Vilankulo Give Ground
Merlin Magic
Mozambique II.1 leaders Eintracht Vilankulo would yield a man advantage to the Birds from the get-go in this World Battle contest, and paid for it by going four down in the first half. French coach Cyrille Sastre did have the liberty of resting some and testing the rest, regardless, and they did briefly threaten a mini-rally of sorts, towards the finish.
Having won their first nine league games, Eintracht Vilankulo were running away with the title anyhow, with them currently eight points ahead of Tetehaute in second. Latest signing - Cyprus international Sevastianos Mantis - would disappointingly not be in today's squad, but it was hardly bereft of its own attractions; former Colombian U-20 star Rubén Darío Morales and captain Luís Américo Rodrigues aside, 30 year-old national representative Nani de Oliveira would start at wingback, to his usual warm welcome from the home support.
All this was hardly enough to make up for the numerical disadvantage against a strong Birds team in their own right, and it took
Salah Kamel only three minutes to create their first goal, per the uncommon sight of Nani being battered on defence. In his defence, he did redirect the cross slightly, but
Bilal Mohammad Harun had locked onto it, and caught the ball full on with his laces, sending it past Dicky Welman.
The hosts would settle after that, but continued to be left chasing the game. Grilled Birds would stick to methodically working their way through the middle, and despite some pretty competent positioning from Vilankulo by-and-by, they always looked like conceding eventually. That next would come from
Bhavya Panigrahi in the 20th minute, as he presented himself as the unmarked option, when
Shekar Kannan made to release the pass.
Little changed as Vilankulo continued to play passively, and Grilled were four up by the 36th minute.
Chu Xin Lee didn't harm his first-team chances with a good old-fashioned lumping of the ball into the net in the 28th, and with the opposition defence now reeling, it was more of a wonder that they took eight more minutes to concede another.
Kalki Parvathaneni was desperately unlucky with a real humdinger that crashed off the crossbar, but
Bilal Mohammad Harun dutifully chased it down, and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud put it back in.
It was looking a very dark day for the Mozambique club, but they would be saved from a goalless first half, by French forward Merlin David. Although known more for his pace than any heading prowess, it turned out that the former would be very useful in racing ahead of
Bhavya Panigrahi, as a searching pass came out of Vilankulo's defensive line.
Jānis Salmiņš appeared clear favourite to gather it, but David sprang higher than reasonably expected - and seemed to have had the aid of his upper arm. Salmiņš began protesting even before the ball had rolled over the goalline, but the referee let it go.
Grilled being four up already probably made that an easier decision that it could have been, and there were few signs that Vilankulo would be able to improve on it, after the interval. They did restore their shape somewhat, but Sastre remained uninterested in making up the numbers, and the Birds were not against providing their ten men a trial. Regular attacks were forthcoming, and Abd Hadi threw himself into a pretty impressive header of his own in the 64th, only to see it just barely slapped aside by Welman.
Goalscorer Merlin David would be off for Spaniard Diego González Pondal five minutes later, having exhausted himself as the lone target up top. Bakhtiar would soon follow suit with
Shekar Kannan and
Bhavya Panigrahi off for
Heng Dong Chu and
Gilbert Webb, to which Sastre responded by sending Marcus Klavsen on for Carlos Guiza. All these switches probably helped Vilankulo more than the Birds, and as the teams tentatively recovered their rhythm, Rubén Darío Morales made a 2-4 from Nani de Oliveira's wonderful through pass, breaking inside at just the right angle from the right side.
There would be a brief spark of expectation amongst the Vilankulo set at perhaps clawing back a draw, but reality soon crashed back upon them, as Grilled monopolized play for the remainder of the game. Abd Hadi would be taken off for
José Luiz Velho with five minutes left, immediately after missing one shot too many, and Velho would duly pull the string for
Heng Dong Chu to add one last goal, three minutes from time.
