Munich Outmatched
Deadly Duo
Ciro Penati and
Tian Yonghang were the main men as Grilled demolished Munich Magics four-nil away from home, while sporting a seldom-seen 2-5-3 formation. Coach
Han Lik-Tsun had apparently been motivated by seluraralc's success with the ultra-attacking setup, and judging from Grilled's victory, they may hope to replicate it in more serious matches.
Penati, who had trudged through a mostly forgettable half against soccerids on Sunday, underwent a sea change in attitude from the opening whistle. He was at his irrepressible best in the opening minutes, twice burning French wingback Dimitri Crosnier with his speed, and scored once before having his second attempt saved magnificently.
The Munich Magics tried to respond with a breathless counterattack after
Fan Xiuyu ran into a dead end, but homegrown lone striker Ken Mezzasalma hit a shot over when being off-balance. 38 year-old Dutch player-coach Egidius Sanders then pulled off another fantastic stop off
Erik Back's stooping header, but
Tian Yonghang gave him no chance at all with a cheeky shot between Olav Klitzing's legs.
Yonghang's technical brillance in executing that goal won some grudging applause from the home fans, who were noticably less than pleased when their team's five-man backline opened up to allow Yonghang a brace, just two minutes later. Crosnier in particular was put off by the pressure, and nearly gifted Penati a goal after clumsily turning right into the Italian winger.
Trainee midfielder Jens Ballack, just three days into turning professional, could have marked his first senior game with a stunning goal, but his instinctive strike from the corner of the penalty area flew smack into the crossbar with Silvera completely beaten. If it was any consolation at all,
Safri bin Mohamad had much the same thing happen to him a bit later on, after he had sprung the offside trap.
Han Lik-Tsun left the making of changes to Magic's Sanders, who clearly felt that he could do with more protection from his defenders. To that end, he took Otto Weingessl and Olav Klitzing off, and gave fellow youngsters Alf Løkken and Fritz Uwe Kohlhuber a go. The two wasted no time in making themselves busy, and Grilled's attackers began to find themselves being double-teamed in short order.
The hosts couldn't eliminate all their defensive mistakes, though, and
Lim Chuan Heng should have added a fourth on dribbling right through the middle, after seeing that all of Magic's defenders were engrossed with man-marking. He dragged his shot wide, however, and it fell to Penati to do the honours after going past Crosnier one final time.
