All In Four Minutes
Chitwan Stunned
Grilled Birds progressed in the AFC ASIAN CUP against Chitwan United, entering the Round of Sixteen on the back of a solid 3-0 victory. Everything was decided within four frantic minutes in the middle of the first half, as the Nepalese III.4 leaders could not transfer the belief from their ten-match competitive unbeaten streak, over to this tournament fixture.
Newly-installed French head coach Jean-Marc Doussin had yet to make any changes to the squad he inherited, but was happy enough to make full use of recent reinforcements such as recent Irish U-20 international defender Marcus Waddock, and cultured young striker Pierre-Édouard Baradat. Both featured in Chitwan's textbook 3-5-2 today, and their Nepalese fan club were also out in full force, judging from the sheer volume of colourful banners in their section of the stand.
The ground conditions were also all but perfect, though the sizzling temperature left something to be desired.
Tian Yonghang stayed with much the same starting lineup that had done so well against C.F. Alessio, and it soon felt like Chitwan had more in common with the Spanish side than was apparent at first glance. There would be the same balance throughout, what with Maldives right winger Mohamed Faisal a calm head in captaining the team from right wing, but not quite enough depth to worry the Birds.
Still, Chitwan United were good enough to stall Grilled for over twenty minutes, with their system being quite adept at recycling the ball in midfield.
Hisham Zubari would encounter some early hiccups against Baradat too, and he left out a trailing leg against the forward's deft swivel in the eleventh minute. A stricter referee might have sent Zubari off, considering that he was technically the last man, but the Grilled Number 22 would escape that ultimate sanction on this occasion.
Thankfully, Grilled soon managed to move the main theatre into Chitwan's half, and their superior ball-winning abilities would soon have the Nepalese under the cosh.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko remained the Birds' main driving force from midfield with
Ananda Hettiarachchi hesitant to assert himself - but quite effective at his passing, for that - and the Myanmar star would feed
Hwang Teck Fu in the 23rd minute, leading to a magnificent save from Dutch goalie Lennert Castelijn. Radu Vrejoiu played it out of the back with an almost unnatural composure, and Baradat badly embarrassed
Chia Kwang Tse with some flashy dribbling... but could not keep his finish on target.
This was Chitwan's high point for the half, as Grilled revved into high gear. Ironically, it would be their finally looking to the wings that they attained their reward, with the underutilized
Phillip Nagata tearing the opponents up down the right side in the 31st minute. Vrejoiu caught up to Nagata after great effort, but this left a hole behind that
Chad Thach gratefully exploited to open the scoring from.
The Birds saw the hint, and started to use the full width of the field.
Paulino Trindade found joy on the left side too as he made his appeal for more minutes, with his low drive across the box in the 34th minute turned in by
Hwang Teck Fu. Castelijn had not fully recovered, from how he was badly out of position when Cape Verde midfielder Jorge Manoel sent a routine backpass to where the goalkeeper was supposed to be in the very next minute, which had the roaming
Genki Nagano take advantage for 3-0.
It stayed three-nil at the break, and in all honesty Chitwan United had demonstrated little towards a consolation goal, far less an eventual equaliser. The second half brought few changes to their prospects, and it was mostly down to Lennert Castelijn to protect what remained of their pride.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul hinted that he was back with a strong run that Waddock barely kept pace with, and it took all of Castelijn's considerable length to prevent Marzuki from earning a fourth goal there.
Five minutes later in the 54th, it was Hwang's turn to threaten the Nepalese again, with a well-executed positional swap with
Chad Thach throwing his marker off. Unfortunately, Hwang was unable to get the ball where he wanted with his first touch, and wound up drifting too wide and catching a bad angle. Hein joined in the fun about four minutes later as he finally took one on for himself from about fifteen yards, but his placed attempt was off-target as well.
This was it as far as chances went for the rest of regular time, with
Chia Kwang Tse's yellow card for persistent shirt-pulling on Baradat only highlighting the Frenchman's potential. Chia would have his moment in the sun in stoppage time after Grilled's substitutions were spent, as
Phillip Nagata put him through. Chia then recorded the rare achievement of rounding the goalie, only for Turkish fullback Osman Akmut to save his team on the goalline.
