Loss To Lucenses
Exploding Novoa
Seldom have Grilled Birds played a club so similar to themselves in attainment, and in El Salvador Liga Mayor challengers Los Cernícalos Lucenses, they have found one; having exactly the same number of national league titles and cups, and one additional Challenger Cup - alongside being reigning holders of the Copa Desafío Esmeralda - there was next to nothing separating the World Battle contestants on this end.
The recent purchases of former Saint Vincent and the Grenadines U-20 goalkeeper Nigel Phillipps and Brazilian attacker Douglas Nakashima for a combined total of over S$29 million spoke to Hungarian boss Ervin Drobnits' ambitions, even if neither made the lineup today. Instead, Serbian regular custodian Lazar Tadić held court in the box, with German workhorse Obbo Riedhofer leading the attack. As it was, this was more then enough to put the Birds down, despite the latter winning possession.
Grilled had
Brian Reddy returning to the fray on the right, almost two weeks after sustaining a tweaked ankle against newbies are newbies, with
Genki Nagano securing the midfield pivot for himself. Unfortunately for Genki, he was up against essentially the El Salvadorean national midfield of Bladimiro Jordán, Elio Novoa and Lisandro Pulgar, all of whom came up through the ranks at Los Cernícalos Lucenses together.
It was plainly remarkable how much this experience added to that illustrious trio, and although
Chad Thach and
Lim An Keng were hardly fledglings themselves, they would be reduced to knocking it between each other largely ineffectively, with Lucenses being far more decisive whenever they held the ball. A long, angled ball by Jordán would find Swiss left winger Tony Werthmüller with a clear route to the corner flag, where his cross fell just right for Dariusz Otoliński to blast past
Radomil Marcol, from the right corner of the penalty area.
This was a poor belated 30th birthday present for the Slovakian goalie, who had been caught wrongfooted as he advanced towards Otoliński a tad too late. Grilled continued to plug away, but it brought little for them until
Hwang Teck Fu got a fleeting look in the 34th minute. His weak shot under pressure from Elio Novoa was an easy take for Lazar Tadić, sadly, and the crisp counter up the middle would be finished off by Lisandro Pulgar, who had advanced in anticipation.
To be frank, the Birds would have a bit of bad luck with their shots after Novoa had clipped a third past Marcol in the 39th minute, with both
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Chad Thach firing right at Tadić - three times in succession. Worse, the aftermath of Thach's shot saw it cleared to Borislav Atanasov on the right with
Darko Andrović way out of position, and
Ha Qicai would not be able to prevent Novoa from scoring again.
4-0 it was at half-time, and even the most optimistic of Grilled fans had to be bereft of hope. Granted,
Gandhik Chitre would chat with sweeper José Gregorio Granadillo while they strolled into the tunnel, in a sign that the Birds players could live with it... if not without some shame.
They would moderate their approach in the second half, and this paradoxically served them better against a laxer Lucenses team. Grilled got their best opportunities after sustained sieges that holed the opposition team up, perhaps due to the reduced threat of counters that had burnt the Birds so badly in the previous half.
Raúl Himadas would be tasked with testing Lazar Tadić from deep in several such cases, and he would finally best the goalkeeper with an instinctive hit in the 62nd minute.
If the most-blinkered Grilled fans were expecting that to presage a rally, however, they would be much mistaken, as Lucenses began to take over control.
Genki Nagano was fortunate to escape with a yellow for his brutal collision with Bladimiro Jordán in the 69th minute, with
Ha Qicai then rounded by Tony Werthmüller, whose finish then left much to be desired.
Radomil Marcol's troubles weren't over, though, and he had to be on his toes to deny a big Obbo Riedhofer header, three minutes later.
