Cristal Clear
Paris Delight
Grilled's tournament burdens may be close to an end at least, as they were all but turfed out of the second edition of the Intercontinental Cup, after a 3-6 spanking by just-promoted Peruvian II.1 side CristalJr. The former national cupwinners are on track to reprise past glories, having slowly climbed the ranks back towards the Primera División after long years of lingering in Division Five, as their six-match competitive winning streak may attest to.
The Birds players looked a little bedraggled as they waited for CristalJr to appear in their neat away whites, and it was soon evident that this was going to be another tough one. As with FC Knysna, CristalJr ran a 3-5-2 if with a narrow back three, and in Cyprus national icon Paris Antoniou and S$20 million ex-Peruvian U-20 star Héctor Huaita, boasted of a no less formidable forward duo. Portuguese maestro Anastácio Melo held court in the centre, as former Paraguay youth international goalkeeper Carmelo Norambuena kept goal.
Spanish head coach Daniel Arcones had certainly never been afraid of splashing the cash, and it showed with his team going toe to toe with the Birds from the start. It was an open question as to who would break the deadlock, and the honour went to Paris Antoniou, who powered a breathtaking drive past Marcol from over fifteen yards.
Hwang Teck Fu came within a whisker of answering that within two minutes from a
Genki Nagano corner, but his improvisation clanged the outside of the goalpost.
Well, it cost Hwang just another two minutes to get the goal he wanted, as he caught Antonio Molero by surprise with a completely guileless rush into the penalty area, that had the defender unsure of whether to get out of the way, or concede the penalty. Unfortunately, Emanuel Agavriloaei had the same idea, and a quick free-kick from
Chad Thach's dissent had the Romanian rightback outflank Genki for 2-1.
There would be a very awkward moment for
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko as the half approached its conclusion, as he got a little too confident with his crisp backpass, only to discover that
Radomil Marcol had taken his time to recover his usual post. The own goal would be mitigated by
Genki Nagano's excellent run onto
Aw Keng Chuan's well thought out reverse pass, but Paris Antoniou and Anastácio Melo had it at 5-2 before half-time, as CristalJr worked their wings well.
Grilled Birds didn't give up, and
Ananda Hettiarachchi's lively dribble halfway down the pitch from kick-off seemed to remind his teammates of the sheer joy of playing. Within three minutes,
Chad Thach would cut CristalJr's lead to two goals as he worked his way past Horácio Marques through a mix of skill and strength, and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko nearly redeemed himself with a cheeky no-look poach attempt, only denied at the last split-second by Carmelo Norambuena realising what was happening.
That sliver of invention would gain some appreciation even from the Peruvian supporters, all the more as they found themselves rampaging all but unhindered up the right wing as a result. Anastácio Melo was left to bear down on
Radomil Marcol at pace after last man
Aw Keng Chuan couldn't keep the chase up, but Aw had done just enough to throw Melo off his finish, which Marcol was able to ward off.
CristalJr made a probably-unnecessary double substitution on the hour, that had Alexis Acancha and Cesare Käner enter for Agavriloaei and Risal Jaffery. This had the armband go to Austrian midfielder Johann Geisler, which seemed to lift his game appreciable. He found himself urged to shoot by his teammates in the 72nd minute after Héctor Huaita stylishly left it for him, and blazed it inches over with Marcol stranded.
Grilled would have one more chance to regain more honour, as
Hwang Teck Fu's bullheadedness created a chance from nothing in the 81st minute; he would hound Horácio Marques into misplacing a hand-off to Antonio Molero, which required the goalkeeper to charge out and set things straight. Instead, it would be Swiss attacker Cesare Käner to surge past
Hisham Zubari in the aftermath, to complete the scoring.
