Shorn Of Luck
Bhavya Rebuffed
Today's World Battle tourney opponents hailed from Azerbaijan, and had two national league championships and an Azərbaycan Kuboku to their name. However, like the Birds, ShirvanFC were now struggling somewhat in the Second Division, though they retained just about enough to edge Grilled here. It would be a clash of homegrown superstars then, only ShrivanFC's forward pair of Azər Ələsgərov and Orxan Cəfərov had just turned thirty, in contrast to a 33 year-old
Chan Ze Han, and the grand old men that were
Moey Xin Seng and
Kalki Parvathaneni, the latter returned and restored to the left wing.
Carsten Iseppi's 3-5-2 sure had more balance than this Birds setup, for one, although that had never been much of a hallmark for them. Int Portuguese Number Eight Joaquim Manuel Peixoto, they had an excellent distributor, who always looked likely to make a defence-splitting pass, despite Grilled just about maintaining control through numbers in midfield. Peixoto would get it wide left to Omani wingman Zain Masood in the 12th minute against all odds, and the deep cross would swing back helpfully for Roluf Maciossek to put in a thunderous shot past
Dimitris Germanakos.
Nothing that could be done about that, and it was all Grilled could do to keep a cool head and move it up slowly, although getting it to
Chan Ze Han was another thing under the watchful eye of ShirvanFC captain Robertus Heirman.
Teo Chuan Yong would be booked for clattering Peixoto from behind in the 26th minute, but that gave the Birds their first clear chance of the day, as they defended the free-kick well.
José Luiz Velho carried it through the middle and curled it beautifully to the far post, but Belgian goalie Espoir Khasa tipped it around for the corner.
Bhavya Panigrahi's delivery would be collected in the air by Khasa, who was really starting to get the crowd behind him now, as Grilled started to try potshots from distance. Most were hopeless, but the action heated up again in the 36th minute, when Khasa repelled Chan's bullet header aimed high to the roof of the net. Bouzid Kajaj then crashed it off the bar on the counter, and Ingo Wilfling would be carded as the Birds tried a breakaway of their own.
Gilbert Webb took the free-kick without any delay, and who could it be but
Kalki Parvathaneni, to sneak through for a very coolly-executed equalizer.
Truth be told, Kalki had been mostly anonymous before that, but a goal tends to paper over many cracks. The Birds would end the half strongly, and seemed the more eager side to push forward after the interval. Anticipating
Moey Xin Seng's reduced endurance, Tian would take him off twenty minutes into the second half, rewarding the on-form Lim Ah Keng with an opportunity to direct Grilled's midfield. Unfortunately compared to the likes of Moey and Peixoto, Lim had a ways to go - and it quickly showed.
Now no longer nearly as assured in possession, Grilled would get into some dicey positions as they began to lose the ball unnecessarily, and it wouldn't take too long for the Azerbaijanis to benefit.
Bilal Mohammad Harun would be forced into a pickle after an unwise pass played behind him, and Ingo Wilfling would dispossess him and deal it on to Azər Ələsgərov. Webb was never stopping an Ələsgərov in full flight, and the striker impressively kept it under close control, as he took the ball halfway around Germanakos to score.
With nothing to lose, Tian would have
Chad Thach and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul go on for
Enrique Baena and Bilal, neither of whom had quite shone in this game. This did have the intended effect of shaking matters up, and Chan would wheedle a free-kick right at the top of the opponents' box.
Bhavya Panigrahi seemed to have tied it up... only for Khasa to make a third great save. There would be a second chance as the referee ruled that Ang Keng Chuan had been obstructed trying to get to the rebound, but Panigrahi would drag it a few yards wide this time.
There would be one more chance of note, as new right winger Thach sent a flat cross into the box, not long after Velho had been booked for holding up a free-kick.
Chan Ze Han found himself free of Heirman for once, but perhaps wary of Khasa's shotstopping reflexes, he wound up overthinking it before hitting it embarassingly high.
