Juniors Overcome
Greek Spanking
Grilled Birds crashed out of the Dominion International Cup in an especially inglorious fashion, as they lost their third match too, against Cyprus II.1 representatives Greek Juniors. True, both teams knew that this made no difference at all with the group having been decided, but it remained a disappointing experience for a Birds side that created much, but reaped next to nothing.
Greek Juniors had clear strengths, of course, key amongst them being in midfielder where Polish veteran Przemysław Kleszcz held court beside current national wing star Savvas Vartholomaiou. Spanish forward Miguel Antonio Moragas and local-born Michalis Katsellis made for the classic small-big combination in attack, while Maltese goalkeeper Stephen Żammit - once a subject of a S$24 million transfer from St Elena FC to elokjieni - is on the cusp of a national callup, according to reports.
The reason for that would be eminently clear two minutes in, as
Chia Kwang Tse whirled about on a sudden backpass to pierce the Juniors backline, only for Żammit to close the distance nigh-instantly. There would be a penalty shout as Chia went down in tandem with the custodian's leg sweep, but replays proved inconclusive as to whether contact with foot or ball came first, and the referee eventually let it go.
The Birds could afford to shrug it off, so it seemed, as they orchestrated the match for the first fifteen minutes or so. Their narrow formation would brute-force its way past Juniors' more-expansive lineup often enough, and when
Mohd Marzuki Khairul arced it in from the left wing in the tenth minute, it was all Italian sweeper Raul De Beni could do to ward off the encroaching
Lim An Keng. There was nobody on
Gandhik Chitre three minutes later, though, and once he darted inside with the benefit of a generous start-up dribble, there was no stopping his grounder placed expertly to Żammit's inside post.
Grilled's advantage would shrink steadily as Juniors got used to their playing style, however, and there would be barely any clear chances from thence till half-time. It then became a whole new game again - but with Greek Juniors taking the initiative - as former youth international Lampros Athanasakis brought it up from midfield to the top of the Grilled box. Vartholomaiou was sprinting in from the left by then, and once Athanasakis got the timing of the pass right, the rest was simple. 1-1!
This was not to say that Juniors had it won, though, as Grilled had a bunch of opportunities to retake the lead. The first of those would be by Marzuki in the 54th minute, but his ambitious lob from some eighteen yards would ping off the corner of post and bar. Three minutes later,
Chad Thach crossed early from the right wing, but
Chan Ze Han got outmuscled, and it wound up being Juniors to make it two on the counter as Miguel Antonio Moragas outsped
Hong Kang Leong on the recovery.
That was getting to be a dreadfully common outcome, to be frank, and the Birds seldom looked assured in defence even as they continued asking questions of the Juniors. A prolonged passing move entered high gear late in the 65th minute, as
Chan Ze Han drilled it in from the left, but it would be a simple enough block for Żammit there. Grilled were not done yet, but
Chad Thach somehow decided to launch it back to
Dimitris Germanakos - and worse, not nearly hard enough. Fortunately, Michalis Katsellis wasn't quite expecting that either, and couldn't control the ball properly.
Grilled were running out of time to mount a comeback, and given this, one could well understand
Tian Yonghang's decision to take
Chan Ze Han and
Hong Kang Leong off, for
Teo Chuan Yong and
Damian Hutter. Unfortunately, it was all moot once Katsellis volleyed beautifully home two minutes after the double substitution, as a tired Birds team straggled towards the finish thereafter.
