Fortalese Sprung
Nationals Stand Up
The Birds' opening fixture in the Penalty-Killer Cup tourney proved a stiffer test than they had perhaps expected, but Grilled wound up still topping Group A at the end of the first round, thanks to big contributions from their Singapore U-20 duo of
Chad Thach and
Chia Kwang Tse - the former whom had just rushed back from a 3-2 win over Lithuania, in the U21 Nations Cup.
Thach looked as ready to go as ever on the right side of central midfield as customary for him nonetheless, but Swiss Division Five side Fortalese had depths of their own; their main strengths were in attack, with Gustave Le Page and Deivid Martiniani either side of 23 year-old captain and dazzler Globi Masset, though stars were to be found elsewhere as well. Homegrown playmaker Jan Limberger had made a name for himself as very difficult to keep tabs on, while 30 year-old former Filipino youth international custodian Nicholas Daquilanea would be Fortalese's last resort, in a counterattacking 3-4-3.
This setup had central mids Limberger and Yannick Ringele defaulting to sitting deep, while being ready to spring forward whenever the opportunity presented itself. This simple but effective tack would be propelled by their young legs when
Chan Ze Han's sneaky quick free-kick was read by Daquilanea in the 21st minute, which won the Swiss club one of their own within seconds - this one slid onwards to left winger Altamirando Raposo Lima, who caught
Dimitris Germanakos napping inside his near post for 1-0.
If that goal owed plenty to Daquilanea's experience, however, his handling would come under suspicion about five minutes later, as the Birds enjoyed a good stretch besieging his goal. Chan's corner kick was nodded relatively tamely at the goalkeeper by
Hwang Teck Fu, but Daquilanea dropped it despite being under no apparent pressure.
Chad Thach was standing about hoping for just something like that, and boxed Massimiliano Donato Esposito out to equalize.
Lima's day got a little worse with
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan willing to try anything and everything against him, and he would be booked in the 34th minute for a mean-spirited body-check, after getting nutmegged by the spirited Turk. There was at least little lingering bad blood as Lima helped Ferzan up after that, and Chan would claim the last big chance of the half with an improvised effort off his knee, but Daquilanea was again onto it.
Chia Kwang Tse replaced Hwang on the hour with the second half starting as slowly as the first had, and there would be an immediate uptick in action, with Fortalese moving it about Grilled's final third in vain, with Masset never quite finding an acceptable target. By the time
Aw Keng Chuan played it out,
Damian Hutter was breaking in earnest too, and the Austrian defender had his workrate rewarded when he sent a dipping fifteen-yarder in, upon picking up
Lim An Keng's flat through ball over the top.
Chia's struggle with discipline continued as he got carded just five minutes after coming on, for one jersey-tug too many on Limberger; that would not stop Grilled's momentum though as
Chan Ze Han finally got the better of Daquilanea after succeeding in dribbling past Esposito. Fortalese were flagging a little, but they remained a real threat whenever Grilled's lines got scattered, as in the 74th minute when Jordi Miquel ran through their disorganized centre to pull it back to 3-2.
That reducer came amidst a general slowing of the Fortalese team especially in transition, however, as their style took its toll on the overworked midfield two. Grilled always seemed the more likely to pull away, which they did in the 82nd minute with
Chia Kwang Tse putting his size to good use - only for some shameful defending to allow William Zolliker to make it 4-3, as Fortalese threw about everyone forward on the restart.
That was as far as the Swiss opponents got, thankfully, as a double substitution of Webb and Baena in for Hutter and Ferzan, gave the Birds enough fresh legs to last comfortably to the final whistle.
