Commander Conquers
Captain Ha At It
Grilled Birds secured a worthy victory against premier Giza representatives Redalert Army, who are currently leading the Egyptian II.2 in a bid to finally crack the Dawry El Momtaz. Maltese head coach Pavel Mamo set them up in an unabashed counterattacking 5-3-2 that ceded possession entirely to the Birds, but this was still enough to run their visitors very close, and necessitate an injury-time winner by
Ha Qicai.
The unseasonally-heavy rain combined with a sandy pitch would add to the discomfiture of the Birds, who would have to face an Alwi Vis in his element. The stocky 35 year-old Dutch sweeper would be flanked by younger legs in Dariusz Wodarczyk and Abdulwahed Ahmed Al-Mushefry, with Mirel Ionescu and Harald Leversund assigned the offensive running up the wings. This multinational cast would be helmed by Curacao's Irvingly Bazoer, and 24 year-old Japanese newcomer Naoaki Hashimoto, playing just his third match for the Army.
There was no question as to how the match would progress, with it just an issue of whether homegrown goalkeeper Abd El Halim Serag would be able to repel enough of Grilled's attacks for their own to take root. He certainly looked experienced at handling the medium-range efforts invited by the Army's tactics, though he was lucky that
Aw Keng Chuan's fifth minute lob didn't drop just a little further. There would be evidence of fast reflexes too, as when he threw a first towards
Raúl Himadas' 13th minute snap-strike in time.
Grilled continued sniffing about but were unable to actually work their way inside Army's box with any consistency, and would eventually concede to a free-kick in the 34th minute, following a cleared corner kick. Bazoer hit it backwards from the right edge of the Birds' penalty area, and after another couple of passes, Naoaki slipped through from the other side. It would then be 2-0 to Army five minutes later, as Bazoer finished it off himself, after another great Serag stop off
Mohd Marzuki Khairul saw Grilled woefully undermanned on their right.
The home faithful were enjoying the day very much, but Grilled retained their self-belief, made easier by the fact that they remained holding close to eighty percent of the ball. Such possession had to result in good chances ultimately, and one of several corners in succession would be redirected past Serag by
Chia Kwang Tse, as half-time loomed.
Paulino Trindade would try to equalize from a swirling
Brian Reddy delivery next, but the referee blew for time after he miscontrolled it.
That wasn't taken well by the Grilled winger, who thought that he deserved to at least complete the move, but his following protestations would be ignored by the linesman. No matter, Grilled would let their feet do the talking after the restart, with conditions beginning to favour them as the clouds parted. Three minutes into the second half, Reddy would shuffle onto a disguised short pass from
Lim An Keng, and had all the time he needed to shift Serag out of position next with a subtle feint.
It was the home team's turn to feel hard done by the match officials next, as Romanian winger Mirel Ionescu was called for a late touch on
Mohd Marzuki Khairul as he sped inside. Replays would throw the call into question with Ionescu apparently pulling away at the last instant, but the penalty had been given.
Raúl Himadas had to endure a chorus of boos as the referee cleared the protestors, but he didn't let it get to his head as he put Grilled in front with a textbook conversion to the lower right.
That would not be enough for Grilled just yet, as Redalert Army had one more splendid counterattack in store. Several runs up the left by
Paulino Trindade had gone begging, and sustained pressure by Canadian midfielder Drew Sievers saw
Chad Thach forced into a turnover just inside his own half, if with little defensive cover behind him. Harald Leversund led the charge against Himadas, and drew him wide at the last to play Sievers back in for three-all.
This looked like the last word as the Egyptians clammed up tight, with
Tian Yonghang's putting
Damian Hutter on for
Aw Keng Chuan in the final minute seemingly more an afterthought than any genuine gambit. Grilled Birds would throw all they had in the final seconds with the fourth official indicating just a single minute of time added on, and
Ha Qicai somehow found the net from within the teeming masses!
