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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 92 | L | 5 - 4 | Tournament (Playoffs) |
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Mumu Rebound
Stoppage Sirens
The Birds saved their undefeated record in the Division Battle tournament, with two late, late goals to maintain a draw against Andorran Primera Divisió challengers, Mumu F.C.; the defending national league champions had won the double while defending the Copa Constitució two seasons back, which made them maybe the best that the principality could offer.
This included 36 year-old striking legend Ferran Alier, who had won 42 caps in his time with Mumu, and remained a formidable threat despite his advancing years. He would possibly be overshadowed by homegrown superstar and captain Ramon Cararach despite that, with his 79 caps, and midfielder Aaron Trafach with 85. This was about half the national lineup with Manel Coll and Albentosa Josep also richly capped, and the foreigners such as Norwegian goalkeeper Ottar Os, Italian Filippo Putrino and Swede Pongsiri Jatusripithak were likewise heavily decorated.
It was a formidable, even hallowed, lineup to say the least, and Grilled Birds' main consolation was that it was out of its prime - but if so, no by too much.
Hwang Teck Fu would not appear too overawed as he chatted with Cararach while leading his side out, as
Hisham Zubari remained in defence with
Genki Nagano fighting to regain match fitness.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul then took the centre again, with
Lim An Keng wide left.
The opening belonged to Grilled, with
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko making the most of his edge in mobility over Putrino to push his team forward. Mumu F.C. were not fully expecting themselves to come under siege so quickly, and their midfield remained hesitant to expend themselves in falling back so frequently. The Birds were good enough to make them pay for it, however, and
Houssam Belhocine asserted his ability off set pieces by smashing the first goal home, after Danish centreback Tonny Gudmundsen had let the ball go across him for an instant.
Belhocine could do little wrong about this period, and he put in a flawless corner kick about the fourteenth minute for the soaring
Lim An Keng, who climbed over fullback Rafel Jané only to power his header a yard too high. That was Mumu's wake-up call, and Ferran Alier started their comeback four minutes later, by keeping his own glancing header from Pongsiri Jatusripithak's cross solidly on target, low past
Radomil Marcol.
That was one-all, and it was one-way traffic for the Andorrans for the next ten minutes. While their internationals might not be at their absolute peak, their mutual understanding was frightening at times, and it was all that
Mohd Marzuki Khairul could do to counter Francisco Cobián's initial header attempt with a high boot, after Władysław Żółtak had made it 2-1. Ferran Alier's first attempt from the indirect free-kick came painfully off
Hisham Zubari, but he was first to the rebound, and put Mumu in the lead.
It was a torrid day in defence for Zubari all considered, and his worst moment came on the hour-hour, when Ramon Cararach made him look like he was standing still with a rush past from a standing start.
Hwang Teck Fu would be admirably up for it despite being three goals behind now, and made his way a good distance up the right side despite Manel Coll battling him all the way.
Phillip Nagata surged forward to carry the move on, but Ottar Os made a great single-handed stop to preserve his team's considerable advantage.
This was about it in terms of goalmouth action until half-time and almost twenty minutes afterwards, as Mumu F.C. showed themselves more than capable of controlling the tempo when they wanted - definitely a necessary skill for their veterans.
Houssam Belhocine appeared to have broken their press in the 59th minute in being clattered hard by Aaron Trafach as he received a pass in the opposition box, but he sent the penalty just wide, to his own evident disbelief.
Grilled Birds did have the consolation that it was difficult not to make mistakes when constantly defending, and a brief lapse in the 63rd minute had
Hwang Teck Fu latch on, and drill the ball past Os. Mumu player-coach Àngel Altimir put his contingency plans into action even as Hwang was rushing the ball back to the centre circle, which involved first himself entering for Filippo Putrino in midfield. Ferran Alier and Władysław Żółtak were off too, with more Andorran internationals in Francisco Cobián and Albentosa Josep taking to the pitch.
Thus reloaded, Mumu's tactical slowdown continued quite successfully indeed, with
Ananda Hettiarachchi's efforts to harry their midfielders being largely unrewarded. There was an air of resignation when
Dan Alstani pulled
Lim An Keng and
Houssam Belhocine off for
Wu Ping De and
Genki Nagano with five minutes left, which then fully sank in as
Phillip Nagata slung a miraculous diagnoal ball over to
Chia Kwang Tse as the Birds restarted from Hwang's last-minute exit for
Kendell El Khateeb, only for Chia to fail to make contact.
There appeared no way back with a scarce two minutes of added time having been indicated, but the spectators who had taken their leave would soon be kicking themselves. The hosts seemed to have bought into that line of thought too, as they mostly stood off
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's dribble at the heart of their defence. A bout of acceleration from Marzuki and the forwards had them realize that they were undermanned, though, and it ended with Marzuki lobbing Os for 4-3!
Mumu skipper Ramon Cararach could be heard exhorting his teammates to keep their focus as he prepared to restart the game, but the long pass back to Rafel Jané was telegraphed, with the fullback finding himself set upon by both
Wu Ping De and
Chia Kwang Tse as the ball dropped towards him. Wu won that scuffle and pinged it to the quickly arriving
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, who immediately half-volleyed it on it turn to
Chad Thach for a sensational equalizer.
