellent case study in how a team might yet take something from a match from behind, even if held to next to no chances created.
This would be the final round of the World Battle tourney, with nearly all participants playing for pride alone, and Srebrenica had enough of that - they had just promoted to the second division for the first time in their history under young hometown favourite Ensar Bošnjo, with experienced midfield star signings Nicola Fasulo and Evandro Cecchinato playing a big part in their promotion. It would be the latter to start today alongside Australian national prospect Fidel Christodoulou and Englishman Phil Power, with tricky Chilean striker Christiano Trobbianni their most obvious threat.
While a fine contest on paper, it would hardly be one in reality, and
Shekar Kannan's racing by Jean-François Sauser in the second minute to unfortunately place it weakly at Jakob Frank, would set the tenor of what was to come.
Kalki Parvathaneni would start centrally and was no less dangerous for it, and in the 12th minute, he would partake of
Moey Xin Seng's give-and-go offer on the left. Cosmin Negrean made to shut him down too late, as Kalki had already found the near corner.
What gave could also take away, as Grilled's increasing focus on attacking down that flank, would see themselves shorthanded when it came the other way.
Douglas Carapaica had joined in the press upfield too by the 22nd minute, and it was only too straightfoward for Adrien Schafrath to feed Brazilian forward Armindo José Sosa to take it on, after Kamel lost the ball while retreating.
Jānis Salmiņš saw the powerful shot come back off his crossbar, but it was but a brief respite, as Trobbianni inserted himself to equalize on the volley, before it hit the ground.
The rest of the half would go mostly the Birds' way, as it had before, but Srebrenica were not defending too badly at this stage, as they busied themselves in man-to-man marking. The major lapse would come soon after Trobbianni's goal, as
Chu Xin Lee rushed to connect with another prospective Moey assist, after the Grilled captain had come off the better against Tharwat Assem. Chu seemed to overthink his final approach, however, and couldn't get a clean touch.
Grilled would shake clear of Srebrenica's shackles after the interval, with the coaching staff having apparently advised them on appropriate movement patterns, and this resulted in a constant stream of attempts on goal.
Bhavya Panigrahi went first about six minutes into the second half, after
Salah Kamel put it high into the box at the end of a long spell of possession.
Chan Ze Han's missed contact saw the defender free to put his head through it, but it spun about a yard wide of the post.
The focus would then shift over to the right flank as Srebrenica tried to adapt, and
Shekar Kannan would come back into the limelight, as he found himself with more space and time as Ajdin Pehlivanović got shifted over, along with the rest of his midfield. Kannan punted it over to
Vikram Mudaliar in the 69th minute, but the Number Nine missed barely, as he made the best of it in an awkward posture on the turn. A bit later, it was again Kannan to deliver if after exchanging wings, but Negrean took it away from
Moey Xin Seng just in time, with a tremendous leap.
That would also signal the end of Mudaliar's time on the pitch, as Bakhtiar threw
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud on, for a different approach. Grilled were certainly getting increasingly impatient, substitute or no subsitute, and none more so than
Shekar Kannan, who brought Pehlivanović down from behind after having lost out to the Srebrenica skipper on the touchline. It could have been a red by the book, but the referee was in a forgiving mood, not having had much to do before this.
Srebrenica were just about holding on, but looked good for a point, as they survived attack after Grilled attack;
Chan Ze Han looked to have made the breakthrough with ten minutes to go, as he so often does, when he lost his man and put it right to Moey's feet, just six yards from goal. Jakob Frank somehow managed the block, though, and Phil Power would deny Abd Hadi on the line, after chaos right in front of the open goal. If ever there was a sign that the Bosnians could walk away from this with a draw, this was it.
Chu Xin Lee wouldn't be cowed by that great escape, however, and it would be the just-turned 36 year-old, to win it three minutes later. Grilled kept on plugging stubbornly, and Bhavya would hit a terrific through pass from deep, which gave Chu the barest of windows to take it on. That he did, and he would crash it off the underside of the bar, and into the back of the net.
