Northern Luck
Radomil Blinder
Grilled Birds' latest Dominion International Cup opener saw them win against the odds versus Swedish second divisioners Nordpolen FF, the Norrbotten giants who are currently sitting pretty in second in Ib, and who have raised the Smaragdcupen just a couple of seasons ago. Neutrals would have seen little reason why the Birds deserved the points against their considerably more fundamentally-solid opponents, and some incredible goaltending by
Radomil Marcol would go a long way towards explaining that.
Chinese leftback Bao Ronghui would lead the Swedes out, with Nordpolen built around the local core of Peter Urbansson, Terje Bäckby and Lars-Tommy Kjellsson, with a quality international cast grafted about them. This was of course close to what the Birds had done, with the difference being the far more balanced focus of Matteo De Col's setup. There would not be many surprised on Grilled's end, other than
Aw Keng Chuan being cleared to start, after a last-minute fitness check.
Most would have expected the Swedish green-and-yellows to stifle the Birds with their patient 4-5-1, but this was a day where Grilled's forwards would not be kept quiet. The old adage that it is easier to attack than defend would hold fast, as reduced expectations freed the Birds to experiment to their hearts' content - and Nordpolen's detriment.
Gandhik Chitre for one would probably not have taken such a low-percentage shot on in a more important match, but he would lash it blindly despite having his vision blocked by Abdolmajid Habashizadeh in the 13th minute... only for it to fly past Jamaican Number One Raheem Dujon for 1-0!
Nordpolen appeared slightly shaken after conceding, and they would be a fraction slower than their usual selves in passing it around, which was all Grilled needed to stay ahead. There would be little real threat though, all the way to the 31st minute, when
Paulino Trindade squared it nicely for
Hwang Teck Fu. The Grilled midfielder would be cut out by Francisco Velasco Mendoza at the last instant, but the ball drifted right back to Trindade, who had the presence of mind to arrest his run and redirect it towards the near post. It worked, and that was the Birds' second.
The Swedes were well worked up by that second slip-up, and they would prove to be quite adept at a direct approach, when they set their minds to it. Terje Bäckby's north-south run would see him not get picked up for over thirty yards, and by then, he was well in range for a shot.
Radomil Marcol clawed it away from the top corner, however, and after saving Mendoza's free-kick in similar fashion soon afterwards, Grilled won one of their own at the other end through Chitre - and
Raúl Himadas curled it around the defensive wall for a third.
Few would have guessed that Nordpolen would be 0-3 down at half-time, least of all the Grilled team, so it seemed. From the commentators' analysis of the possession statistics and key plays of the half, there really was no reason for the Swedes to be behind at all, and they would come out for the second half with it all to prove. Peter Urbansson would throw his weight around to great effect, but Mendoza would be desperately unfortunate with his second free-kick in the 52nd minute. Marcol was stranded on the wrong side of goal, but the ball would come back off the woodwork.
Nordpolen were just getting going, that said, and all that pressure would eventually tell on Grilled. The Birds were sitting back very deep after several minutes of Nordpolen's rotation, and Bäckby saw his chance when
Ha Qicai tracked Urbansson higher than usual. His sprint would not be spotted by any of the Grilled players in time, and
Raúl Himadas' last-ditch sliding block could not prevent the neat finish from going in.
They would get another back six minutes later, with Mendoza seemingly having recognized that it was not his time for free-kicks. He would leave it to Polish midfielder Bogusław Nogala to play short, and after Urbansson had done a great job of holding it up and scaring the Grilled defence, Volkert Boot ghosted in from the defence's blind spot to slip it past an otherwise-engaged Marcol.
Matteo De Col knew that this was the moment to go all-in, and he would take Habashizadeh off, and have Antony Quermann set up shop beside Urbansson in a transition to a 3-5-2. Grilled were definitely on the ropes after that, and it was something of a miracle that Nordpolen did not find an equalizer.
Radomil Marcol would be hard at work ordering his defenders about, and while
Lim An Keng's entry did reinvigorate Grilled to an extent, it took some precognition by
Ha Qicai to save the Birds by positioning himself at the post to ward off Peter Urbansson's superb header, in the 85th minute.
Aw Keng Chuan would be taken off for
Damian Hutter having done all he could, but it was seriously uncertain whether Grilled could survive two more minutes. The unexpected would happen as they managed to break up the right side through
Brian Reddy, who didn't go for the corner flag to Bao's bemusement. Instead, Reddy lofted it invitingly for the onrushing
Gandhik Chitre, and it took Raheem Dujon's best save of the game to prevent the Birds forward from poaching a fourth there.
