Vlčince For Victory
Junnila Fodor Two
Grilled Birds got off to a rough start in the World Battle, with Slovakian II.1 competitors FC Vlčince romping to a 5-2 win, that had little in the way of luck in it. In fact, FC Vlčince beat Grilled at their own 2-5-3 game, as the Birds resorted to trying to narrow the field of play, to no avail. That only limited the effectiveness of
Brian Reddy and
Paulino Trindade without slowing the opposition by much if at all, as Tomáš Uhorčák skippered his team to five good goals.
FC Vlčince were certainly not short on stars, with striker Sean Thompson having won 42 caps with Barbados, László Fodor eight with the Romanian youth side, and left winger Czesław Meredyk one at each level for Poland. El Salvador would be amply represented at the back, with defensive stopper Miguel Torres having represented them a whopping 69 times, a number of those with goalkeeper Erwin Durán, who has a seldom-matched 51 caps with their U-20 side.
This added up to a package that the Birds could not quite match at the moment, even if they made a brave attempt at it. Although hardly outclassed, Grilled's relative deficiencies on their left and in defence were quickly evident, and it was sheer fortune that they claimed first blood in the 23rd minute. Trindade had been battering them early due to Július Ujheľský's close marking, and it took a very courageous diving header by
Lim An Keng nearly into Miguel Torres' boot, to breach Durán's coverage.
As it happened, FC Vlčince could do that too, as László Fodor demonstrated - if far less riskily - in outleaping everybody to flash Czesław Meredyk's cross home, five minutes on.
Dimitris Germanakos could hardly be blamed for that, and would very soon be called upon once more to throw himself at Fodor's feet after a reversal down the right. The block didn't go far enough, sadly, and Antto Junnila would guide it to the far side of goal, after retrieving the ball despite
Raúl Himadas' distractions.
It was a bright period for attacking football, and
Chad Thach would be next to record a shot in the 34th minute, if marginally off-target.
Aw Keng Chuan then came up with one of his increasingly-frequent polished finishes 39 minutes in... which however only foreshadowed a lightning-quick one-two from Meredyk and then Junnila, with Sean Thompson booked for a near bust-up with Himadas in between.
That was 4-2 for the Slovakians at half-time, and remarkably, Grilled Birds might well have overturned that lead by the hour mark, had they been more clinical. While it was true that FC Vlčince remained the stronger team, the Birds retained the ability to create in abundance, as witnessed in the 52nd minute when
Chia Kwang Tse found himself presented with a great shooting opportunity by
Chad Thach, right inside the six-yard box. Chia really wasn't expecting such a genius pass, unfortunately, and scooped it well over with Durán flinging himself at him.
There would be a couple more half-chances going Grilled's way, with
Hwang Teck Fu likewise putting it badly over in the 57th minute, if from a far less promising position, while Paulino Trindide could well have shot three minutes later, but elected to try and find
Lim An Keng in the middle instead. Josef Bavaud picked that pass off, and the counterattack that followed saw
Ha Qicai foul Junnila several feet from the penalty area. Jonathan Beauval considered the free-kick for some long seconds, before overcooking it too.
FC Vlčince took control from then on as the Birds found themselves puppeted by their opponents' measured passing, and despite introducing
Gandhik Chitre,
Damian Hutter and
Mohsen El Khateeb, there simply wasn't enough inspiration - or time - to make another goal. It was then left to László Fodor to punish their overextension in injury time, as El Khateeb went AWOL on the left flank without informing his defenders.