Against Him The Glory
Forwards March
Grilled Birds put themselves in a good position to advance in the King of Football Cup, with a 4-1 victory against K-League participants Him-Bria Gon-Hy in their second fixture. This was a must-win from how they had already lost to Jasiu Hotspur in the previous round, and the Birds' strikers rose as one to secure the result.
There would be no changes for the South Koreans from the starting lineup that had wiped FC Soccer Club 4-0 last week, with Robert Naze looking as much of a threat as he was that day.
Chad Thach and
Wu Ping De would be dropped for Grilled in contrast, with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul at left wing,
Chia Kwang Tse up into attack, and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko taking a midfield spot. Possession was clearly the priority for the Birds today, and
Hisham Zubari showed he meant business with an early challenge on Jeremy van Raalte.
The game soon developed into a tactical stalemate between two seemingly-reckless 2-5-3 setups, if with both sides unwilling to expose themselves more than absolutely necessary. Former national winger Kyung-Ha Yuk made the first clear breakthrough in the 22nd minute in blasting past
Johann Schwietzer, but could not retain sufficient control of the ball to get a good shot off. That was not the case for
Chia Kwang Tse three minutes later, as he smartly slipped the opener past Argentinean goalkeeper Vittorio Certosino.
It was still hardly certain that the Birds would take this one, from how César Regueiro was wreaking havoc in the Grilled half whenever he got called into action, but more and more of the chances began to fall the Birds' way.
Phillip Nagata's lob on the half-hour would be retrieved and finished off by
Hwang Teck Fu after a brief chase against Estonian defender Norman Lekk, who would be booked for dissent ten minutes on.
Ananda Hettiarachchi then attempted to reprise his weekend heroics with a rising drive from the edge of the box, that shaved the crossbar.
Him-Bria regrouped for the second half, and Kyung-Ha Yuk would remind the spectators of just how he had managed to win 23 caps at all levels, with his blazing runs oft outdoing the far-younger
Phillip Nagata. There would be several promising crosses from his efforts, among them a 53th minute short delivery that Regueiro met with a risky diving header. His face came frightfully close to Zubari's boot on that, but it was all worth it with the header just about eluding
Radomil Marcol's leap for 1-2.
An equaliser looked mighty likely about then, as the Koreans sought to build on their goal with redoubled workrate. Sadly for them, there were no openings on the free-kick that followed, and the story of the first half would repeat as Grilled proved the more durable as the match went on.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's earlier pass completion rate had left much to be desired, but there was no downplaying his 67th minute specimen that left
Lim An Keng with little more to do but get it on target.
This was the signal for the largely-anonymous Marzuki to come off for
Chad Thach, who set about injecting some vitality on the left. This was indeed infectious, and Italian playmaker Barnaba Segreto would soon be caught up in the fever, and draw a yellow card for a late check on Ananda. The Birds would cruise for the final ten minutes, but
Lim An Keng's greed wasn't satisfied just yet, and he would steal the ball off Fernando Suecia for a late fourth.
