Buchlinge Butchery
Chow Survives
The Birds hit Dominician Republic Division Three club Buchlinge for six in today's friendly, with all goals coming from different players, among them the three first-team forwards living it up in midfield.
Rashid bin Ahmad was once more colossal at the back, and claimed the Man of the Match award yet again, aided by a majestic header in the 23rd minute.
The visitors were actually on a six-game winning streak in competitive games, but were without the rising wing talents of Mikael Eggen and Menelao Occhipinti for the trip. In their places were local lad Eleazar Ferrer and German newcomer Nathan Benjamin Soheili, with the scoring burden wholly on Clemente Maldonado, who stood at the head of a conservative 4-5-1.
Buchlinge had sacrificed too much control in their strategy, however, and it quickly turned one-sided with a fired-up
Tian Yonghang directing.
Leong Wan Kang, who signed off with the last against FC Maledives United, began where he left off as he snuck onto a sneaky little chip from Tian with seventeen minutes gone. Gumersindo Davalillo came out to cover, but Leong bent it around him to acclaim from the spectators.
Both facets of
Chow Ying Lee's style were then placed on show, with him first blowing Buchlinge captain David Martínez away with pure pace to make it two. A minute later, though, Chow lost control of the ball rather embarassingly after cutting in from the left, a flaw that too often comes with the territory.
Grilled quickly put that miss behind them, as they began spreading play a bit more.
lu Zunwen had not looked particularly busy on the right, but he made up for all that with a fine cross smack into the middle of Buchlinge's penalty area. Davalillo went for it, but lost out to a rushing Rashid, who met the ball square on with his forehead for a very straightforward finish.
Tian, not to be left out, jiggled his way through all comers from an attacking midfield position in the 31st minute, after which the Birds cooled things down. Soheili began to make some notable advances down his flank, only to be disappointed at the combination of positioning and close man-marking that Rashid exhibited as when needed.
After the accustomed switch of
Liang Liyong for
Ling Fuquan, who had been passed by for the first half,
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim drew deep into his sometimes underestimated bag of tricks to ghost through the defence, and make it 5-0.
Pompeo Bellamoli should have followed suit, but Davalillo chose this moment to make the save of the game with his head.
There were gasps from the stands when opposition midfielder Rafael Hunck overturned Chow in the 64th minute, with the Grilled Number Ten landing heavily on his shoulder and writhing in pain. If there was any consolation, it was that the challenge was more lazy than malicious, which the referee recognized in dishing out just a yellow. Grilled fans feared the worst as an oxygen tank was procured, but a few minutes' inspection revealed that there was no serious damage.
The break over with,
Djan Bacelar went straight for goal from the delayed free-kick, only for Davalillo to get to it. An aggressive charge coming in from Mohd Safri forced the goalkeeper to push the ball away instead of holding on, however, and Bacelar, who had pursued his own shot, mopped up the second chance.
Walter Ross, who had done his part with little fuss, was replaced by
Gleb Dorogan in the 75th, and
Colby Awyong made a surprise appearance upfront in place of
Pompeo Bellamoli for the final five minutes.
