The Nankatsu Massacre
Grahm Music
Uruguay II.1 club Nankatsu 14 were simply too much for Grilled Birds in today's World Battle fixture, to the extent that the 8-0 final score actually felt kind to the Birds. Indeed, Nankatsu boasted stars as good as Grilled have ever had, with transfer-listed former Lithuanian U-20 midfielder Rūstis Renkevičius for example having blended defence and attack into a fine art. It was telling that even that was not a patch on Swiss Number Nine Fadri Grahm, who would stroll about as though the Birds' defence did not exist.
Nankatsu might have just suffered a narrow 3-4 loss to Uruguay legends dalebolso, but this rag-tag Birds selection was another thing altogether; with
Aw Keng Chuan at centre forward, it had to be hard to take the selection seriously, although there were no signs that
Tian Yonghang was trying to be funny or disrespectful. Rather, it looked a honest attempt to shore up his centre as best as he could, with
Moey Xin Seng dropped down alongside Teo and Bilal, to face down with Nankatsu's picks.
This would not work very well with Grilled's neglect of basic stamina training to cater to their young trainees evident, and the hosts would quickly overpower the Birds' paltry efforts. Grahm would be perpetually one step ahead of Panigrahi and Webb, as in the 18th minute when he showed the ball to both, before simply drilling it from the middle to the left bottom corner. Grilled were again not too bad for now, and Aw would actually manage to boot it hard at goal in the 31st minute, after some haphazard running from
Enrique Baena - but Aleandro Marecos would be there to stop it.
The match would go into overdrive just before half-time, as Nankatsu unleashed the full gamut of their abilities, on the tiring Birds backline. Both defenders had been whittled down by Grahm, without taking strike partner Correa into account, and it was over once Hanas Kolašinac broke through Grilled's midfield in the 38th minute, which was 2-0. Correa's yellow for a bump on Webb would be followed by more goals for Rūstis Renkevičius and Kolašinac, as the Birds all but gave up the ghost here.
Grilled would use the interval to recollect themselves and throw Lim Ah Keng on for the ineffective
Chad Thach, and Lim would nearly make a huge immediate splash, as he got a perfect cross through to
Moey Xin Seng on his first touch - which was more than either Thach or Baena had managed all day. Moey would for once be caught unprepared, sadly, and he could only ruefully acknowledge the service, after it went by him.
It would be back to the Nankatsu show after that, and Grahm made it look all so easy, when he set himself for Italian left winger Achille Tezzele in the 54th minute. This would be followed four minutes later by hometown darling Correa, who had the benefit of an open path to Germanakos, after Grahm had forced
Gilbert Webb to go across. Grilled's Greek goalie would have to retrieve the ball out of his own net for the sixth time with that, as Correa had his pick of both ends to aim at.
There would be a bit of a lull with the hosts' victory all but assured, as they seemed disinclined to rub it in.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would get ten minutes on the field for a spent Moey, but couldn't get much through. Instead, it would be Nankatsu to sneak two more goals in injury time, first through Achille Tezzele on a well-planned free-kick, and finally Grahm fittingly completing his hat-trick.