Prince Sent Packing
Gleb Doubts
Grilled enjoyed a rare friendly win on their maiden visit to Iraq, with Division Three leaders Le Petit Prince putting up heavy resistance, even taking the lead twice, only to relinquish it each time.
Edvaldo Mourão made his first outing in a green shirt as he started in midfield alongside acting captain
Gleb Dorogan, with
Lim Chuan Heng mopping up behind the pair; The Birds' starting eleven was filled with players struggling for for, as Darong, Silvera and Mirchev, along with Mourão, had been noted to be performing well under par.
Things clicked for them, against all expectations, as they found plenty of holes against Prince's thin three-man defence. Mohd Firdaus relived his old role as a forward when he slipped away from everyone in the seventh minute, carrying the ball past young goalie Sulaiman Atiyah, who might find it hard to break into his first team on this showing.
It was all going swimmingly for the visitors, who were handily controlling the pace of the match, until the hard-headed Firas Muntazir decided to take things into his own feet in the 23rd minute. With Dorogan focused on controlling the ball, Muntazir leapt in with both feet, upending the Moldovan playmaker. This got him but a yellow card to the bemusement of Dorogan's teammates, and Grilled coach
Han Lik-Tsun had no option but to put
Lee Han Lai on for his injured player.
There was a sweet moment as Safrinho was told to keep the armband after going to assist his skipper, but Dorogan's loss nevertheless still struck a huge blow to the heart of Grilled's organization, and the home side regained the initiative. A fluffed free-kick finish by
Lim Chuan Heng later, Prince equalised off Ayob Marwan's tap-in after a winding run from Fouad Al-Maslawi, who soon after got one of his own thanks to a switch of flanks by the impressive Firas Muntazir.
Two changes at half-time, Salieri and Torsson for the ineffective Simões and Zheng, appeared to have little impact as Prince continued playing to an appreciative home support, and pulled away as Yasen Attia wrongfooted
Chan Woon Jin down the left, and slipped a shot under Silvera.
Torsson would begin Grilled's turnaround, though, as Darong grew into his attacking role, and demonstrated some good creativity after a quiet first half. He used his quick feet to good effect against a slow-turning Ayob Marwan, and Torsson contributed some excellent accuracy to make it 2-3.
Salieri then levelled it four minutes later as Marwan couldn't adjust from Darong's posturing to the Italian's surprising acceleration, while Atiyah could only gape as Salieri's cultured lob sailed over his head and dropped beyond him into his goal, nicking the crossbar in the process.
Prince swiftly regained their advantage as Laith Khalis scuffed a weak strike past Silvera, and strove mightily to maintain it, with Yasen Attia picking up a smart yellow card for taking Mourão down on the half-way line to nip a breakaway in the bud. However, it was for naught as the free-kick led to another closer to their goal, which ended up in a second equaliser for Grilled when
Lee Han Lai dived in to deflect it into the net.
The match proceeded into extra time, and Grilled's superior stamina began to tell as they came close twice through Lee and Darong, and Prince were kept in it only through the woodwork. Darong would not be shut down, and in the 100th minute broke free to shuffle the winning golden goal beneath Atiyab.
