Seitse And Match
Sepp Better
Grilled Birds' return to the playoffs of the Trophy of Legends ended at the first stage, as FC Seitse defeated them 3-0 in this contest between two national II.2 runners-up. The Estonians had made it to the quarterfinals just three seasons ago, so this could hardly be held as a fluke for them.
Italian head coach Marco Brunello - now into his third full season with the club - had made just four major buys since his installation, the most expensive by far of which was Romanian former U-20 midfielder Emilian Stroea, for almost S$12.5 million. He would start in central defence today, with ex-Tallinna Putukad star Vsevolod Motuz in attack. Swedish veteran goalkeeper Gustaf-Adolf Karlsson would be on the bench with Georgian skipper-keeper Gigla Artmeladze having just celebrated his 34th birthday, while 59 year-old Polish understudy Marek Zelech accompanied Brunello in the dugout.
Tian Yonghang revealed the toll that the long season had taken on his squad in his pre-game comments, as he trusted his midfield to the newcomers;
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko,
Hisham Zubari and
Ananda Hettiarachchi started together for probably the first time, as
Lim An Keng filled out the left wing.
Hwang Teck Fu appears to have become established as the Birds' primary centre-forward option, and was flanked by
Chad Thach and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, whose hat-trick yesterday had brought the Birds thus far.
FC Seitse would showcase the power of their overlapping fullbacks on their first serious advance, as Veljo Eit outflanked both Lim and
Genki Nagano seemingly effortlessly. Several of his teammates were in the box having expected that, and Andres Virula forced a magnificent stop out of
Radomil Marcol. Anywhere would do for
Raúl Himadas, but it dropped well for
Hisham Zubari, with the high bounce fooling his marker. Half a minute later, it was
Hwang Teck Fu bearing down on Artmeladze with a look of pure concentration on his face, but he put it too close to the keeper.
That was the initial pleasantries done with, and the match continued with the Estonians clearly gaining the upper hand with their composure. The Birds were getting ravaged on the wings, with Pep Lluís Bru rushing clear down the right, to swing it in for Vsevolod Motuz's header in the 23rd.
Radomil Marcol barely tipped it over then, but the referee would pull it back for a high boot from
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko anyway - penalty! Eit lined it up... but didn't get his approach right, and Marcol kept his cool and his eyes on the ball, to pluck the strike from mid-air.
That had the Grilled goalkeeper swamped by his grateful teammates, and inspired the Birds to piece together their first good chance in a long time.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would be encouraged by the fans to take the defenders on, and he would beat two on the run, only to overrun the ball into a weak finish. FC Seitse then scored three minutes later with UAE international winger Salim Al-Ghandi gliding past
Raúl Himadas on his outside, before squeezing a perfect drive into the near post.
Radomil Marcol should perhaps have closed the gap, but it was difficult to finger the Grilled custodian after he had bailed the team out so many times already.
Tian Yonghang's only recourse was to substitute
Lim An Keng - who had started to hobble towards the end of the half - off for
Chia Kwang Tse, which would produce a fine
Chad Thach run in the 50th minute. Thach would flick it over Virula's sliding tackle to open up some space, but Veljo Eit had stationed himself at the far post with his foresight, and the incoming lob would elude Artmeladze but not his fullback.
That was the high point of Grilled's second half, and it became a question of how much longer they could hold out against FC Seitse's systematic offensives. Not that much longer, so it happened, as Grilled found themselves severly challenged on their left. Maltese four-time Golden Boot winner Amzar Zayedi, who had also won the Chinese Taipei Consolation Cup with Plum Blossom FC earlier in his career, faked Marcol out with a feinted drive, before taking another half-step and sidefooting it between his legs.
It was hard to look past an FC Seitse by now, what with the Birds barely able to get a sniff, much less respond. Promising as Grilled's new midfield was, Ain Sepp reminded that there were levels to this thing with his metronomic distribution, which set Tunnet Raun up for a monstrous leg-footed ram onto the crossbar in the 66th minute. Raun would be shoved off the rebound, but the Estonians played it back up the right wing without missing a beat, and Emilian Stroea made it 3-0 with an unstoppable volley that sizzled across goal.
There was not much left for Grilled Birds to do, but they were not giving up on a potential consolation goal just yet.
Hisham Zubari came closest with his spectacular bicycle kick in the 71st minute as Chia tried his luck with a floated cross, and the Seitse supporters could well afford to applaud the effort after it grazed the bar.
