Arbil Gala
Shock News
Grilled's 3-0 friendly win over visiting Iraqi Division Three side Galatasaray Arbil became notable more for the fact that it was hurriedly declared to be captain
Valdir Dias Paes' testimonial, and a flurry of late ticket-buying brought the attendance up to nearly four thousand, a good figure for a midweek afternoon clash.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was not even on the bench as Grilled are hammering out the details with a couple of interested parties, with club officials admitting that they were "
99% sure" that the 34 year-old, who has ten full seasons with Grilled, would leave. Understandably, he was well-received by the fans as he took up a seat just behind the dugout, and acknowledged it with an uncharacteristic wave.
This unexpected transfer move was momentarily forgotten as the match got underway, with Galatasaray Arbil distinctive in their uniform of yellow-and-green hooped shorts with a white top. Their Italian head coach Daniele Ciuffreda, who had led the side to nine consecutive competitive wins before this game, had a surprise in store as he mirrored the Grilled 5-2-3 formation.
This predictably led to a long-ball exchange panning out, with neither team proving themselves particularly proficient at it. After half an hour of rather insipid play, and a silly booking for
Walter Ross,
Björn Olsson sounded the first warning with a firm header on Stanca's flat cross that zipped barely wide of the post.
That prompted the visiting defence to draw back, but little did they realise that it would give
Fan Xiuyu the space he needed to plot a peach of a lob. Seeing all passing lanes closed, the big Fan shrugged and clipped the ball over 19 year-old German goalie Jonas Pröpper to earn a wry clap from Valdir.
The half closed on a sour note as
Tian Yonghang refused to apologize after hooking Dutch wingback Olly den Hollander down from behind, and den Hollander, clearly not satisfied with only a yellow, got one of his own after scuffling with Tian a few minutes later. Lost in the hoopla was Yahya Falestini's near miss, and the situation got so strained that the Galatasaray coach pushed his planned substitution forward, and made pains to tell entrant Akbar Ghazwan to cool it down.
The spat was mostly forgotten after the well-timed break, and Muhammad Bassim made it a point to shake
Björn Olsson's hand after the Swede defender helped him up from a mistimed tackle. That didn't mean that Olsson would take his game down a notch, though, and he smashed another header into the crossbar the very next minute.
U-20 star
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim showed Olsson how it was done with an impeccable headed finish from
Ronny Behr's corner kick in the 63rd minute, and
Tian Yonghang completed the striking trifecta with one more headed effort from close up.
Fan would not finish the match as he clattered his knee badly in the build-up to the third goal, leaving
Mohd Firdaus bin Yaacob to come in for the final half-hour. Quah too made an appearance, and Mohd Safri attempted to steal the limelight with a flashy attempt, but the supporters clearly recognized that the game was about one man and one man only, judging from their chants throughout.
