Castellaneta Combat
Two Vindicated
Chia Kwang Tse and
Johann Schwietzer might have gone off for one reason or another in the Challenger Cup on Wednesday, but both would be instrumental in getting the better of Jamaican II.4 challengers Castellaneta in the world in the World Battle tournament today. Castellaneta moreover have a similar haul of honours as the Birds, having four Jamaican Cups, two Premier League titles, and eight secondary national cups under their belt, which made this a contest with extra weight behind it.
Undefeated in the league since an opening day away loss to Sasuke Uchiha, and with their only other defeat coming against fellow Division Two club Enchanted Tomcats in the fourth round of the main cup, it was perhaps frightening that the Castellaneta fanbase had been adamant that most of their stars were not even in form yet. This included Spanish midfielder Juan Antonio Isusi, deployed at left wing today, and Croatian Number Ten Krunoslav Kujundžić. Both were part of an especially multinational side, that also featured former South African Cup winner Andrew Batty in midfield, and Danish sweeper Børge Samuelsen, who had claimed the Kazakhstan Ruby Challenger Cup with Borussia Pavlodar several years back.
Against this, Grilled Birds fielded their usual league arrangement with few changes, most notably being the reinstatement of
Wu Ping De, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul taking central midfield. Wu reportedly remained slightly sore over his exclusion from cup competition, but went about his protest in a positive manner, by making problems for Turkish fullback İsmail Kalkan with his persistent dribbling. This resulted in a first half-chance about the eighth minute coming about after
Chia Kwang Tse's own impressive run, but Wu would snatch at the shot and drove it about a yard wide.
Castellaneta were by all indications taking the exhibition quite seriously too, from how the 35 year-old Børge Samuelsen sent
Hwang Teck Fu tumbling in the twelfth minute and was booked - though Hwang would take the rough and tumble with good grace. First blood then went to the Jamaicans, whose Brazilian wingman William Tenório Jr. pierced deep into the Birds half from the right wing, about three minutes later.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko tried to cover, but fell a step behind Krunoslav Kujundžić as the Croatian rammed it home.
Grilled would not be behind for long, and the equaliser came from a most unlikely source.
Genki Nagano had been caught out for Kujundžić's goal, and that appeared likely again when he somehow received the ball some twenty-five metres out. Gordon Weinfurtner let Genki past without much consideration, only for the defender to then go past two more defenders, before curling it past a stunned Edvin Blaskovics. To be fair to the Castellaneta players, Genki's teammates hardly believed their eyes either!
The game resumed with
Hwang Teck Fu doing most of the heavy lifting for Grilled, if with few results, as İsmail Kalkan came up with the best opportunity of the half in the 37th minute, pinging a skipping strike off the near post. The Turkish fullback would not miss his next effort three minutes into the second half, after Andrew Batty had messed up the Birds' central defence.
Radomil Marcol got a touch, but that was far from enough to keep it level.
Lim An Keng had come on for Marzuki in the meantime, and he set about applying his energies towards driving the Birds forward. This worked often enough, and a drawn-out spell of possession in the 58th minute would suddenly come back alive as Lim freed
Ananda Hettiarachchi to run at the Castellaneta box. His motions towards shooting were so convincing that
Chia Kwang Tse was completely ignored, and only had to get it on target when the disguised pass inevitably came his way.
With the match now all square once more, Castellaneta would not let up on the physicality, which had William Tenório Jr. carded for upending
Wu Ping De on the touchline - and Wu took it much more badly than Hwang had. They were also advancing more regularly on the Birds goal, and Grilled had their goalkeeper to thank for a magnificent scooping save against Kujundžić in the 76th minute, that appeared a sure goal otherwise.
Fortunes could change at the drop of a hat in football, and they did here, beginning with Marcol punching the ball any which way as Jorge Roa raced for the loose ball.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko just about nicked it away from Djun Valke's control, and the move ended with Grilled Birds 3-2 up instead, twenty seconds later.
Johann Schwietzer had been left behind upfield after taking a knock, but this also meant that he would be in the right place, when
Phillip Nagata lifted the cross in from the Birds' rapid counter.
Castellaneta reserved their final burst for after the departures of Nagata and Chia for
Paulino Trindade and
Kendell El Khateeb towards the end, and absolutely battered the Grilled defence over the last few minutes. Juan Antonio Isusi's initial pass to Andrew Batty was hit hard but bent wide after a critical deflection, and Krunoslav Kujundžić missed on the putback.
