Borgo Beatdown
Young At Heart
41 year-old
Chan Ze Han revealed that there was spring in those old legs yet, as he mastered San Marino II.1 leaders Borgo Tre Case FC with an ease that belied the wear on his body. The recent Coppa Cesta winners admittedly had not set up to shackle him to the fullest extent, but one might still have expected someone on their star-studded roster to have outshone him.
Just to begin with, current San Marino national right winger Antonio Zagli - owner of 79 senior caps - captained Borgo, ably assisted by former La Serenissima mate Claudio Grandi Tognacci. Strikers Răzvan Toadere and Maiko Weinmayr came with weighty reputations of their own, while Swiss defender Jean-Philippe Stahlman had done well all season. Chan would make them all look ordinary on the day, however, which had to be a wonder in itself.
It really began with
Ha Qicai's massive leap to meet
Brian Reddy's cross in the seventh minute, which had Bosnian goalkeeper Ahmed Dervić wincing after covering his near post successfully. Dervić's persistent groin concern - revealed by this effort - would prove instrumental in Grilled's coming goals, the first of which was from
Chan Ze Han six minutes later. Stahlman appeared to have Chan's measure as the latter waddled unsteadily towards goal with the ball, but a perfectly-executed scissors dribble took Chan by him, and the finish was just superb.
Part of Chan's genius nowadays is to persuade the opponents that his goals were flukes, so it seems, as he stubbornly kept a low profile for a long while afterwards, preferring to quickly pass the ball onwards, usually to his fellow forwards. Borgo had their fair share of possession too, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would be hypnotized by Tognacci's stepover on the half-hour, which got him a straight yellow card for the trip.
Borgo would muster more than a few promising attacks to start the second half off, but it would be
Chan Ze Han to double Grilled's lead, out of nowhere in the 57th minute.
Lim An Keng had dropped the ball off with him after being forced wide by Lino Bianchini on his own run, and Chan belied expectations by dribbling straight at the tucked-in Serafino Lodolini. This had Lodolini flustered for a second, which was all Chan needed to open the angle up for a powerful drive past the not-fully-mobile Dervić.
That made two, and it was three-nil soon enough, with
Chia Kwang Tse burying it as
Chad Thach tried the spectacular through ball after 66 minutes, and several misses. Borgo's Chilean head coach Salomone Restovic was extremely unamused at what he thought was minimal defensive initiative from his players, and they would make up for it somewhat after his touchline invective. Antonio Zagli couldn't get good contact on András Fekete's magic 70th minute cross, but Jean-Philippe Stahlman eventually got them a consolation with an unlikely chip, nine minutes on.
Chan Ze Han would not see out the match, as he left for old friend
Bilal Mohammad Harun with five minutes remaining, but such was his influence that many of the Borgo fans felt compelled to applaud him too.
