Bukakata Bear Down
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A spin-off of Germany's DJK Rotation Osnabrück, BSG Turbine Bukakata have arguably long outdone their forebears in almost getting promoted to Uganda's top division; they were in any case good enough to defeat the Birds with the team they had, in this World Battle opener. Cessar Lawoko would lead an expensively-assembled Bukakata front three, with 29 year-old Endesha Ssali directing play from central defence. Grilled did keep him engaged, but hardly ever really troubled, with
Prokop Mottl's limitations coming to the fore.
Tian Yonghang would give the go-ahead for his seniors to return to midfield, with
Bilal Mohammad Harun and
Teo Chuan Yong looking far more naturally-settled than they had been in a long while.
Aw Keng Chuan stayed in a stopper role, though, and the wing pair of
Enrique Baena and
Paulino Trindade were highly unpredictable, but not especially effective. Baena moreover had the handicap of being on Bukakata's strong wide with Raynald Mustapha providing extra coverage, as the Ugandan club fielded an asymmetrical 4-3-3.
The Birds were not about to constrain themselves unnecessarily in this competition, and the midfield would cut loose with an instinctive style, blending plenty of running by the youngsters, with a more-measured array of passes from the centre. This set
Bhavya Panigrahi up with a promising-looking free-kick setup straight in front of the penalty area in the ninth minute, but he skewed that one well wide.
Bukakata made little attempt to hide their counterattacking plans, and they would mount two notable ones by the 20th minute. Aw and then Baena would run into brick walls following standoffs, and their impatience would result in veteran midfielder Biashara Kabeta getting two fair goes at
Manuel Vadalà. The first, a free-kick, would be saved handily, while the second had the goalkeeper taken out of it by Lawoko's slick backheel, but Kabeta could only smash it off the outside of the goalpost.
The opener, then, would arrive from an unlikely source, as Bukakata found themselves asking the questions for once, as the first half an hour rolled over. This would be a cautious advance with the Birds apparently willing to allow their opponents to expose themselves, but this attitude backfired as defender Balozi Musoke unleased a screamer from the right edge of the box. There could be no getting to that for Vadalà, and it was one-nil.
Grilled could point to their 64 percent possession for the half as a sign that they were doing something right at least, and with so much of the ball, things had to fall into place for them eventually. Indeed, Baena would finally give all his markers the run-around after 55 minutes, and
Moey Xin Seng would see the makings of an open shot, darting between the central defenders right as Ssali turned his attention away. The drilled low cross wasn't the easiest to get to, but Moey got it done for one-all.
Bukakata showed themselves well able to shift it up the wings too, however, and Mustapha would make good distance up their left in the next couple of minutes, with Baena now bombing forward recklessly.
Bhavya Panigrahi would be dragged this way and that by Henry Muwanga's constant movement, and the moment he resolved to stay put, Muwanga would instead use the space created, to curl a bazooka ever so slightly and past Vadalà, and in at his near post.
This was perhaps a slightly embarassing effort for the Birds goalkeeper to give up, considering the distance, with his defensive teammates having done their basic duty. The opposition's third goal would arguably be wholly on the referee, though, as he whistled for a penalty, after supposing that Alessandro Idone had his run blocked off by two Grilled players. Replays suggested it was clearly outside the penalty area if true, but Kabeta put that out of his mind, and outgunned Vadalà from the spot.
José Luiz Velho would soon ride in for Mottl, who had perhaps done less than expected of his as focal point of the attack, and while Velho's style would raise some alerts amongst the Bukakata defence, there would be no breakthrough yet. That came only after
Mohd Marzuki Khairul replaced Aw as the Birds made a last-ditch effort to close the gap, and led to
Chan Ze Han earning a free-kick, that
Bhavya Panigrahi lashed home before the wall was done. Bukakata wised up following that, however, and preserved their win.
