Norðdepil Evens
Mosqueiro Bite
The Birds avoided defeat against Faroese II.1 visitors Norðdepil FK in the ninth round of the World Battle tourney, but concerns over their confidence remained, as they spurned multiple opportunities to take this one home. Norðdepil looked the more likely to score when on the prowl despite conceding possession to the hosts, and in fact did first, before
Hwang Teck Fu levelled.
Polish gaffer Antoni Pałubiński had been selling more than buying since the S$14 million double swoop for Tapani Palola and Mario Bauernfeind several seasons before, with Bauernfeind since moved on to Italy's Grande Guerra for a hefty discount. Palola would start at rightback today, with homegrown former youth international Jenis Andreassen tending goal as always. Polish Number Eight Józef Szczurek was their main man in midfield, with Portuguese III.7 Golden Boot winner Filipe José Mosqueiro entering his prime at 29.
Against this, Grilled went for a midfield three of
Chia Kwang Tse,
Aw Keng Chuan and
Hisham Zubari, as Tian continued to bed in his new preferred lineup.
Phillip Nagata remained a breath of fresh air on the right with his intricate dribbling style, one that had Curaçao fullback Shanon Croes beaten to rights in the 28th minute.
Hwang Teck Fu appeared locked on to score as he waded his way through to meet Nagata's dropping cross, but he hadn't counted on the fast-twitch muscles of Andreassen, whose reflex stop saved Norðdepil there.
The Birds would continue working the middle after that save, but to little reward, and the Faroese would begin to find gaps being left behind. Józef Szczurek ghosted past Chia in the 37th minute and found
Raúl Himadas committing to the tackle far too early, but
Radomil Marcol managed to get his fingertips to the ball, for it to just clear the crossbar. There was no getting to Mosqueiro's bullet header three minutes later, however, as he angled Ashkan Ghaffarpour's delivery precisely to the far bottom corner.
Marcol looked exasperated as the Norðdepil players wheeled away in celebration, although Grilled did throw everything at their opponents in the remaining minutes of the half, to their credit. Szczurek was booked for felling
Hisham Zubari in the 41st minute, and from the quickly-taken free-kick, young Knút Weihe nearly put it into his own net, saved only by Andreassen's watchful eye. The next attack would only just be broken up by American midfielder Kevin Cork's well-timed barge in on Aw Keng Chua, but Eyðun í Geilini would be carded seconds later anyway, as he ran into a flying
Phillip Nagata from the side.
Norðdepil did survive without conceding, and Tian would give
Mohd Marzuki Khairul a chance to turn things around for the second half, with
Lim An Keng having played below his usual standards. This did largely work as intended with Marzuki often pinning Palola back when it mattered, and a particularly nifty piece of ball control had
Hwang Teck Fu blow past the last man in the 68th minute, from which he equalized with a measured grounder.
It was Grilled Birds' game to not win as they reached the final ten minutes or so, with Norðdepil having long abandoned attacking before that. Kevin Cork was their star performer in the twilight of the match as he anticipated several promising through passes, but there was no cutting out
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's drifting ball over to Marzuki in the 79th. The Birds Number Seventeen displayed remarkable agility to open up for the shot, but it flashed inches wide of the right goalpost.
This attacking sequence had not quite concluded, as it happened, as Andreassen made perhaps his only mistake of the day, with an attempted short ball wide to Shanon Croes, that got crowded off him.
Phillip Nagata snapped an immediate cross over to
Chad Thach, who sadly could only chip it back in the direction from where it came. Nagata managed to squeeze it in again, but the former Lions forward then mistimed his volley, with Portuguese sweeper Vidal João Semedo getting a critical touch on the pass.
