Bacardi Bender
Lebon Decides
The Birds were walloped in their maiden visit to Angola, where they faced fellow Division Two club Bacardi Team, but they at least had two goals to show for their pains from the excursion to Desperados stadium.
With
Hang Bao-Tam now retired,
Cheung Huel-sheng inherited his place between the sticks, but lasted only eight minutes unbeaten as the creative Carlos Carvalho Cunha, or "Quad-C" among his fans, tried and did it with a trademark lob over Cheung.
Cheung next beat away a strong effort by Jacinto Alves Carvalho, but was unable to do the same with Israeli Reuven Kolosov's unconventional header, which appeared to come off his jaw.
Grilled did have their moments, and
Zheng Lihai fought his way through a sea of lime-green shirts to scramble the ball past Chilean goalkeeper Carlos Tapia. It was hardly pretty, but Zheng didn't mind at all as he wheeled away in celebration.
Bacardi shrugged off that setback, and Jacinto Alves Carvalho's second attempt on Huel-sheng's goal passed muster to make it 3-1. That drew a response from
Feng Darong, the source of Grilled's width, who sent in a tempting cross that came off the top of
Martin Torsson's scalp and past a wrongfooted Tapia.
If that raised the expectations of Grilled's handful of travelling supporters, they were to be disappointed, as Grilled's midfield caved in a couple of minutes later, with Tong Ping and Jun Chang literally running into each other as Agostinho Matos sprinted between them to score.
There would be no Grilled second wind after the restart, as Bacardi never relinquished their stranglehold on the match. Aurélien Lebon completed a double, and Adriano Moreira Vieira and Luciano Miranda Carvalho also beat Cheung in goal.
Grilled's action was limited to Zheng coming off, and Mohd Firdaus given a peach of a chance in the 65th minute after all Bacardi's defenders thought he was offside off Jun Chang's centered ball. There was no goal, however, as the Grilled striker-turned-centreback forgot how to put his foot through the ball.
