It's A Wrap
Brusque Telésforo
It was hardly easy, but the Birds battled to a tedious victory over Mexican II.2 leaders Esbao., whose midfielder Telésforo Burgues was saviour and sinner in one. The 31 year-old's unconventional movement and passing from midfield were a large factor in why his team had managed to keep up with Grilled, but his less-than-careful tackling also saw him collect two yellow cards - after which the Birds had much freer reign.
The Mexicans were riding a high after a splendid late comeback against FC Chukomotiv to progress in the Copa Rubí Azteca, which saw English winger Lawrence Lacy score a decisive late third goal, to carry Esbao through. His, and their, expansive style was a fine fit for Grilled, and after
Chia Kwang Tse bumbled the opener past Fabiano Brugna with a misplaced first touch some ways out of goal, Lacy took it upon himself to supply the same at the opposition end. He broke between Ha and Hwang cleanly with unbelivable speed over ten yards, but Erik Casillas' finish would be turned aside by Germanakos.
There was never a clear indication of who would get the next goal, from how unrestrained both sides were when on the ball, with Esbao's all-local trio of Burgues, Jacobo Martínez and César Solar often turning a seeming lack of position discipline into opportunity. This had Solar eschew the obvious pass straight ahead to Mykel Tice in the 13th minute, to stretch play via a cruising Martínez... who then slipped Burgues through with
Aw Keng Chuan distracted. There would be no mistake this time on Burgues' part, as he drew the goalie out before applying the chip.
The unconventionality of Burgues reared its other head four minutes later too, as he dived right into a sliding challenge on
Chia Kwang Tse that very few other professional footballers would have even contemplated. There was next to no chance of winning that, and Chia made the referee's job only harder as he writhed about on the grass after being caught. In the end, it was just a yellow, as Burgues made his displeasure known to Chia.
The rest of the half was a constant to-and-fro between the two attacking-minded teams, but with no further remarkable chances created.
Chan Ze Han drew upon his wealth of experience, and while his 41 year-old legs might have been a match for Esbao captain Joshep Felix - who was after all just six years younger - Dutch helper Gust Palmboom was always there to mop up. This continued until the 55th minute, when Burgues laid in hard on a slow-turning
Brian Reddy, and almost immediately recognized the enormity of what he had done.
That was a clear yellow at least, which meant that Esbao were now down to ten men, which left them with a gaping hole to fill in the centre. Despite his defensive faults, Burgues' influence was nigh irreplaceable for his team, and Grilled would enjoy tearing into the now far less fortified defence. Switching tack to longer balls,
Mohd Marzuki Khairul sprayed several at optimistic runs from his fellows, and
Chad Thach made the most of the supply sixty minutes in, as he thumped an awkward half-volley off the turf for 2-1.
Recognizing that they had to make an impact soon, the Mexican side attempted to draw play to the wings, where Lacy proved a handful for the not really defensively-minded Hwang. An excellent early cross appeared destined for a sprinting Marco Brenha, but the Portuguese was inches away from meeting it with a header near the far post. Grilled sent it back out, and
Chia Kwang Tse tried his own luck slinging it in from the left. Felix got his chest to that one, but couldn't control where it fell, and
Lim An Keng took advantage instead of
Chan Ze Han for the third.
Esbao admirably trundled on despite being short of manpower, and Lacy's industriousness could not be denied, as he continued sending balls into Grilled's box at a regular clip. It was thus a surprise when he cut in instead after 78 minutes, and a quick return pass with Tice would develop into a straight rush by several Esbao men. Felix would be part of the follow-up wave, and caught Germanakos out with a delayed chip.
Frankly, the ten men of Esbao had no right to be so close after some eighty minutes of hard running, and
Tian Yonghang would buy some insurance with his withdraw of a mostly-spent
Chan Ze Han, for
Bilal Mohammad Harun. Bilal's fresher legs would parlay a sweet forward pass into freeing Hwang on the left, but his would-be assist to
Chia Kwang Tse would be denied twice by goalie Fabiano Brugna. That saw Hwang soon off too, and his replacement
Paulino Trindade never quite got into the flow - but it was enough.
