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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 91 | W | 5 - 4 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 90 | W | 2 - 4 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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Gila Go Ham
Špis & Span
A third AFC ASIAN CUP group match against Grilled Birds would finally prove the trick for Bule Gila di Jakarta, as they piled deeper into defence following successive defeats in a 4-4-2 formation. New Spanish gaffer Rodrigo Cascante's acumen would be shown to be correct, and BGJ's 3-0 shutout of the Birds in their new 5-3-2 demonstrated why they are in pole position to be promoted back to the Ligina.
Cascante had not actually added to the squad, mind, with Polish midfielder Krzysztof Blim being their last signing, as inherited from his predecessor. Blim would start on the bench today with Cascante staying with Rombout Staal as his defensive central midfield skipper, trusting countryman Pedro Viñe to drive the attack forward. Maldives Number Four Akhil Das would marshal the back five, ahead of 25 year-old German keeper Lothar Fretschner.
Tian Yonghang kept with his stated intention of not involving players on the transfer list, and the departure of Ha Qicai and
Darko Andrović would not leave him with that many choices either.
Hisham Zubari would be in left midfield today, playing off
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko further wide, but there remained poor understanding between Grilled's players.
Chad Thach could have been sharper as he tried to edge past Fretschner when it might have been wiser to just shoot, leading to Maksimilijan Špis' 23rd minute opener on the counter.
As against the Big Dogs and Queenstown, the Birds struggled to create viable shooting opportunities despite hogging possession at times, with BGJ rightly recognizing that they could just wait for their opponents to lose the ball.
Radomil Marcol kept the ball away from goal despite Jürgen Reiml clattering him hard in the 31st minute, but the three-time Golden Boot winner would bounce back from his deserved booking, to double the lead within the next five minutes.
New captain
Genki Nagano tried to stay positive, and was helped in this quest by a sizzling
Chia Kwang Tse dribble, though the finish left much to be desired. Zubari was fortunate to escape a card for taking Reiml down from behind as the Indonesians passed their way out of defence in a jiffy, but the defensive wall did most of the work against Björn Lullin's free-kick, leaving Marcol with an easy gather. Grilled had one last chance for
Aw Keng Chuan this half, but he made no headway against the defensive horde.
BGJ started the second half the more positive side as they took the initiative with Špis leading the way, and the Birds had to once again foul to stop the break down the middle, through
Raúl Himadas leaving a leg in the way of the forward. Lullin tried to be too cute with his complicated free-kick routine, however, and the Bule supporters would be left accusing the referee of bias, when he booked Akhil Das for dissent after letting several Birds off.
Well, BGJ were winning at least, and they would lock it in with a superb flying strike by Greek winger Yiorgis Topalidis, that left Marcol with no recourse.
Phillip Nagata continued taking Lullin on down the right side, and slid a delectable through ball inside for
Chia Kwang Tse in the 69th minute, but the first attempt would be blocked dead by Andrzej Domek's brave dive - and the follow-up lob then deflected over the crossbar.
This was it as far as Grilled's attacking output went, and
Lim An Keng's horrible day was underlined by his inability to keep a slow bounce in play, towards the end of the match. Tian's late substitutions had
Mohd Marzuki Khairul enter for
Hwang Teck Fu to no great effect, before the El Khateeb brothers got their run-out. BGJ then had one final setup in injury time, and Björn Lullin came pretty close with his grounder brushing past the left post.
