Eye Of The Eagle
Parée Parried
Grilled Birds advanced from the group stage of the AFC ASIAN CUP with a 4-3 victory over Syrian League side Alan Eagle Eyed, affiliates of legendary Iraqi giants Erbil Sport Club. Starting in their iconic black-and-white halves, Eagle Eyed would split the first half with the Birds mostly thanks to the efforts of Belgian forward Giler Parée, but a strong run after that was enough for Grilled to progress.
The Syrians came into the game on the back of several good results, including a 4-0 clampdown on Athletic Club de Aleppo in the cup, and a 4-2 in the league over Syrian Berry, albeit with Mohamad Kawood sent off for the visitors. Their latest match would be a 2-2 draw against Armenian Division Two leaders FC Augustiner Yerevan in the GTIM SUPERLEAGUE tournament, which had Raúl Lobatón and Samuel Hopper responsible for their goals, in an open contest.
This was looking very much like a spiritual repeat, with the Eagle Eyed midfielders faring decently against their Grilled counterparts. Notably, while
Aw Keng Chuan was back for the Birds,
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko would not be included in the squad, supposedly due to registration complications. Not a problem, as
Chia Kwang Tse and
Hwang Teck Fu provided the motive force alongside Aw there.
Former Guam U-20 star Samuel Hopper would be the pick of the lot in the middle, it had to be admitted, and he would mix staunch defensive commitment with an uncanny knack of selecting the right, and oft simplest, pass. This had his team mount a number of incursions deep into Grilled territory, and an eighteenth minute example had Congolese Number Nine Ramazani Tshimankinda successfully running interference for Parée, who went on to place it past
Radomil Marcol with great composure.
Gandhik Chitre was not to be overshadowed, though, and he would flip the script within the next 17 minutes. In fact, the equalizer would come on Grilled's very next build-up, which cumulated in Hwang teasing French fullback Ewen Varin with repeated head-fakes, before passing it on to Chitre. Chitre would not stop looking for openings, and after several all-too-optimistic tries, his 35th minute lob caught Croatian goalkeeper Braco Kosten leaving too much space at the far end of goal.
Parée would be roused by this ruthless display of the striker's arts, and he would even it up six minutes before the break, off a memorable dribble that began with him pulling away from Aw in midfield.
Chia Kwang Tse chased but never got close enough, with the forward then utilizing his frightening close control to work his way past both
Raúl Himadas and
Ha Qicai in short order.
This was the sort of strike that even the opposition fans had to appreciate, and the teams trooped out for the second half with the commentators questioning as to which of Parée and Chitre would decide the game. It would be neither, in fact, with the supporting cast coming into their own;
Darko Andrović had mutually neutralized Iraqi wing star Hamzah Muayad for much of the previous period, but he was presented with it on a platter in the 50th minute as former Benin youth international Kossi Kpadonou turned right into him while trying to escape
Lim An Keng's press. A swift swipe and poke later, and it was 3-2.
Grilled Birds were slowly gaining the ascendancy with Eagle Eyed trying to force a breakthrough slightly too overtly, when had them extend their lead in the 72nd minute through
Hwang Teck Fu's curt finish from a collective push up the middle.
Chad Thach would be booked for provoking the opposition fans with his celebrations, however, and both Aw and Lim would miss excellent chances to really kill the game off, with Braco Kosten brave in the face of close-up strikes.
Injury time would heat up after the Birds' purposeful triple substitution designed to eat away the seconds, with Hamzah Muayad anticipating Roddy McLaughlin's precise through ball in a stellar demonstration of American-Iraqi cooperation. It was, alas, too little too late for the Syrians, with
Kendell El Khateeb making it his personal mission to hog the ball at the corner flag.
