Forelegging It
Hwang Haste
Grilled Birds kept up their flawless record in the World Battle thus far this season, with a 4-0 hiding of Dublin hosts Legia Galway. The Irish II.4 club are on a seven-match undefeated streak in their official matches, and three straight wins including a 5-1 Irish Cup sixth round victory against Los Cholos de la Tarde, in midweek. Jordanian national team prospect Shareef Murjan was off after 27 minutes after a hard hit to his chest then, but the 26 year-old would be fit enough to return at right forward today, along with former Spanish U-20 striker Jon Ander Goicolea.
Neither would see many chances today, as Galway struggled to keep the ball despite having the likes of former Liechtenstein youth international Ralf Brunner and recent Myanmar international Thein Htike Aung in midfield. Thein would have a quick chat with fellow national
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko on the sidelines before kick-off, but the two would not face off on the field, with
Tian Yonghang keeping with
Aw Keng Chuan as his center.
Kuwait national winger Mousa Talib Al-Sabhy won the toss against
Ha Qicai, but the Birds would win the ball back within seconds - and maintain most of the possession. Aw would prove to be Grilled's greatest asset as he more than held his own against Galway's reputed midfield, mostly from his unlocking
Chia Kwang Tse and
Hwang Teck Fu to get forward. The former would give Grilled the lead 14 minutes in, as he ran onto a
Lim An Keng knockdown and into the Galway box, with Lim slyly blocking Dural Mueller off from his teammate.
Protests by the Irish side against the apparent obstruction went nowhere, and the Birds would be two up by the 21st minute. Aw would showcase the other side of his toolbox with a brilliant outside-foot pass that split two Galway players, before drifting cosily into
Hwang Teck Fu's line of attack. Thein Htike Aung tried to insert himself from the side, but Hwang's upper-body strength was too much.
This only increased Legia Galway's frustration with the refereeing due to there being no call on Aw's use of hands in keeping Brunner away in the process, which came to a head when Angelo Dal Prà was booked for dissent some minutes later. Order would only be restored by Galway's Dutch head coach Şener Altınel as his men mobbed the referee, and
Darko Andrović would then nearly put a third past twice-capped former Swiss youth goalkeeper Greg Viez... only for his outlandish lob to veer aside in the final seconds.
Galway would finally make something of their own after half an hour, as Brunner's short runs began to have an effect. He would thread it through to Shareef Murjan in the 32nd minute, but
Radomil Marcol had kept his focus, and responded with a great reflex save. Two minutes later, Murjan would get another clear chance after a creative Goicolea dribble had taken out the Grilled defence, only to balloon it with all the time in the world.
The Jordanian rightly looked disgusted at himself for not getting that on target, and there would be no further shots on target by either team up to half-time. Aw would leave for
Genki Nagano for the second half, with his junior fitting right in for the day. Galway would look good going forward as they expanded their passing range with the Birds inching their backline up, but Marcol would again be at his best against Goicolea, on their 69th minute breakthrough.
There would then be a curious sequence at the other end nine minutes on, beginning with a free-kick for a trip on
Chad Thach. The Galway support needed no further excuse to boo the referee, and
Raúl Himadas' strike to the far post would be well-saved by Greg Viez. There would then be an uproar as the free-kick was ordered to be retaken due to the wall moving forward, and this time Himadas would lift it a couple of yards too high.
The saga wasn't over, though, with the lineman frantically flagging for an infringement on this second take, with video replays showing that
Brian Reddy had been wrestled to the ground by his Canadian counterpart Tim McCaskill, as he tried to come around the back. That had to be a penalty, and while the Galway fans were hardly prepared to be reasonable about it,
Raúl Himadas would block their antics out as he finally put it past Viez with a calm swipe to the right post. 3-0.
It was then almost comedic when the referee awarded yet another free-kick to the Birds in the very next minute, this time for elbowing by a Galway defender, and Viez would lift his stock further with an excellent catch off Himadas' dipping attempt. The Swiss custodian saw the funny side of it too, from how he seemed to offer the ball to the referee for another go, which was kindly refused.
Hwang Teck Fu wasn't done, however, and the midfielder would claim Grilled Birds' fourth and final goal in the 84th minute.
Gandhik Chitre could be credited with much of the preparations, as he took Mueller with him in dropping back towards midfield for the ball, before slipping a no-look ball the other way right on cue for Hwang.
