Sweet Split
Perry At It
Four seasons after Grilled Birds defeated Japanese club Sweet Hurricance 4-2 in an international friendly, the two sides would be drawn to face each other in the second round of the group stage of the Dominion International Cup, and it would end with neither able to get the win this time. The Hurricanes had returned to the J.League since then, and have further won the Nippon Emerald Challenger Cup together with the II.3 title last term.
They had been boosted by prudent buys such as forward Eugenio Cipriani and goalkeeper Waldemar Peć in the run-up to glory, both of whom would start against Grilled here. Indeed, only two players would return from the previous exhibition game, namely Romanian ex-international veteran Sorin Brinda, as well as local fullback Kazuma Fuchigami, who would moreover skipper the Hurricanes today. Former Japanese national defender Reishi Matsukuma would take the left side, with Curaçao regular Anthony Perry their go-to in midfield.
Myanmar signing
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko would be thrown right into the fray by
Tian Yonghang, as he got stationed at right central midfield;
Aw Keng Chuan was there too in a rarely-seen dual pivot setup, with
Hwang Teck Fu freed to work his stuff from the centre. This was perhaps motivated by the condition of
Chad Thach, who had reportedly passed a late fitness test, but who was also evidently not in optimal condition to play.
Three straight defeats in the J.League had seen some Hurricanes supporters write off their league season already, as they enjoyed more success in the cup, coming from behind to smash Division Three hosts A.C.Silver Surfer 5-3 in midweek. Romanian legend Mihai Alexei, who had struck twice then, would not be involved today, but that didn't slow the Hurricanes any; countryman Brinda slung a flat corner into the Grilled box four minutes in, and Kazuma drew a gasp from the gallery with his flicked header that grazed the post.
The Birds wasted no time in launching their own raid from Marcol's long goal-kick, and
Gandhik Chitre's acceleration put him through onto Waldemar Peć, only to have the ball whisked away from his feet by the Polish goalkeeper. Chitre's half-hearted appeal for a penalty went nowhere, but Grilled kept the initiative. Hurricane's 3-5-2 took time to grind down, and it was only after
Chia Kwang Tse forced Peć into a contorted save 21 minutes in, that
Ha Qicai ripped the opener home to mark his 33rd birthday.
Grilled fans in attendance couldn't miss the opportunity to serenade their captain with birthday songs at that, and the remaining twenty minutes of the first half passesd with minimal incident. There was always the sense that the Hurricanes were simply waiting, however, and their conservative approach would come good after 65 minutes. It would still take an instant of consummate skill by Eugenio Cipriani as he feinted to the outside of
Ha Qicai before slashing by the off-balance defender, and hammering it past
Radomil Marcol.
The Japanese club did make the mistake of taking their time after equalizing, with their handing of possession back to Grilled Birds a very big mistake indeed. The Birds would park themselves just outside the Hurricanes' box, with their forwards sowing confusion amongst their backline. After some false starts, it would be left to
Aw Keng Chuan to try a lob from about ten yards, which had Peć unable to scramble back in time. 2-1!
The Birds would threaten to kill the match off as they kept up with their offense, with Peć having to dive to stop
Hwang Teck Fu's grounder from crossing the goalline in the 78th minute. The stoppage after
Brian Reddy's rough challenge on Dalimir Kmetič to try and retrieve the rebound wouldn't spare the Hurricanes more pressure, with
Aw Keng Chuan rocking the crossbar on the poorly-executed free-kick.
Gandhik Chitre was the next to shoot, but that 83rd minute attempt was one of the worst of the day.
Grilled were getting ahead of themselves by now, unfortunately, and especially with
Paulino Trindade on for
Darko Andrović, they gave Sweet Hurricane far too little respect in pressing their own objectives. This would come to a head in the 87th minute after the referee refused to call a foul after Reddy got sandwiched between two opponents, and the ensuing breakaway had Piotr Wojtaszewski past the last man on the overlap.
Raúl Himadas was inches away from reaching the cross, leaving Anthony Perry to tie it up from close range.
