Chavinda Taken To 11
Marzuki Lofty
The new World Battle tourney began with a bumper six-on-six against the Mexican II.4 league, and the Birds just about did their duty with a 6-5 result against last season's runners-up Atletico Chavinda. The rainstorm was hardly conducive for proper attacking football, but the offensive mentality shared by the teams made this a real ding-dong of a goalfest.
Chavinda's latest big signing, English winger Boris Madden, would start on the bench, with Italian captain Vincenzo Lesa picked on the left on the back of some impressive league form. Forwards Alex Ruggeri and Jānis Briedis were their clear draws in a symmetric 3-5-2, which made this essentially a man-for-man matchup. Individual battles were then the order of the day, and
Gandhik Chitre won the first important one, as he lost Fermín Codesal with a sneaky head-fake to bang the opening goal home, after six minutes.
It was soon obvious that more goals would be forthcoming, as the players found defensive much more of a chore under the wet conditions. Such was it that
Lim An Keng couldn't keep his feet to leave Jānis Briedis a free shot for the equalizer six more minutes in, after which there was a relatively long lull until
Aw Keng Chuan fed
Chia Kwang Tse on the half-hour. Chavinda came good big time after that, though, as Cevat Gürbay and Alex Ruggeri overturned the lead with twin strikes spaced three minutes apart, leaving
Radomil Marcol looking slightly unsteady on his return from a long layoff.
The Grilled defence would engage in mutual finger-pointing after the debacle that had led to Ruggeri rushing past, but they would admirably gather themselves mentally before restarting.
Aw Keng Chuan would gather a few of the attackers to put some heads together, and this led to a collective push up the centre from kick-off. Chavinda appeared to expect Grilled to spread it out sometime, but were instead steamrolled with
Lim An Keng making it 3-3. Alfonso Casillas got a touch on the rising effort, but it was simply hit too hard.
Both teams could afford to be casual about it, which translated into general good vibes - and perhaps, lousier defending than the usual. The man-marking had certainly not improved for the second half, and Aw would enjoy spraying passes nearly unopposed from the heart of midfield.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul converted a neat header in the 49th minute, and after
Ha Qicai stopped a Briedis shot on the line,
Raúl Himadas polished a long ball off for 5-3 following a Juan Alberto Moya foul in Grilled territory.
Chavinda answered in kind from Innokentiy Razroev from the restart, as it was the Birds' turn to be found wanting.
Brian Reddy only watched as Daniel Contreras flew past him on the inside, and on the ensuing three-on-two, it only took two more passes to free Razroev on the left. It was then back evens five minutes on, as the constant unorthodox movement of Jānis Briedis had him evade a confused Himadas after repeated feints.
With the game open for the taking, Chavinda boss Alberto Puente considered his options, and attempted to shake things up by withdrawing Lesa for Boris Madden's fresh legs. Sadly for Puente, the substitution backfired completely, as the Birds attacked in force from the throw-in, allowing Marzuki to lob Casillas magnificently mid-dribble to win it.
