Thinkers Railroaded
Hwang Has Fun
It would be an experience of a different kind today, as Grilled Birds embarked on their first Trial match, against The Thinkers at their The School of Thought. This had them pull out eleven goals as their opponents immersed themselves in contemplation, but it would be an experience nonetheless from the makeup of the Thinkers squad.
It is not often that one gets to face Socrates in goal - and not even the Brazilian legend of the same name - who had Confucius supporting Aristotle in central defence. Plato would be their designated free-kick taker from his mastery of form at rightback, as Karl Marx understandably took the left. A British midfield of Hume and Locke complemented continental wingers Rousseau and Nietzsche, with Wittgenstein and Sartre on the attack.
For all their accomplishments otherwise, it had to be said that most of them were not in an ideal shape for football, with the Greek trio - and Plato especially - standing out in that respect. Modern nutrition has its perks, that said, and
Hwang Teck Fu reaped four goals in thirteen wonderful minutes, beginning with the opener in the 13th, and concluding with a putback off a corner in the 26th. That last came right after
Phillip Nagata had run past Marx, who had been engaged in a dispute with Rousseau on their individual responsibilities, which made it 5-0.
That persisted until half-time, with Confucius marshalling a packed defence, and Grilled restarted with
Houssam Belhocine in place of
Hisham Zubari as their midfield pivot. There would not be a serious Birds offensive until the 62nd minute, when
Chia Kwang Tse challenged Aristotle before putting
Mohd Marzuki Khairul through on the outside. Socrates appeared placid as he picked the ball out of his net for a sixth time, with the Thinkers skipper even heard joking on camera that he didn't know that it had gotten past him.
Grilled were emboldened to up the pace, and they were nine up by the 76th minute, as
Lim An Keng and
Chad Thach struck, before
Mohd Marzuki Khairul got his second from over fifteen yards. Lim had come up some way for that, having started the day as a defender, but frankly it wasn't as if Wittgenstein had been making much noise against him.
There would be two more for the Birds, as
Genki Nagano took charge for the penalty kick awarded in the 78th minute, after Locke absent-mindedly put his arm in the way of a tame lob from
Ananda Hettiarachchi, who had somehow been very reserved otherwise. Socrates was unmoved as Genki whacked it into the bottom corner, and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko could not resist adding another in injury time.
