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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 90 | W | 2 - 4 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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Bule Blues
Himadas Holdout
Grilled Birds got their second win in this season's AFC ASIAN CUP, if narrowly against Jakarta II.2 challengers Bule Gila di Jakarta. This, recall, was a team that had beaten Malaysian Tigers 2-0 in the previous round, so it counted as a great result for Grilled, all considered.
Bule's Danish head coach Thomas Doll stayed with the counterattacking 4-4-2 that had served him so well against the Tigers, if with some minor adjustments; Portuguese centreback Lino Miguel Toureiro returned to the fray after being missed last week, together with German striker Maksimilijan Špis. The Birds stayed with their best eleven, and
Chad Thach took all of six minutes to continue feeding his goal habit, as he caught Lothar Fretschner napping with a speculative lob on his weaker foot.
Fretschner could hardly be angry given that better goalkeepers had all tried and failed to keep Thach out over the preceding weeks, and it would be left to his outfielders to regain parity. Bule were quite useful going forward, in fact, even when not strictly responding to a Grilled offensive. Spanish midfielder Pedro Viñe showed himself well capable of orchestrating his own attacks, which came good fifteen minutes in via a solid right boot from Italian hitman Tito Barbui.
It remained 1-1 at the break, as the Birds spurned a twin chance about the seventeenth minute that had Hwang's crossbar rebound slammed straight at Fretschner by
Mohd Marzuki Khairul. Grilled had been finding it hard to gain a purchase against Bule's tight formation, at least until the 55th minute, when
Hwang Teck Fu opened up room against Toureiro with his strength.
Darko Andrović dived into the gap without hesitation, and emerged with Grilled's second goal off a raking low shot.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul was the first to congratulate Andrović on opening his goal account at the Birds, if unofficially, and it would be three for Grilled in the 67th minute, through the incredible
Chad Thach. That would be matched within the minute, however, as Bule went for broke from the right side on kick-off. Greek winger Yiorgis Topalidis faked a couple of crosses to scoot into the box, and his audacity was rewarded with a straightforward assist for Pedro Viñe, who exhibited scarce less guts in chipping
Radomil Marcol.
Bule were then level by the 74th, as
Raúl Himadas was again found badly wanting in the pace department. The Spanish defender's worry was evident when Maksimilijan Špis received the ball with only him in the way, and his fears were made manifest as Špis pushed the ball past him on the outside. Himadas was no match despite having a few yards' runway, and Marcol was moreover late in plugging the gap.
There was all to play for again, but this time it would be the Birds to level immediately.
Hwang Teck Fu was the man to do it as Andrović threaded his way past two on the left, with
Aw Keng Chuan supplying the final ball from an awkward header back across the box. Three minutes later,
Raúl Himadas would have his revenge as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul played for the free-kick - which Himadas curled past both the defensive wall, and then Fretschner.
Grilled could not relax yet as Yiorgis Topalidis got a fourth back for Bule in the 81st minute, but the inclusion of
Gandhik Chitre for Marzuki four minutes later would stretch the Indonesians badly. Two more subs -
Damian Hutter and
Toma Tamiya on for Himadas and Andrović - would then see the Birds through to the end.
