Long An Swat
Got Gottschling?
Vietnamese V-League leaders Long An city showed why they had lost just a single league match this season, as they tamed a Birds team that had just lifted the Sapphire Challenger Cup. Long An are no strangers to cup glory themselves, of course, having just won the previous Cúp Quốc Gia, 2-1 over cuban world attack.
Spanish winger Baldiri Cifre had slung the winning goal in that final, and he would be back captaining Long An on the left today. For all his talent, Cifre could hardly be said to be the star turn of his team, with Finnish withdrawn striker Uuno Lintuaho for example in the form of his life. Turkish hitman Halil Ölmez had reaped nine league goals thus far too, and in former national midfielder Hoàng Chiểu, they had local representation as well.
Grilled Birds were led out by
Chan Ze Han, and while his reputation preceded him and got him applause from the polite visiting support, it was soon clear that his best days were well behind him. This did not apply to a Long An side chasing their first national league title, and Cifre would burn
Brian Reddy for pace in the sixth minute, before cutting the ball to the head of the penalty area. German midfielder Johannes Gottschling was waiting for just that development, and hit it solidly just past
Dimitris Germanakos's reach.
The Birds would respond with the fighting spirit that had carried them so far in the Sapphire tourney, and they would inexplicably be the ones forcing Long An back for the next half hour or so.
Chia Kwang Tse would serve well as Grilled's director in both distributing and defending from the centre, and a speculative pass to
Gandhik Chitre saw the forward nearly make something from the fleeting chance.
Chad Thach's petulance would come to the fore too, sadly, as he got booked for contesting the referee's decision not to award a corner, after Chitre's effort looked to have brushed past István Pipek.
Grilled were weaving their passing patterns freely by now, and
Brian Reddy got some of his own back against Cifre, with a deceptively tricky stop-and-go in the 30th minute, that ended with Chia flicking a header past ex-Algerian national custodian Hafid Merouani.
Lim An Keng didn't wait too long to volley the Birds into the lead after
Aw Keng Chuan's close shave, but Uuno Lintuaho levelled it back up right away, as Cifre's pace rang true.
The second half would belong to Long An as their superior tactical nous was revealed, together with undeniably deeper reserves of stamina. Even as
Chan Ze Han visibly faded, the Vietnamese flagbearers would find an extra gear in their locker, and a pair of booming long shots from Gottschling and then István Pipek about the 65th minute, would leave Germanakos humbled. It came very close to a triple barrage, as Ethiopian national fullback Yihun Girma then unleashed from near thirty yards, only to see his cracking shot drift half a foot wide at the end, with Germanakos nowhere near it.
Sensing that it wasn't about to be their day,
Tian Yonghang took
Hwang Teck Fu and
Ha Qicai off for
Paulino Trindade and
Hong Kang Leong respectively, which did at least stabilize the proceedings. Nonetheless, Grilled had no real answer to Long An's composure in possession, and wound up conceding a fifth to Halil Ölmez in injury time.
