Utila Defend
Behr Leads Circus
Honduras Division Three club Utila Fc hoped to hold Grilled with a wary 4-5-1, but eventually went down 6-1 at The Cooking Pot. They were not helped by injuries to goalkeeper and striker Emiliano Moreno and Sergio Fernández respectively, and any lingering hopes of saving the game went after their departure.
It was
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's second straight friendly, which clearly did not sit well with the rising superstar, who is far more used to larger audiences than the roughly three thousand who graced the stands. He didn't enjoy the slow start either, nor Utila's 17th minute counter-attack that resulted in a headed goal from winger Castor Aizpurua.
That was the signal for the Birds to pick up the pace, and acting captain
Niculae Stanca led by example as he spotted Cuban U-20 keeper Emiliano Moreno slow to retreat after venturing out to help his defence out. The Romanian tried his hand at squeezing the ball over the mass of defenders and into the net with his left foot, and just about managed it.
There was some dismay among the visitors at conceding so quickly, but Mohd Safri couldn't capitalise on it as he embarassingly swung and missed after doing well to bring a sweet cross from
Edvaldo Mourão down in front of himself. It took
Ronny Behr, in charge of free-kicks after Grilled's top three choices in Bögengang, Lefébure and Pujolràs were not chosen, to give Grilled the lead with a scorching specimen that any of the trio might have been proud of.
Stanca did an admirable job of rallying his teammates from his midfield post, and
Walter Ross thrived in the support as he worked his way out of several tricky situations with class. Mohd Safri went slightly overboard though as he threw himself into questionable challenges with abandon, and reined in his game only after receiving a yellow card.
Ronny Behr set mouths wagging with another flawless free-kick three minutes after the restart, to put the Birds up 3-1. There was more woe to come for Utila, as Moreno, who could have done little for any of the previous goals, sprained his ankle going for an interception. Mongolian Guyuk Ogotai had to come in.
There would be more changes to the Utila lineup as their Bulgarian coach Spas Ivanchov made the tactical decision to replace the gangly Avia Arnon with the pace of Carlos Morgado, seeing as how Grilled were playing the ball through on the ground. His intentions were thwarted very soon as nippy Argentinean forward Sergio Fernández was felled by Stanca, and without a reliable ballchaser, the visitors were doomed.
Mohd Safri showed little sympathy as he pushed the ball past Ogotai the first chance he got to make it 4-1, after a glaring miss by Yonghang.
Ronny Behr got his hat-trick with an intimidating charge down the middle, and even added one more with a third successful free-kick towards the end.
