Evil Vanquished
Tang Lights Up
Grilled's flag collection is again complete as they took on Cameroon Division Two side dark-evil at their home, though the match didn't make for especially suspenseful watching as the Birds, powered by a
lu Zunwen eager to make amends, rang up a four-nil lead before half-time.
dark-evil fielded an admirably cosmopolitan side, with the only native starter being 18 year-old Julien Ahanda, newly promoted from their youth division Young-honnor. Otherwise, they had standouts at each position of an expansive 4-3-3, with Italian youngster Moreno Francesconi full of surprises up front and Irishman Joe O'Driscoll on the right wing, ably supported by tall Spaniard Joaquín Marchante.
Unfortunately, Grilled had cause to include a couple of first-teamers, and apart from a well-rested Zunwen, the hungry
Shiya Shaahee was parked on the left. First blood would however be drawn by the fast-maturing
Mayur Gudivada, who reprised a combination so often seen with the Chicken Wings as he broke the defensive line and laid off for
Tang Hengcai to plug in.
It was two-nil barely three minutes later as the dark-evil defence made a hash of playing the ball out, and let
Hilal Bakhtiar get in behind. The hosts were visibly shaken, and not helped by the sight of a rampaging
lu Zunwen in his element shrugging off challenges as if they had not been made.
French defender Nicolas Galante was one of those who simply could not get a handle on lu, who simply forced his way partly around and partly through the player. Referee Alfred Klein saw nothing wrong with that bit of robust play, and Tang stole the show with an overhead kick goal before the hubbub had died down.
Gudivada and Hung could both have added to the rout as the half wound to an end, but they were to be disappointed by excellent recoveries by the dark-evil backline.
The dark-evil players clearly did not like the rain as they struggled to execute their intended passing game, while Grilled had no such ideological concerns as they went with whatever worked. A case in point was
Pompeo Bellamoli, who traded his usual silky touches for a lot of wading in the mud, and his dedication was underscored by a literally messy conversion that ended with him caked in brown.
Gudivada was next to join him for a splash as he lost his footing on the edge of the box, but the ball was retrieved by
Teo Yong Yau and plonked on for
Neo Da Teck, who nailed the finish. The sombre dark-evil fans groaned at that, but finally had cause to burst into song, as overworked Belgian midfielder Bob Struelens found a slightly questionable goal in the 74th minute.
Grilled's players had the good grace not to complain too much, especially after
Tang Hengcai capped his rising career with a chipped third to make it two hat-tricks in as many months.
