Maledives Mauled
Rashid Excels
Shiya Shaahee excelled as FC Maledives United from Division Three of his homeland came to visit, but it was
Rashid bin Ahmad who made the biggest impression of the match. The former U-20 defender was an absolute rock at the back, leading to
Dan Seng easing through the ninety minutes never directly threatened by either Raafat Fekry or Abd El Aleem Sarhan.
Opposite number Viorel Turtoiu was not as fortunate, and would see his goal breached in less than six minutes. It was back to crosstraining for the Grilled forwards, but
Djan Bacelar proved a more than competent stand-in for them. He boasted some of the deftest touches in a quite technical side, and his calculated flick-on past Turtoiu was a reminder that grace can often achieve what brute strength might not.
It was all Djan, all the time in the opening twenty minutes, the Brazillian next contributing an assist for
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim from a well-worked indirect free-kick. He then rounded off what qualified as a full day's work with a header that changed direction on meeting Mahmoud Okasha's shoulder, wrongfooting the poor Maledives keeper.
With reserve Frenchman Kévin Badel already handing in a transfer request, there was nothing but for Turtoiu to rough it out, and he made it to the end of the half with no further incident. That could not be said for Shiya Amir, however, as the right wingback took the weight of
Ling Fuquan's legs full-on. His Grilled namesake helped to load him onto the stretcher, as veteran Abdulla Jaleel prepared himself on the sidelines.
That bit of recklessness didn't help Ling's tenure, and the second half saw
Liang Liyong out in his place, together with a refreshed home side.
Chow Ying Lee benefitted the most from the renewed pace, as he struck in the 53rd and 54th minutes, the second being a thrilling header that connected at great speed.
Mohd Safri became the third man to take two on the hour mark, as he caught onto the chasm that opened between Maledives' harried central defence. Their Croatian captain Antonio Dominović, who had been fighting fires throughout, made a valiant effort to close the gap, but Mohd Safri simply ran away from him and completed the job.
Bacelar had been slowing after his early heroics, and Luis Alcántara felt it was time for
Gleb Dorogan to take over in the 65th. The popular Moldovan again entered with a bang as he slid a through ball for
Leong Wan Kang to get the seventh, but as with his predecessor, went missing after that.
