|
| FIXTURE HISTORY |
|
| Season 91 | D | 4 - 4 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
| |
|
|
Warning From On High
Strikers Ready
Nepalese III.9 club La Divine Equipe, affiliate of France's the Divins and member of Nepal's A-Division just four seasons ago, gave Grilled Birds what might well be a sneak preview of their Singapore Cup assignment tomorrow. Their counterattacking outlook gave Grilled plenty of problems, as so often the case, but the Birds toughed it out with flavour of the month
Hwang Teck Fu scrabbling out a fine winner towards the end.
Dan Alstani refused to comment on whether the side he fielded was the one he planned to bring to the Ballota, but one figured it could not be too far from that; the main question was whether
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko would keep his place in midfield, with there being few options here given
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's suspension. That had
Lim An Keng take the central spot given
Ananda Hettiarachchi being an almost automatic pick, in the usual 2-5-3.
La Divine Equipe had gotten seven points of nine in the group stages using a 3-5-2, but English gaffer Kerry Hearn evidently thought that more solidity at the back was required for this. Argentine forward Javier Martínez was sacrificed, leaving San Marino giant Anthony Fabbri as their lone striker, which allowed Czech veteran Milouš Molin as a second centreback. Their midfield remained largely constant with 29 year-old hometown hero Sures Khadk holding court and Trindad & Tobago national legend Prabhat Tope featuring, as 38 year-old Slovenian custodian Edi Miklošič kept goal.
A tetchy first fifteen minutes had Grilled keep most of the ball without venturing much, and thus it stayed until
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko sliced past a slowing Tope, only to be caught between taking the shot on himself, or placing it wide for
Wu Ping De. The indecisive half-measures had Miklošič catch it easily, and a long throw released Norwin Tauschmann, and then Finnish right winger Sakari Kaas in turn.
Genki Nagano barely kept up, and did enough to throw Kaas off his strike.
That breakaway gave Divine courage to take the Birds on, and they would enjoy a few minutes of dominance, after the goal kick was received uncontested in their own half. Divine hinted at their usual style as they exchanged slick passes across midfield, frustrating Grilled's players, and a series of one-touch plays released Kenyan former Pakistani Cup winner Yusuf Kamau down the left. The Birds were thin on that side, and Ecuadorean midfielder Leonel Andrade hit the cutback cleanly, to leave
Radomil Marcol dive at thin air towards his right post.
La Divine Equipe appeared ready to hunker down after that, and it could have gotten troublesome had
Chad Thach not levelled within three minutes. Divine's withdrawal deep into their own half may have actually played into Grilled's hands here, with Thach for one given free rein several yards outside their penalty box. Milouš Molin saw the danger and made to close Thach down, but too late as the former international tapped it slightly wide, before whipping an unstoppable curler home.
Grilled Birds had control now, and Divine found themselves working just to expel their opponents from their own half. Thach's experience nearly got him a second as he opened up a sliver of space for himself in the 29th minute with a simple drag-back, but Miklošič saw it coming. Thach did score with a chip four minutes on, which was followed by end-to-end drama in which a flying save off
Chia Kwang Tse became a full-on charge up the left flank.
Hisham Zubari tried to slow the advance as much as he could, and
Lim An Keng caught up just in time to get a leg in the way of Norwin Tauschmann's rushed finish.
That calmed things down through half-time, with Grilled starting the second half aggressively, but without profit. Divine held out well, but their best opportunities again came when reverting to their usual system. A good run by Kamau up the left side had Grilled's backline momentarily out of position, and Anthony Fabbri took advantage with a mighty blast once Kamau's pass reached him. That took a huge deflection off the shielding Zubari, and left Marcol completely wrongfooted - two-all!
It wasn't looking at all good for Grilled Birds then, but as with Divine's first goal, their second only served to light a fire under the Birds. Captain Prabhat Tope tried to have his team hold on to the ball more, but Grilled had other ideas, and there would be much chaos ending only with Miklošič denying
Chad Thach his hat-trick by throwing up a two-handed block. Hearn had seen enough, and used the next stoppage to relieve the visibly-exhausted Tope, with German utility man Jürgen Payne coming in.
The direction of the match was aligning with Grilled now for all that, and the Birds went back ahead in the 73rd minute, after a simple yet superlative crossfield pass by
Ananda Hettiarachchi left Hwang with little more to do. The Birds disappointed with their lack of killer instinct after that, with
Genki Nagano and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko passing up excellent chances within the next five minutes.
The Birds could have regretted it too, after an almost resigned long shot from
Hisham Zubari cleared the way for one last Divine counter, as Molin went route one from the short goal kick. Fabbri cushioned it down with
Genki Nagano not managing to budge him, and took it past Zubari in one swift turn. Only
Radomil Marcol remained, and he did well with a strong right hand, to prevent Fabbri's shot from going in.
