English On The Side
Campbell Hams It Up
The third match in Grilled Birds' My Road to the World Cup trial finally had them concede, though this was after the coaching staff had fielded a rather unconventional central midfield against the English hosts. This was almost certainly the first time that
Markus Pallas,
Toma Tamiya and reserve goalie
Khairil Anwar Hashim Mohd Ismail had taken to the field in that department together, and it was impressive that the team trundled along hardly the worse for wear through much of the first half.
Against them stood the counterattacking 4-3-3 of the English, who held true to the old stereotypes about vigorous wing play, together with uncompromising lifting of long balls straight to their three forwards. There were three of those too, with Number Nine Gregg Odber-De-Baubeta practically carved out of the traditional template. 29 year-old custodian Lyle Courtman carried on their reputation for quality goalkeeping too, as Steve Lee led their defence.
The Birds did not wait to get going, and
Chad Thach held nothing back in testing Courtman with his second touch of the ball, straight after turning his marker with maybe ninety seconds on the clock. There would then be a series of bombing raids by the Englanders with Pallas taking his time in midfield, that were however mostly cleared by
Mohsen El Khateeb and
Zaini Zainuddin Junaidi.
Chia Kwang Tse enjoyed a rare look-in after 22 minutes had gone, but he skipped it narrowly wide with Raymond Statton hot on his tail.
England were growing into the contest with Grilled's makeshift engine room being far more bark than bite, and they sounded a first warning from Odber-De-Baubeta's stellar free-kick off
Radomil Marcol's post in the 29th.
Hwang Teck Fu did what he could with his takedown from behind of Neil Stewart, but England went ahead regardless as left forward Ian Campbell held
Mohsen El Khateeb off, as Alun Figgis' searching pass sailed across.
Dan Alstani had seen enough, and it was back to normal service with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul,
Hisham Zubari and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko coming on in a triple substitution, with six minutes remaining in the half. This was entirely sufficient for Hein to get the Birds back level, after
Wu Ping De got in behind the stumbling Anton Rickard in the 43rd minute.
The game restarted slowly with England lying low for the counter, though Grilled did gradually compress play in their half, having been restored to their usual configuration. Space remained at a premium with Lee quite often doing a number on
Chad Thach, and it would ironically take wide play to finally break them down. Wu racked up his second assist in the 67th minute, as
Chia Kwang Tse beat Raymond Statton in the air, and Courtman just missed making the save.
That opened the floodgates for real, and Wu would score himself just four minutes later, as Chia returned the favour after taking the ball almost to the touchline himself, while drawing the defence to him. There was really no suppressing this dynamic duo, and it was back to Chia for his second goal in the 74th minute, albeit with
Phillip Nagata joining in this time through a long dribble to set up the volley.
Grilled's defenders were understandably getting a bit bored, and the just-turned-eighteen
Zaini Zainuddin Junaidi got a license to venture up, what with his assigned striker Nicholas MacGilledon not having ventured much beyond the halfway line for some time. The trainee appeared certain to score after poking the ball past Courtman on a chaotic rush from the Birds forward line... only for Steve Lee to bail his goalkeeper out with a superb sliding clearance, with Junaidi being entirely too casual.
There would be a fifth for Grilled Birds in stoppage time, that done with, as it was the turn of the England side to let their guard down - not that it mattered much anyhow.
Hwang Teck Fu's intensity was undiminished as he cut through their backline, if like a not-particularly hot knife through undercooked steak, with Ian Campbell all but wrestling him towards the end. Hwang still managed to get it in the net, though, and Campbell saw the funny side of it even as he was booked retrospectively.
