Tough Hospitality
Kohly Crushed
This friendly rematch two seasons in the making ended with Grilled steamrolling Cuban visitors Kolhy F.C. 8-0 before some 5600 fans at The Cooking Pot, although the Birds did put out their first team for fitness reasons;
Qassem Madaini and
Zhu Changchun were the only two holdovers from the reverse fixture in Cuba, which Grilled also won, 3-1, courtesy of goals from
Yvan Lefébure and the departed Li Boon Boon.
Kohly, now promoted to the Primera División Cubana, where they finished a respectable fourth, did bring some of their regulars as they employed a flexible 3-5-2, fronted by the exciting strike pairing of 22 year-olds Koni Heutschi and Tiziano Palareti, who each bagged six goals in the top flight in the recently concluded season.
For all that, the game would be decided in midfield, as Grilled's battle-tested unit smothered Kohly's willing but less-assertive players. That dominance probably hadn't come into effect yet in the second minute, though, which was when
Lin Jungui accidentally miscued a cross into the far top corner of goal.
The Birds would take some time to prove that their being in the lead was not a complete fluke, and
Abdul bin Jantan finally beat Portuguese goalie Fernando Carocha in the 26th minute with a stiff strike, after he had kept Grilled in the ascendancy by sticking to the basics.
Paolo Iten overhit a free-kick 31 minutes in after Uladzimir Mishutsin rushed his first attempt down prematurely, but
Seytek Djekshenkulov's contribution minutes later meant that Grilled took a healthy three-goal lead into the dressing room.
While Kohly's defence was likely better than the scoreline might have suggested, Grilled were just too practised at exploiting any fleeting weaknesses, and thus it was in the 47th minute when
lu Zunwen forced his way between Veniamin Svobodin and Alois Hering before smashing another in.
That was enough for Estonian coach Ronald Laev, who made two substitutions in quick succession, saving the legs of Jędrzejczyk and Palareti for another day.
Chow Ying Lee made it 5-0 immediately after with a patented direct dribble, while
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim followed suit after another Iten effort was saved. This was the signal for captain Heutschi to come off too, Polish youngster Dawid Szocik his replacement.
None of this provided any respite for the unfortunate visitors, whose hopes for a consolation vanished with
Dexter Stacey's stubborn tenacity towards a clean sheet. The energetic Szocik surprised Grilled's backline a couple of times with his acceleration, but Stacey was on to him and denied both good attempts.
Mohd Safri added another against a mentally-spent Kohly defence, before Iten finally calibrated his crosshairs correctly and found the net in the 81st minute with a top-drawer free-kick. All that was left was for a triple substitution to take place, as Jungui, bin Jantan and Tian made way for
Walter Ross,
Alex Fonseca and the up-and-coming
Tang Hengcai.
