Ferdi Crash Party
Brian Hard Life
The returning
Brian Reddy's unofficial debut for Grilled Birds was not without agony, as he had to preside over a 0-4 sweep by Dutch V.150 opponents Ferdi Villa FC, in the Round of Sixteen of the September Tournament. Many Birds fans had expected it to be a triumphant homecoming for their new Number Seven, and to Reddy's credit, he would be a menace down the right all day long. Unfortunately, the finishing simply wouldn't go Grilled's way, with Villa experiencing quite the opposite.
Villa's win could be attributed in large part to their Korean defensive midfielder Seunghwan Joo, who shielded their backline with hardly a breather, allowing their wingers to tuck in freely whenever needed. Eddy Grootings did his share of work in midfield too, and in Spanish Number Ten Jesús Enrique Puig, they had a forward versed in both his feet - and his head. Small wonder, then, that these three would be the ones to carve out the victory, beginning with an unexpected deep run and strike by Joo in the third minute.
Grilled's defenders were watching out for other, more pertinent threats then, and it was hard to fault them for not worrying too much, when the South Korean advanced cagily with the ball. It was not as if he had much of a reputation for shooting, but today he would give
Lim An Keng the slip some five yards outside the box, which gave him just about enough of an angle to take it on.
Dimitris Germanakos wasn't expecting how the ball would skip, and it would bounce in off his right post.
That was tough going for Reddy more than anyone, and his teammates would heed his appeal for more of the ball, leading to many successful drives against his Russian opposite number, Ivan Plavskiy. Getting the cross past the next man into the box was the bigger problem, so it happened, and ironically it would be Plavskiy to grab the assist, soon after his yellow for a late sliding tackle on Reddy in the 21st minute. There was nothing too special about Plavskiy's looping delivery, but Puig soared a head and a half above
Aw Keng Chuan for a booming goal headed in off the ground. 2-0!
While the Birds just about edged possession, they were simply unable to crack Villa's final line of defence however they looked, and switching the focus over to
Federico Parada on the left brought no better luck. True, Parada would often get the better of Ignacio de la Peña on an individual basis too, but it was again Villa who boasted of the superior teamwork where it counted. De la Peña drove it hard across to Seunghwan Joo in the 37th minute, and although that was blocked and half-cleared by
Chad Thach, in came Grootings with an unstoppable right-booted peg into the roof of the net.
Tian could only watch on then, and despite his warm reception of his men at the break, there were no changes made at half-time.
Phua Ming Xin and
Orest Tokarz were seen having an extended warm-up session, but Tian stuck with
Hwang Teck Fu and
Chia Kwang Tse up top, ostensibly in the hope that a continued possessional edge would eventually yield its rewards; he was wrong.
Villa would not have to wait very long to put the match even further beyond Grilled's reach, and it would begin with a very ill-advised long backpass by
Damian Hutter, which will do no good for regaining his standing amongst his many critics. Evidently, Hutter hadn't checked that Germanakos was where he was supposed to be before pulling the trigger, and it turned out that Puig was closer to the target spot. A desperate flop from the goalie stopped Puig's initial shot, but the forward didn't skip a beat in recovering his feet, and poking it into the now-unguarded net with his next touch.
There was not even that much of a press for a consolation from the Birds after that, for all of
Brian Reddy's endeavour down the right, and Northern Irish substitute Lee Pownall made it his business to shut Reddy down, after replacing Plavskiy with twenty minutes to go. Manuel Zalaeta would be extra fresh legs for Gerry Kraster too, and while Tian finally gave
Chan Ze Han his chance in the 80th minute, Chan would barely get a sniff before it was over.
