Downed By Heineken
Saraliev Irresistable
Results continued to be hard to come by as the Birds stumbled on with an ever-reducing squad, not helped today by having to play Heineken P.F.C. - currently second in Panama's LPF - or by having to make do with ten men throughout, as
Tian Yonghang busied himself optimizing for saleability.
Aw Keng Chuan would start in defence, and duly given a rude introduction to the top levels by big Bulgarian striker Alexander Saraliev, who utterly manhandled him despite being no string bean himself.
Well, Heineken P.F.C. were chasing the national title for a reason, and as Panamanian former youth international
Douglas Carapaica attested to, they have been among the favourites for the past few seasons at least. This much was evident from their frighteningly-complete XI, that other than Saraliev and Belgian small-man partner Jeroen Meyes, had the redoubtable Alexey Pilipeiko captaining them in goal. Bert Boersma and Johannes Dyb then made for a five-star core in midfield, one against which Grilled's stars could not help but look somewhat haggard.
Saraliev did not take long to get going, and barely three minutes had gone by when he had already found the crossbar, as he ran neatly onto a long ball out from the back. That hinted at some incredible awareness and aerial ability, though he needed neither to score for real, eight minutes on. Panigrahi and Aw were caught ball-watching as Boersma faked a dribble but went for the pass, and all Saraliev had to do was to see it coming, for 1-0.
The Birds were not entirely out of it, at least, and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud would let out some of his own resentments, by equalizing a bit later. His dreams of establishing himself amongst the Grilled pantheon apparently shattered, the transfer-listed midfielder would recognize the need to sell himself, it seemed, and that he did by utterly embarassing Italian centreback Giuseppe Galardo. Galardo bought his dummy hook, line and sinker, and Abd Hadi went on to complete the move with a heavenly finish high into the net.
That lifted Grilled, but not for long with Heineken roaring back with the next two big chances, with Meyes breaking free only to find the bar again, and then Saraliev again battling clear of Aw, only to be forced outside and pressed into a weak cross.
Kalki Parvathaneni looked to make them regret it as he finessed a promising lob upon cutting to the centre in the 32nd minute, but it went marginally over with Pilipeiko probably having it covered anyway.
Not too bad for ten men, actually, and one could hardly fault the Grilled team as they finally ran out of gas deeper into the second half. Before that, it continued to be largely a standoff in midfield, with the Panama club mustering only an overcomplicated indirect free-kick attempt before about the 70th minute. It all started to pick up again as Abd Hadi made to fire the Birds into the lead, but for some brave goaltending by Pilipeiko once again.
This close shave instead sparked Heineken to give it their all, and within two minutes, they would be three-one up. The ensuing long throw out went straight to Ilie Maior on the right, who made his way down the right touchline, before bending it invitingly into the penalty box. It was a cross made just for Saraliev, who could not miss once
Manuel Vadalà failed to intercept. Meyes would not make the same mistake again too, as he got played inside by Saraliev a minute later.
Tian would evidently be trying to save Aw's morale as he removed the youngster from the game in the 75th minute, though it was not like
Gilbert Webb did much better; he would be fortunate as the fired-up forward ran himself out of play twice in succession, but that wouldn't stop him from bagging his hat-trick with three minutes remaining, right after
José Luiz Velho replaced Kalki. The Birds' shape collapsed entirely about that point, which made their goal easy pickings by the more-composed opposition.
It wasn't over either, as
Manuel Vadalà didn't exactly raise faith in his goalkeeping abilities, in fumbling a routine corner take next. That was dropped to Ilie Maior, who had the decency not to celebrate too exuberantly, after tucking the gimme away.
