Elephants Stomp
Enrique Ragequit
There would be no turn of fortune in Grilled's World Battle tourney campaign, as Cape Verde II.4 side Rasta Elephants FC hammered the Birds 4-1. Grilled did look good in possession for the first half-hour or so, but it all went to pieces swiftly after that, as combustible Spanish winger
Enrique Baena found himself dumped out of another match for ill-discipline.
Kalki Parvathaneni would be given the opportunity to play himself back into shape on the left, and with
Aw Keng Chuan back tidying up behind Bilal and Teo, this really didn't look a half-bad midfield. Moey and Chan would fill the forward roles with a sprightly
José Luiz Velho between them, which had to be enough to give Elephants sweeper Jerzy Karolak some pause. Romanian central midfielder Dumitru-Ion Romaniuc would lead a fine selection, that said, which featured a good mix of youth and experience.
It wouldn't take long before trouble began brewing on Grilled's right flank, which was exactly where Baena would butt heads against Elephants academy product Lourenço Santos, himself something of a nasty customer; the 17 year-old is actually sitting on a league suspension after picking up a third yellow versus Nameless AC last weekend, although he did also score the winner in that match. In any case, he knew how to get under Baena's skin - and vice versa - and it was merely a question of who would get booked first. That would be Baena, as it turned out, after he went all-in on a sliding tackle in the 14th minute, that Santos came very close to retaliating on.
Bilal Mohammad Harun had racked up two shots by then, the first blocked wide by Diego Peralta, and the second dragged several feet wide. The Elephants were hardly shrinking violets either, and had few reservations about giving as good as they got. Peralta would line up a free-kick that went straight into Grilled's defensive wall, and Belmiro Calquinhas held little back in trying to get it back from
Gilbert Webb, which landed him in the referee's book too.
The Birds did still look slightly more likely to score at this stage, but it would all start going bad for them in the 29th minute, when Aw slipped in trying to intercept Romaniuc's ambitious through pass from his own half. The defenders tried to play the offside trap belatedly, but Takis Pantelakos had been watching his step, and finished confidently past
Dimitris Germanakos after closing in. Not only that, it turned out that Baena had felled Santos off the ball as the latter raced forward in support, which had to be a second yellow and sending-off for the youngster.
Baena did at least have the decency to look guilty at this, but that wouldn't help his teammates, who soon found themselves outnumbered where it mattered. Moey would try to have Aw and Teo divide Baena's duties between them, but this clearly wouldn't work very well, as the Birds wound up losing possession just outside their own penalty area, three minutes later. Ferenc Gregor took it off a pressured
Bhavya Panigrahi, and Germanakos would again not be able to clamp down quickly enough, as Gregor dodged to his side and rolled it in.
That was 2-0 at half-time and an ineffective Kalki off for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, who offered an immediate upgrade in workrate. Grilled's loss of a man in midfield still hobbled them badly, however, as the Elephants were too good of a team to let such a handicap go unpunished. They would move it around Grilled's half with verve for a time, before Italian fullback Gian Maria Naccarato swung a wickedly-swerving effort off the corner of post and bar, in the 57th minute.
More was to come with the already-flagging stamina of the Birds seniors under extra strain, all the more with them having to try and take the initiative when they good. There would be a good spell about the 70th minute, and
José Luiz Velho made a very respectable attempt after making space for himself, but South Korean goalie Joon-Yup Kyung had anticipated well. His big goal-kick then saw Gregor fouled just outside the box, and Peralta drilled it low underneath the four-man wall, to take Germanakos unawares.
This had to be a bit disappointing for Grilled's Greek custodian, who couldn't stop himself from berating his defenders in the aftermath. That was also it for
Aw Keng Chuan, as Tian rightly figured that there was not much point in further damage limitation;
Lim An Keng would come on, with a brief to enjoy himself. He wasn't too bad at it either, and Santos would finally received what felt like an inevitable yellow in the 80th minute, after one niggling foul - and loud protest - too many.
It was all looking dim for the Birds, but they did have at least one man who could never be counted out:
Chan Ze Han. The 33 year-old might not have been at his best, what more with Naccarato constantly on his tail whenever he was on the ball, but a second's lapse was all he needed with four minutes to go. That had Chan scooting several feet into the Elephants' penalty area, before delivering a lob over Kyung with next to no warning. Pantelakos would bag another in injury time, but Chan had made his point anyhow.
