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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 94 | W | 1 - 5 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | 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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Cavallo On Par
Chia Roused
The Birds are hardly strangers to Italian Serie A side Manchester Cavallo, whom they have played four times in the Dominion International Cup over the last five seasons, with each club taking two of those matches. This World Battle matchup would then witness the first draw in the series, even if it did come as something to a downer to
Chia Kwang Tse, despite his scoring twice.
The previous fixture had seen Grilled win 5-1 boosted by
Wu Ping De's early brace, but he would not get to start today, with
Lim An Keng on left wing duty. Cavallo would start with a full complement of eleven players today, if with a whole new midfield. Russian international Anatoliy Malin had left for Division Six team Etihad Alghero Airways for one, and had been replaced by 32 year-old countryman Roman Sukhomlinov. Omani star Rasheed Abdullateef Al-Sulaimy marshaled from the right, with Swiss striker Tommy Krauer another newcomer in attack.
Cavallo were under new leadership too, with Polish head coach Paweł Januszewski having been appointed less than two months back, but there didn't appear to be many teething problems as they stayed with their former 3-5-2. It started out a bit of a toss-up with the Birds eventually shading it, as
Ananda Hettiarachchi released
Phillip Nagata down the right flank seventeen minutes in. The cross came in low and hard as former Turkish national defender Erdal Racih missed the block by inches, and
Chia Kwang Tse got to it at the far post to stab it home.
Uruguayan goalkeeper Andrés Bagayero had some choice words for his backline at that, which worked as Cavallo were on their toes as the game continued. Much of the action involved Nagata against San Marino legend Antonio Zagli at this point, and the century-capped Zagli set Krauer through in the 28th minute.
Radomil Marcol got his body in the way, however, and
Genki Nagano's quick thinking had Chia complete his double within half a minute.
Chia was in overdrive now, a rare sight for the usually-composed veteran, which did not actually play to his benefit as he flirted with a dismissal for launching himself into Orlando Bolt in the 34th minute. The referee let Chia off with a yellow card, but the Italians composed themselves to launch a flashy raid through Artemio Lendini on the right side this time.
Johann Schwietzer held Edvīns Hercbergs up then, but the ball fell to the advancing Erdal Racih, whose measured lob over Marcol was a sight to behold.
That was 2-1 at half-time, and Grilled Birds returned for the second half with possession on their mind. This was perhaps not a bad idea, being in the lead at all, though it did probably restrict their number of chances from what could have been. The best of those few up until the final ten minutes was by
Lim An Keng, who hustled his way into position before letting rip in the 57th minute. Andrés Bagayero parried it right back at him, and Lim's second effort brushed the crossbar and went behind.
Lim An Keng went off in the 80th minute for
Wu Ping De to liven things up, but it was Cavallo that took full advantage of the disruption, as they first equalized almost immediately from Edvīns Hercbergs' clean finish. Much of that goal had to be credited to Rasheed Abdullateef Al-Sulaimy, in fairness, who had bypassed two Birds players before skipping across
Hisham Zubari to create the assist from nothing.
Chia Kwang Tse got fairly worked up at that, and he was right to be concerned, as the opponents went ahead three minutes later. It was Al-Sulaimy to do the honours for this, as the Omani playmaker continued being untouchable on the ball.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko, who had been impressive otherwise, just couldn't stay on Al-Sulaimy's tail as he ran straight at the Grilled defence, who had their hands full already.
Radomil Marcol tried to close the angle, but the chip would be timed to perfection for 3-2.
The Birds at least did not have to agonize for too long about being behind, as they matched the goal on the restart;
Wu Ping De's fresh legs provided him a clear edge over a weary Orlando Bolt, and recent Peruvian arrival Patricio Urbina was caught between two forwards. Chia kept his composure to touch it on for the better-placed
Chad Thach, who cut back to the outside before banging it in.
