For The Sport Too
Huertas Tie
Losing the cup final hurt, as the Grilled Birds squad had to agree, but life had to go on - in the form of a World Battle clash against Filippino II.4 club Sport Vélez II. This ended in a draw as Vélez sat deep in a counterattacking 5-3-2, as a spent-seeming Birds team could not polish them off in the first half despite having ample opportunity to.
Vélez had been finding their feet since their return to Division Two, with Swiss head coach Jonathan Baumberger being only too prudent with their finances, resulting in their latest signings of Omid Farrokhmanesh and Mimis Krios being for about a million each. Star attackers Raúl Jiménez Huertas and Harrison Sipple, who had cost a combined thirty-odd million when arriving three seasons ago, were still with the club, though only Huertas started at left wing today. 25 year-old Kazakh skipper Sagyn Alipbayev acted as sweeper, with Nigerian Nwanga Imondekhai keeping goal.
Jerome Crawford shook off the disappointment as he kept his place in central midfield, though he did defer to
Genki Nagano in terms of the armband.
Hisham Zubari was included in defence as Alstani identified that the Birds needed extra box-to-box ability today, and was soon shown to be absolutely right.
Chad Thach, making his return, was not above a dab of simulation in the seventh minute to gain his side an advantage.
Genki Nagano stabbed it low as Crawford stood back, but the Vélez goalkeeper had been watching out for that possibility.
The Birds presented themselves differently with Crawford at the reins, as they traded some of their former impetuousness for an almost palpable maturity, whenever the ball came near him. The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines icon was hardly a mere controller - that would not have earned him close to a centry of caps - and he would personally break the Filippino lines with a pulsating dribble about the 29th minute. Imondekhai just about got the save off, but Iranian playmaker Omid Farrokhmanesh wasn't alert enough about the clearance, and
Hwang Teck Fu wouldn't let the chance go.
It got quiet for the next seven minutes or thereabout, until Eugen Merhar's late tackle on Zubari and consequent booking lit it up again. Hwang's take off the quick free-kick was once more stopped by Imondekhai, and Vélez stormed back with their own effort this time. This exchange was more or less repeated in the 42nd minute after
Lim An Keng pinged the crossbar, and Hwang got bundled off his shot next. This developed into Sport Vélez II's top opening for the first half after Raúl Jiménez Huertas somehow delivered it to an unmarked Farrokhmanesh on their next free-kick, but the youngster was again found wanting.
Sport Vélez II were otherwise coping quite well with a relatively-dull Birds frontline, with
Chad Thach in particular still shaking off the rust. They might perhaps have some good fortune to thank, however, from how
Jerome Crawford's blistering drive shook the crossbar in the 57th minute, and how
Lim An Keng then crashed it off the foot of the left post, with Imondekhai still grounded. Polish fullback Damian Smal was off and flying up the left in response, and Raúl Jiménez Huertas held off
Ananda Hettiarachchi to serve up a very welcome equalizer for the Vélez faithful.
Dan Alstani had already been preparing his substitutions, and the restart would proceed after
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko came on for Ananda and Lim respectively. This didn't do the Birds any harm, and their fresh legs would in fact boost Grilled greatly, attacking-wise. An extended run from Hein would throw the Vélez defence into disarray in the 65th minute, but
Hwang Teck Fu would be off-target for once, chipping it about a yard wide after bringing Hein's cross down gracefully.
Grilled had their chances to take it home still, as their opponents faded in the final quarter of the match. Unfortunately, the Vélez backline held firm, and Marzuki could not get much power behind his grounder from nine yards with eight minutes to go, which allowed Imondekhai an easy pickup.
