Analdart Peter Out
Chan Leads Countercharge
Faroese club Analdart, currently second in their II.4 league, ran the Birds close for most of their World Battle fixture. Their 4-3-3 was devastatingly effective in iconic player-coach Józef Jażdżewski's hands, with the former national youth forward personally leading the line, with support from juniors Ásmóður Lynghamar and Dan Ingi við Misá. This was enough for them to go in front twice as Grilled contended themselves - largely fruitlessly - with their solid backline, before finally finding their way through late.
Analdart's managing to keep Grilled under wraps for so long had to be attributed in large part to the defensive sense of fullbacks Andrés Celemín and Janisław Ciszewicz, with the former ex-Colombian U-20 star especially effective in ensuring that
Salah Kamel didn't get behind him. Celemín hardly neglected his offensive duties either, and would in fact score the opener in the fifth minute, as Analdart sent a long ball to Við Misá on the right, and the forward drew all attention towards his fellow strikers, before smartly swiveling and playing the onrushing Celemín through.
That didn't reflect the general run of play, which continued to be the Birds pressing their reactive opponents. It wasn't like Analdart weren't coping comfortably enough for the most part, what with their wide players tucking in when needed, and try as
Chan Ze Han might to set up his teammates, the first half-hour largely drew a blank there.
Shekar Kannan then thundered in with a jarring change of pace. The outside-of-boot finish went past Russian goalkeeper Konstantin Mazitov, but then bounced marginally wide.
The Faroese side were not in great shape by then, but they would muster a near sucker punch, as their next attack saw Lynghamar completely fool
Bhavya Panigrahi with a head feint - at which the Grilled defender would embarassingly have to wrestle him down, as he dribbled by. Astoundingly, Panigrahi escaped a booking for that, and Lynghamar pumped the free-kick straight to
Jānis Salmiņš. The Birds kept on plugging away, and their consistency finally paid off five minutes from the end of the half, as
Bilal Mohammad Harun polished off a long-running move for 1-1.
Hilal Bakhtiar evidently felt that his team could have done much better, and the second half began with
Salah Kamel and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud missing, with
Heng Dong Chu and
Kalki Parvathaneni in their respective places. While Kamel and Abd Hadi hadn't impressed, the replacement wouldn't bear much fruit either, and it would be Analdart up again in the 70th minute, following a counter from Kalki's miss from an indirect free-kick. That left too many Birds players upfield, and three Analdart players breaking down their left flank was enough to overpower
Sølve Lunde and
Teo Chuan Yong, with Sámal Pauli Tjørnudal left to apply the final touch from two yards.
It was looking like another disappointing World Battle outing for the Birds, when Bilal went at it again. The verdict is out on whether the midfielder is truly back to his imperious pre-injury best from some two seasons ago, but from how he protected the ball under pressure, before blasting it unstoppably past Mazitov in the 73rd minute - he would have to be accounted a great asset to the Grilled squad anyway, in his current condition.
Still, the Birds were not exactly winning just yet, and for that, they would have to depend on another of their stars.
Chan Ze Han has had been having a rather quiet season by his own standards, with a competitive goal drought lasting four games. Few of his teammates would claim to exert more influence on Grilled's play despite that, however, and indeed much of that could be attributed to his willingness to go for the assist. Needs must, though, and Chan would use
Vikram Mudaliar's presence to mask his own approach in the 76th, and just about lifted it past the goalie for 3-2.
The Birds were in front for the first time with that, and it was also the end of Mudaliar's day soon after, with
Chu Xin Lee coming on for the last ten minutes or so. This period saw the roles reversed, with Analdarts the ones to try and force the pace, to which Grilled began to engage in some time-wasting of their own. Injury time rolled around with Analdarts making little headway, and it would instead be Chan to volley another goal home, from a neat
Shekar Kannan cross from the right.
