YILDIZGS On It
Cheng On Tap
Grilled Birds' AFC ASIAN CUP journey ended at the quarterfinals stage, as Palestine II.1 former national cupwinners YILDIZGS knocked them out in the closing minutes. Fernando D'Addabbo's team might have been relegated since coming within a whisker of doing the double just two seasons ago, but they remained very tough customers on their day, as the Birds found out.
Their latest star signing, national defender Bwrhan Kelawi, would act as sweeper in their wide 3-5-2, with seniors Coman Sub Laban, Ahmed Safadi and Shunnar Abu Karaki starting alongside former Syrian international Solaiman Zeidan in midfield. Kazakh legend Zhasar Zaitov, capped fifty times for his nation, would keep goal, and he would be a major factor in Grilled's inability to close it off.
Grilled were not without their own selling points, and despite
Chia Kwang Tse being benched for a sudden dip in form, they would have
Brian Reddy ready on the right. Unfortunately, the winger couldn't keep his wits about him when both Gheorghe Popescu and
Gandhik Chitre missed making contact on a
Raúl Himadas corner in the 15th minute, and Reddy would send it the wrong side of the post despite having all the time in the world.
Zaitov would be on his defenders for not keeping Reddy under wraps then, and it would be a far tighter YILDIZGS backline containing Grilled's forwards from thence on. The match appeared headed for a stalemate despite flashes of skill all over, until Hungarian striker Ferenc Kertész rocked
Radomil Marcol with a volley hit-full on from Safadi's cross, in the 37th minute. More was to come, and his Chinese partner Cheng Jiaxing pounced on a disguised free-kick to make it 2-0, four minutes later.
The Birds were not disheartened in the slightest from how
Lim An Keng rushed to restart the match, and the Birds mainstay would deservedly slash YILDIZGS' lead with a timely pull past Kelawi, on Grilled's maniac charge from that kick-off. Barely a minute later, the Birds would have their opponents retreating haphazardly once more, and
Hwang Teck Fu found the target between a momentary gap in their defensive press, with Zaitov just a step slow in getting to it - 2-2!
Even that was not the end of the half's happenings, as YILDIZGS dug deep to get the final say. The fans were definitely not about to leave early after what had just happened, and despite the referee indicating just a single added minute, the Palestineans were not about to while the seconds away. Solaiman Zeidan looked up and considered where to send the ball, and after a great long pass slicing through to Cheng, a last-ditch sliding effort hooked the ball right back to Ferenc Kertész, who only had to chest it home.
It was
Radomil Marcol's turn to unleash on his defenders at that, with
Raúl Himadas catching much of his ire for not getting in front of Kertész then. They appeared to have settled their differences by the time they came out for the next half, happily, and Grilled would begin - and stay on - the offensive. There was plenty of striving by
Gandhik Chitre on the right side of attack in particular, and while Gheorghe Popescu threw him off his finish in the 55th minute, the Romanian was unable to prevent him from playing
Brian Reddy in for the equalizer, some seven minutes on.
This looked like Grilled Birds' match to lose now, but try as they might, they were just unable to claim a crucial fourth goal, that would have seen them take the lead for the first time.
Lim An Keng and
Genki Nagano combined about the 75th minute to free Chitre for an open shot from eight yards, but Zhasar Zaitov drew upon every scrap of his considerable experience, to predict Chitre's shot selection.
Extra time appeared a given as the Birds got bogged down towards the end of regular time, but as it turned out, this was just YILDIZGS awaiting their time.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's misplaced pass in the 84th minute was the beginning of the end, as Ahmed Safedi fearlessly blazed deep into the Birds half after collecting it, and fed Cheng Jiaxing for 4-3. The very next minute saw Coman Sub Laban crack Grilled's half-hearted offside trap, and overlapping fullback Ciro Cesaretti put it to bed.
Grilled did try to battle it out to the end, but
Hwang Teck Fu's brave dribble past three men right before the 90th minute, would be stopped by Zaitov on the cusp of the actual strike. YILDIZGS would not allow Grilled another chance in the three added minutes, and went through with Cheng holding on to possession at the corner flag.
