Called In Sick
Berdei Binge
Fresh off their first official trophy of any sort in eleven seasons, the Birds received a visit from a prominent player in their history, with former goalkeeper and now head coach of Romanian Division Five side Fc I.M.C, Valdir Dias Paes, bringing his team here for a visit. The entertaining exhibition game, which was held on neutral ground, ended 5-4 to the overseas visitors.
Valdir, who is now into his eighth campaign leading Fc I.M.C, took over the reins just a season after his transfer there, and has since led the Brasov outfit up three divisions - nearly a fourth, had they not narrowly lost to Sporting Barbarians in their latest qualifier. While currently six points behind, the heavily indigenous squad of talents such as Ilie-Marian Andrei and Alexandru Stoica cannot be written off just yet.
Facing them were eight members of the eleven that had made history two days ago, with the glaring exception of
Woon Shun An, who was on emergency leave, in midfield. Grilled's defence was totally overhauled, as oldies
Qassem Madaini and
Joan Cisquell were placed on guard duty for the day.
Niculae Stanca had a field day conversing in his native language as the teams waited in the tunnel, and then they were off. The game progressed slowly at first, with the participants unwilling to reveal their hands too soon, but it soon came to a head in the 20th minute when
Zhao Jing Wei was hindered once too often by the competitive Evaristo Balzamo, who was cautioned for his pains.
I.M.C went ahead after that, as Frenchman Jean Charvolin sped around Cisquell on the right side, and his cutback was thundered in by Berdei. Through this, Stanca continued conversing with Dias Paes, though he did also appear to be considering whether the veteran Spaniard had what it will take in the league.
The alternate defensive unit did not inspire too much confidence, as they allowed Valeriu-Adrian Budescu to come in right between them and get the second. That said,
Low Aik Jia is also due a share of the blame, after his irresponsibility lost the ball in a deep position. He evidently hadn't learnt much from his Cup semifinals dismissal, as he tried to tackle Budescu from behind, and was fortunate to even stay on.
The Birds did manage to grab one back in the 41st, after some excellent work from
Wong Ping Shun on a swap. Wong's big frame has proven unexpectedly useful in recent weeks, and there was nothing at all wanting about the accuracy of his crosses either, as he dropped one right onto
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's head. While he has not said it out loud, it is an open secret that the superstar forward is still smarting from not scoring in the Cup final, and today's contribution went a small way towards assuaging that regret.
It was perhaps just as well that Grilled went with their more dynamic defenders on Wednesday, as Madaini was totally nonplussed when Marius Niţu sprayed a nifty through ball at Ilie-Marian Andrei. The former Saudi international has certainly seen better days, for while he did spot the pass, he simply couldn't get across quickly enough. Andrei got onto the end of it, and made it 3-1 after making his way past
Wong Tian Han with his composure.
When the second half began, the disappointing 37 year-old
Gleb Dorogan was no longer to be seen, with
Nicola Vandeneynde taking his spot in central midfield. That made precious little difference as the Birds were overrun at the back, however, and Andrei accelerated past Cisquell with embarassing ease to feed Berdei with a finish on a plate.
I.M.C got their fifth in the 70th minute, following a clever knockdown from Daniel Mothe while on the run, as Marius-Alin Varga squeezed it in from a tight angle. Thankfully, this was only an exhibition, and the fans were moreover still too buzzed from the Cup victory to care too much.
Still, Grilled were not about to accept such a big deficit, and clicked into gear. Mohd Safri got his second as
Wong Ping Shun again lifted one to him, and it is evident that a very productive partnership is being formed between the two.
Wong then made it 3-5 with a monster of a free-kick that Cristian Bărbulescu could do nothing against, a fitting conclusion to a thoroughly edifying week for the 26 year-old, who has put a definitive end to all remaining debate over whether his S$7.3 million pricetag was justified.
The spectators were then teased with a mindblowing finale, after
Tian Yonghang claimed a fourth out of nowhere. This time,
Zhu Changchun was the one with the assist, as he bent his pass just so for Tian to collect. However, it was I.M.C who nearly finished with a bang, as Berdei's parting effort was well saved by
Wong Tian Han, denying the journeyman his hat-trick.
