Alessio For Five
One Half Enough
Spanish Division Seven side C.F. Alessio needed something of a miracle to go through today, and it was not forthcoming as Grilled Birds put five past them in a busy first half, to go through as Group A winners in the HATTRICK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. Alessio did have a couple of fair chances too, but nowhere near enough to claim a point.
A 1-1 draw against the Bunnies in the previous round did have their head coach Mario Balboa optimistic of a good showing today, and he did on paper have some formidable players such as Portuguese striker Gilberto João Soares, and local pride Luis Cantón-Salazar. Soares did win the first corner of the match against
Hisham Zubari in the third minute, one that Màrius Esquís dropped to Dutch fullback Franklin Tenniglo, about eight metres out and with a clear view of goal.
Sadly for the Spaniards, Tenniglo slammed it outside the right post by a whisker, and thus passed perhaps the best opening that they would have for the day. There was no mistaking Grilled's appetite for the game, what with
Ananda Hettiarachchi debuting on the left of
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko in a dynamic-looking midfield three, which drew a free-kick out of Danish midfielder Alan Brøndum in the 13th minute.
Genki Nagano curled it high and over, but Chilean Number One César Santibañez was too cute with his casual attempted pass over to Saleh Ashour, and
Chad Thach intercepted for 1-0.
The goalkeeper, also captain, had Alessio operating more conservatively after that, and their 3-5-2 would just about contain Grilled with a hint of unease. It all went haywire after Luis Cantón-Salazar got called for trying to stop Hein's free-kick in the 30th minute, however, which was in vain as Genki then shifted it right with the defenders all expecting another shot.
Hwang Teck Fu left it for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, who found the far bottom corner with a clean take.
The following ten minutes would be a nightmare for the opposition, as their previous discipline fell apart against the Birds' increased tempo. Ananda's first major contribution would be his deceptively-quick rush into the penalty area that had Adrián Arana block him almost out of reflex, and
Genki Nagano polished the penalty kick off with an impressive calmness. It was four-nil in the very next minute as
Paulino Trindade overloaded the right side together with
Phillip Nagata, something that the beleaguered Ashour was not prepared to deal with alone.
A fifth would arrive four minutes later in the 42st minute, as the Birds continued attacking down their right side, with Màrius Esquís only now deigning to help out in defence. It was a matter to too little, too late however, as the Spanish winger proved a far better attacker than otherwise, and allowed
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko an easy entry on his inside. Alessio tried for a consolation from kick-off with Brazilian forward Vadico Indiaporã running right at
Genki Nagano and falling over, but the referee would only book him for simulation there.
Suitably chastised, Indiaporã made no complaint, and the second half resumed with
Chad Thach threatening to add to his tally with a brave diving header on
Paulino Trindade's whipped delivery, only for Santibañez to come up with his best save of the game by far. The remainder of the half would then be relatively uneventful with C.F. Alessio apparently now viewing it as something of a defensive exercise, and Grilled not at all eager to embarrass their opponents further.
The game would flare up again after a triple substitution that brought
Aw Keng Chuan,
Mason Glendinning and
Damian Hutter in, as
Phillip Nagata made a go with a sudden lob from the right touchline, with the scheduled two minutes of injury time nearly gone. This should by all means have posed little difficulty for Santibañez, but it turned out that the goalkeeper had wandered some way off his line, and he had to be relieved when Nagata's effort landed on the roof of the net.
