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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 89 | L | 5 - 2 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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LAVOVI Let Go
Qicai Last Laugh
Grilled Birds scored a nerve-wracking win in the World Battle against an F.C. LAVOVI side that took them right to the death, before the Macedonian II.1 leaders finally went down to the unlikeliest of winners. The Birds had their own struggles too, as poor anticipation coupled with the box command of Russian custodian Artem Zorich kept them goalless in the first half.
Most eyes remained on
Radomil Marcol - still seeking his first victory in Grilled colours - in what was essentially a first-choice Grilled selection, that had
Lim An Keng back at right forward. LAVOVI had stars aplenty of their own, beginning with Dutch striker Friso Boissevain, currently in the prime of his career at 31 years of age. Behind him would be an illustrious domestic midfield of Haziz Zguro, Kuzman Boshkov and Ramadan Maltezi, who together have over seventy Macedonian caps at all levels.
Former Austrian youth international Schwerthelm Tragseil held fort in central defence, and it was he who kickstarted the move that led to the opening goal, in the eleventh minute. Tragseil exuded composure as he swivelled away from
Gandhik Chitre's challenge, then cut back towards the right flank to send a soaring fifty-yarder over for Boissevain to chase. The Dutchman indeed got it under control, and wasted no time in releasing it to winger Gjoko Filevski, whose rush at full tilt left
Raúl Himadas no way to stop him.
Marcol at least could not be faulted there as he got a touch on Filevski's full-blooded strike, and Grilled would concentrate on stabilizing their defence before mounting big attacks.
Paulino Trindade had the Birds' first real chance 29 minutes in, when he spotted
Hwang Teck Fu's intent and got into position to receive his through pass, but Zorich had motioned Ricardo Torres Campo to station himself at the post, where he hastily blocked Trindade's well-placed effort.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul might still have pounced, but was a step slow, and Campo took no chances by putting it behind with his follow-up slide.
Dani Runyon came up with an exaggerated curler four minutes later, and it was again a defender to save the bacon, as Himadas headed it out with Marcol stranded at his near post. A couple of good opportunities for Grilled Birds followed, first from
Lim An Keng, who outfoxed two defenders dribbling in from the right, only to overthink his shot. Amir Ali Taravat's rushed clearance didn't get far, but
Raúl Himadas couldn't keep his twenty-yarder down either.
Half-time saw F.C. LAVOVI the happier side by far, as they held on to their lead in a match that did not hint at many more to come. Grilled Birds could have been a little underestimated because of that, however, and lazy marking saw nobody track
Hwang Teck Fu as he surged forward in support of
Gandhik Chitre's run, five minutes into the new half. Artem Zorich saw the danger too late, as Hwang dodged the last man right as Chitre played it forward, which made it 1-1.
The game became cautious again following that, much of it on the Macedonians' end, but it could not be denied that they had the talent to contain Grilled for the most part. Zguro was a cut above an admittedly star-studded department, and he would keep many Birds advances from proceeding, even whilst plotting offensives of his own. It all came together 77 minutes in, as he slung a diagonal pass over to Zhivko Iliev wide right, eluding
Aw Keng Chuan's watch. Iliev went on to center it second later, finding an uncompromising Friso Boissevain at the near post.
LAVOVI's new lead lasted barely two minutes this time, however, as the Birds went all out with time running out, to great effect. The Grilled midfield would click perfectly for the preceding series of passes, as the intuitive understanding between
Chad Thach and
Hwang Teck Fu had them work their way through a swarm of defenders with near-clockwork precision.
Lim An Keng provided a distraction at just the right moment as Hwang geared up for the assist, and Thach was the beneficiary as he was able to shoot freely within the six-yard box.
That second equalizer was followed quickly by another fully-manned Grilled attack, but
Ha Qicai thrashed it off the crossbar, which led to Kuzman Boshkov taking
Mohd Marzuki Khairul out as the latter threatened to reach the rebound first. That brought the highly-technical game's only yellow, but the ensuing free-kick was blasted into the wall by
Raúl Himadas, to his supporters' evident dismay.
A draw felt like a fair result, but
Tian Yonghang was not giving up yet, and he would throw
Damian Hutter and
Mohsen El Khateeb on at the very end, in the hopes that they would make a difference; they didn't, but
Ha Qicai certainly did. Venturing upfield on what was likely the final attack of the match, Ha would find himself alone with the ball at the head of the box, and managed the perfect chip to win it for his team.
