King's Indian Defense
Kanpur Hold Firm
The Birds fell 1-4 to Uttar Pradesh II.3 runners-up Kanpur Defenders in the Dominion International Cup, as the Defenders kept to the same tactics that saw them lift the Indian national cup three years ago. Polish striker Zbigniew Murszewski, hero of that fateful day, started again here, but it was countryman and former U-20 international Aleksander Lepczyński to get a goal instead.
Grilled were never going to be favoured after their recent bad patch had them lose three competitive games on the trot, and for all of
Ha Qicai's brave words beforehand, it was hard to spot any weakness in Kanpur's terrifyingly-balanced 5-3-2 setup. Their local head coach Nirmal Kulkarni had continued to buy big after their cup glory, but he could afford to leave the latest two - Umberto Tarricone and Magueye Mbou - on the bench. Norman Mullings, capped four times for Trindad & Tobago, would still feature on the right flank, aptly against
Paulino Trindade.
The dark yellows of Kanpur were content to sit deep, but they could well afford to do so with Lepczyński hardly flustered by the Grilled forwards. Ex-Paraguay youth international goalie Amthar Suárez had not been called seriously into action by the 21st minute, which was when Kanpur assembled a coherent counterpush to the edge of the Birds' penalty area. Shashi Gowitrikar made as if to shoot from the free-kick, but freed Mullings instead, and his fierce rake across the goalmouth got to Shashank Pandit at the far post, for the tap-in.
The Birds would hardly get a bite after that either, but not for want of trying; all of Kanpur's were very adept at breaking attacks down, even if they had to resort to questionable acts like Eppu Uurtamo did in the 32nd minute, when he ran
Raúl Himadas down from behind.
Brian Reddy perhaps got too smart in attempting the quick restart, as it got rushed down by Azerbaijani winger Xalid Abdullayev. Uurtamo, who had not yet retreated, was the obvious outlet, and he indeed made it 2-0.
Grilled's
Radomil Marcol could only accept it with a shrug, with both previous goals having seen him out of position, if understandably, and he would soon be confronted one-on-one by Norman Mullings, as Abdullayev tore down the left side with the Birds overcommitting. Marcol was fast off his line, to his credit, but Mullings was quicker on the draw, and it was three with Marcol's trailing leg barely clipping the ball as it went by.
This was painful to swallow with the Birds actually beginning to look good in possession, and they would start the second half with added vigor - and directness. Kanpur turned out to be slightly more vulnerable to dribbles, and they would be left busily readjusting after
Lim An Keng's extended run weaving down the middle. He would curl it into
Paulino Trindade's path as the winger came up in support, but Amthar Suárez got his body behind the powerful strike.
That did give Grilled renewed confidence that their opponents were not invulnerable, and they carried on with the same approach whilst the going remained good. The Defenders were not used to such single-mindedness, it appeared, and
Lim An Keng would fire past Suárez in style, with 53 minutes gone. They could well have drawn level, but a freshly-booked
Gandhik Chitre went wide from six yards in the 67th minute, leading into a corner kick that Lim headed just over, after outleaping Pratik Gawai.
The reprisal was again swift, and with Trindade having bombed the centre in search of another opening, Mullings was unopposed in carrying the ball right into the Grilled box.
Ha Qicai got across, but that left Aleksander Lepczyński free to pounce on the inbound pass, which he turned into an assist having covered sixty yards without pause.
