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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 92 | W | 5 - 4 | Tournament (Playoffs) | | Season 91 | L | 1 - 2 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 90 | L | 1 - 4 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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Chests Puffed Up
Wu Today's Man
Grilled Birds qualified for the next stage of the Dominion International Cup in style, by offing Serie A participants Manchester Cavallo 5-1 in the fourth tournament match between the sides. There had been a churn of players since the last time the teams met, with Dutch head coach Gied van Eeghen apparently doing his level best to bolster the club treasury with clever transfer dealings. This had apparently affected their focus on the pitch, however, and it was Cavallo's turn to be hit with the regulations stick, as they started a man down in a 3-4-2.
There remained enough talent - and pace - in their team to keep Grilled honest, most notably from new signing Sakari Mali, the Finnish striking star who had thrice commanded a club-to-club fee of over S$27 million, after making his name at Mc Suorama. Former Latvian international Edvīns Hercbergs would back him up, with Russian playmaker Anatoliy Malin covering extra ground on the left. Defensively, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines legend Orlando Bolt held court at rightback, with Indonesian custodian Kusnadi Hutasoit making a return.
If this Cavallo team had a shortcoming, it would have to be the wear on their legs, which did not gel well with the quick pace that they were attempting to enforce. True, this went relatively well early on, with there being half-chances for Aleix Puig-Pey and Denis Novo within the first twenty minutes. However, it would be
Wu Ping De to tap the opener in after eleven minutes from
Ananda Hettiarachchi's wonderful table service, with Wu nearly adding another seven minutes later, having figuratively broken Aaron Payne's ankles with his dancing on the ball.
There was no stopping the Birds for the remainder of the half though, as Van Eeghen's gambit went down in flames. Grilled were really pressuring Turkish sweeper Erdal Racih now, and
Hwang Teck Fu held nothing back in his 23rd minute charge to burst inside, only to segue into a delicate scoop that took Hutasoit by surprise. Wu and Ananda were back reprising their connection a minute later, with the end product being identical as the winger slotted home for a second time.
3-0 at half-time left Manchester Cavallo with a mountain to climb, but they packed their gear nevertheless; the second half resumed with them pushing a torrid tempo once more, and there was enough raw skill and experience to make that dangerous indeed. Mali drew
Hisham Zubari into an ill-considered tackle three minutes in, and Bolt swung an impressive free-kick towards
Radomil Marcol's right post... only for the Slovakian to make it across in time.
Aaron Payne would be identified as his team's weak link in being replaced by Luís Paulo Monteiro on the hour, which immediately preceded Cavallo's consolation goal. The Italians took their time with the throw-in to restart the game, but it was well-spent as Sakari Mali's decoy run left Anatoliy Malin with an empty box ahead of him.
Genki Nagano and
Lim An Keng fought to close Malin down, but not before he had unleashed a drive into the bottom right corner.
Grilled's own substitution of
Mohd Marzuki Khairul on for Hwang in the 75th minute bombed in comparison, as Marzuki lasted barely five minutes before being sent off for a totally unnecessary push on Azim Burla, after the latter had shielded the ball out of play.
Phillip Nagata did well to lead Marzuki off with a gaggle of angry Cavallo players after his head, but the match continued with Cavallo losing the ball, and Kusnadi Hutasoit parrying
Chad Thach's fierce strike from eight yards. That went only as far as Nagata though, and there would be no mistake the second time.
It would be ten on ten for the final ten minutes and change, but it remained something of an unfair contest, with Grilled's players obviously in a better condition. Ananda collected his third assist in stoppage time as he lifted it across for
Hisham Zubari, who has been relishing his success from distance in recent games. The match then ended with a yellow card for Anatoliy Malin, who frankly had few other options to stop Thach's late rush.
