MEXICALI Sendoff
Patiño Glows
Grilled Birds would not sell themselves short as they closed Season 92 with an Intercontinental Cup dead rubber against no less than reigning Mexican Primera División champions MEXICALI F.C, and went ahead against them thrice before running out of steam - a concerning pattern, it has to be said. Legendary MEXICALI Number Nine Fernando Patiño did the disposal in a second half that suggested they had not been altogether serious before.
The Birds might have just come off a sapping 3-3 draw against Norway's Fjell IL, but this would not prevent
Dan Alstani from testing the endurance of his starters, with an unchanged starting XI. There was a lot more to be said about MEXICALI's historic title-winning team, constructed with national midfielder Brian Cunningham as its core. Golden Boot winner Patiño was in the middle of a front three, as the Mexicans arguably outdid even Grilled with their offensive bias.
This was just how Grilled Birds liked it anyway, and minimal heed would be paid to defence in what was essentially an exhibition game. Largely freed from pesky constraints such as the need to achieve results, the players could flaunt their skill with a rare abandon. José María Rubio Góngora's rabona tackle attempt on
Lim An Keng in the 13th minute won full points for style if not effectiveness, as Lim skipped past him and slammed the first goal in off the far post - and very hard at that.
MEXICALI were actually looking the more assured side on the ball, and they had street cred to spare too, from how a slippery Federico Bojórquez bamboozled
Chad Thach in the 15th, earning the Birds forward an unwanted yellow card. They were level a minute later as the free-kick sent Erik Ávalos well clear, with neither of the Birds' centrebacks having registered him as a threat, what with all the distractions.
That was no skin off Grilled's nose as they reprised the offensive, and it was
Hwang Teck Fu's turn to steal the limelight, as the Birds worked the left side for abit after an extended spell in possession.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko was definitely making himself very useful against a flustered Ray Chávez, and he kept his head up to spot
Hwang Teck Fu calling for it, on top of that. The flick was so spot-on, that it was a goal as soon as it reached the Birds striker.
Well, what Hwang could do, Antonio Frusciante could too, and it was all square on MEXICALI's very next attack that had Sebastián Armada do most of the hard work. The Cryuff turn on
Lim An Keng was a delight, that much was a given - if not for Lim. Now very much in the mood too, Grilled plunged forward in numbers from their own kick-off, and flashily-attired goalkeeper Adal Martínez had to keep his eye on
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's knuckleball, to punch it over for a corner.
There would be more loose play with the teams still not caring too much about defense, and Marzuki's time would come 35 minutes in, with
Lim An Keng tapping him up for a lashed strike that dropped just underneath Martínez's approaching glove. Once again, it took less than a minute for MEXICALI to respond, with it being Erik Ávalos to polish his own rebound off the woodwork.
The referee had barely anything to do for most of that with the players all but self-policing, but it remained his job to blow for half-time, and he discharged that sacred duty well. The players looked mostly satisfied too, easy enough given the lack of stakes, and there would be some banter over the 2-0 lead that CristalJr had built over FC Olgoi Khorkhoi in the other fixture.
MEXICALI were perhaps not drawing upon their full strength from the rather more businesslike stance that they began the second half with, and the impact would be telling.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko had been quite successful with his advances today, which was maybe why he was caught completely unawares by Antonio Frusciante's press on him in the 51st minute. This sparked off a three-man raid up the right, and ended with Fernando Patiño slipping it by
Radomil Marcol's sliding feet.
Grilled were seldom coming close to the ball now, and it would require some absolutely top-tier footwork from Marcol, to keep Boris Giller's excellent free-kick over the wall from going in, some five minutes later. Nobody told Patiño to tone it down, however, and Nicolás Munguía slid it over to him for 5-3 about the 71st minute, and that was that.
There remained a couple of notable exchanges to round out the day; for the Birds,
Chia Kwang Tse staked his claim to the highlights with a tricky run in the 76th minute that had him get past three men, only to have his intended finish crowded out by Brian Cunningham. Erik Ávalos then took over a few minutes later with a surge of pure speed, and
Genki Nagano's sliding tackle had to be inch-perfect, to avoid giving away the penalty there!
