Cyclopes Trampling
Bertrand Rumples
Top Ivory Coast club Cyclope99 handed Grilled a hiding on the Birds' first visit to the African country, before nearly 3000 fans in their imposing Avalon Stadium. A hyperactive
Gleb Dorogan attempted to captain his teammates to a result, and did well to limit the home team to a four-goal margin of victory.
Cyclope99 used the wide attacking that had so often characterised Grilled this term, and ironically the Grilled reserves had no idea how to deal with it. They were not about to get much help from the much-criticised
Alvaro Silvera in goal, as he let in veteran Panamanian forward Alberto González's so-so strike in the eleventh minute.
Silvera would get off the hook when Estonian midfielder Tõnn Talvar swished his penalty kick over the crossbar in the 15th minute, perhaps put off by the goalkeeper's hopping about. The Grilled defence was culpable for that, but could do little against Kahraman Çakır's skill as the little Turkish left winger darted by
Chan Woon Jin at will, with Mexican Carson Torrez applying the finish.
Cyclope99 had nine nationalities represented among their starting eleven, but hometown champion Arthur Bertrand, a former U-20 star, was by far the terrace favourite, and got a hearty cheer each time he got a touch. It was then safe to say that his neat finish in the 23rd minute was especially popular among fans and teammates alike.
Lihai and Safrinho had to wait for a few minutes in the centre circle as Bertrand completed being mobbed, but would get some measure of satisfaction as the opposition players couldn't get back into the right frame of mind to stem a concerted Grilled drive down the middle. In his haste, Torrez did get a light kick in on Cunha Simões' leg in the area, but in truth it was a soft penalty to give as the Portuguese forward dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Ivaylo Mirchev kept his nerve and scored easily after young Romanian goalie Eusebiu Dumitru dived early to his left, but Bertrand would soon erase that memory for his faithful supporters as he scampered past the Grilled forward-turned-defender to finish off a fine layoff from the technically-gifted Luis Alejandro Canals.
The game petered off in the second period, no thanks to the unremitting sunshine, with the thermostat pushing forty degrees at times. It got so bad that even the famously-fit Lihai looked almost happy to be substituted, as Salieri and Torsson made their second appearances for the week, with Simões also replaced.
Cyclope99's players fared better, as they hadn't been the ones chasing for most of the match, and poor Safrinho in particular became nearly non-existent towards the end. A combination of brave defending by Mohd Firdaus, who suffered a light injury towards the end, and quick reflexes by Silvera, who unexpectedly managed to stop a brilliant banana strike from Canals, kept the score down, but Çakır would eventually ram in a deserved fifth goal five mintues from time.
