Etíope Excursion
Chia Goes Wild
Grilled Birds concluded this iteration of the World Battle tournament with a bang, as they put five goals past Mengão Etíope of Addis Ababa. If the Ethiopian II.2 side had been hoping for relief from a difficult league campaign, they were not going to get it here, and not the least due to the supreme form of
Chia Kwang Tse.
Etíope would have to start with just ten men after some paperwork issues, with Swiss right winger Kyllian Plane having just completed his delayed transfer to Montenegro third division side Imperial Elite FC, leaving local head coach Mintesinot Worku shorthanded. The Ethiopians adapted the best they could, with Jean-Claude Blaise resuming his usual lone forward role. Ukrainian captain Radoslav Sibiryakov then had to do double duty in midfield, with Finnish goalkeeper Markus Haapala behind his back five.
Lim An Keng's injury and the departure of Chitre and Reddy left
Tian Yonghang with few choices to make, with it being more a matter of which first-teamer to go where.
Chad Thach would for one be restored to the attack, where he hung out on the right of
Hwang Teck Fu. This would have him open the scoring just two minutes in, with
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's awkward waist-high cross from the left side, finding its intended target.
This wouldn't affect the African support as they only raised the volume of their drum-banging, but their team remained with much sorting-out to do, defensively.
Hisham Zubari resolved to test Haapala in the sixth minute, but his excellent strafing attempt would go slightly over. This led to a big goal-kick and a free-kick conceded by
Raúl Himadas, but Adugna Bishaw's hopeful hit towards Blaise could not be controlled.
There would be an extended stalemate next as Etíope executed their defensive strategy quite competently, with frequent double or even triple-teaming of Grilled's forwards where appropriate. This was tougher to apply to the Birds midfielders, however, and
Chia Kwang Tse profited by far the most from it. 31 minutes in, Etíope put one man too many on
Chad Thach, and this left a gaping channel for Chia to attack - and put Grilled 2-0 up.
The onslaught continued with Tesfahun Kebede barely stopping
Hwang Teck Fu's drive right before it crossed the line in the next minute, as Grilled allowed their opponents little time to regroup. It was all Etíope could do to redirect the ball as far from their goalmouth as possible, which for Chilean defender Ruyman Valdivia, meant putting it behind in the 36th minute. Unfortunately for him,
Raúl Himadas guided the corner flawlessly to the far post, where
Chia Kwang Tse headed it down and home.
That was three, and the torch would continue being carried by
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko on the left side, but his trying to force the natural link-up with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would be too easily read. Hein finally mixed it up after a couple of forcibly-retracted passes, and squared it across towards the right side of the box. And who else but
Chia Kwang Tse would come racing in, to complete his hat-trick?
It was 4-0 at half-time, and the second half started with Mengão Etíope surely understanding that they were most likely not going to turn this match around. Some to-and-froing later, Grilled made their first serious move in the 54th minute, and had
Phillip Nagata put
Mohd Marzuki Khairul through - but it came hard off the crossbar. The counterattack was on, and Etíope would rush forward in numbers for once, but Ruyman Valdivia's finish was not on target.
There remained discipline to be maintained, with
Hisham Zubari booked for a late trip on Sibiryakov after the ball had gone, but the referee had allowed play on and there was thus no free-kick to be had.
Raúl Himadas would likewise rake a grounder wide about five minutes later, after which it was transfer-listed Lithuanian defender Josminas Šiušis' turn to get a yellow card, this for felling a flying
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko.
The question was soon whether Grilled would manage a fifth goal before the final whistle, and the answer would be in the affirmative. Zubari would be the next to cause Markus Haapala real worry, but the Finn extended a long arm to deny the midfielder in the 80th minute. Chia then threatened with an ambitious fifteen-yarder lob three minutes later, which Haapala again got to - but only to tip it onwards for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul to tap home.
