Lego Lagged
Captain Example
Tian Yonghang may be winding down an extremely successful season by any local player's standards, but he showed no signs of slowing down, as he willed Grilled to a win against Polish Division Two powerhouses KS Lego Nielba Wąg, four-time tournament champions, and thereby finish atop Group B with a perfect record.
Lego were eager to get their fifth Turniej title, having taken four in a row from the second edition, and moreover were in good stead to do so, having promoted from the sixth division to the second with only a single break in between. Recognized, like the Birds, for their commitment to native talent, they boasted a fully Polish midfield in a standard 3-5-2.
National player and regular skipper Włodzimierz Błoch was a notable absence through injury, and therefore Przemysław Gałka took up the armband for the day. Grilled again kept
Low Aik Jia to the bench, as they went for the extra support from
Nicola Vandeneynde on the left, in what was otherwise their Cup-winning lineup.
Having just been shut out in the league by KOTŁY, Lego were eager to get back to scoring ways, and their Czech forward Adam Hřebejk obliged within twelve minutes. Having just scored his 101st competitive goal, Hřebejk was the very incarnation of poise as he ducked past
Ling Fuquan on a left-sided attack, and went on to sweep a shot confidently past
Wong Tian Han.
If Grilled's defence went missing then, their attack was certainly awake. Tian was in the thick of it all along, and he chose well in passing it back to
Wong Ping Shun after being confronted by the vaguely menacing Ludwik Skoczylas. Wong did not bother to take a second touch as he drove it like a sledgehammer into the Lego net.
Former Romanian U-20 goalie Eugen Boiangiu couldn't prevent
Chow Ying Lee from tipping a second past him within two minutes, but he did wow the fans with a spectacular diving save to deny
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's tricky glancing header.
Gene Filippone fared well against Lego's sporadic high balls at the other end, and Grilled went into the tunnel holding a deserved lead.
They would not enjoy it for too long, as Edmund Sęktas equalised for Lego six minutes into the second half, with a turn of pace that left both Grilled centrebacks flatfooted.
Zhu Changchun put Grilled 3-2 up with a fine skipping shot, but Hřebejk immediately cancelled it out courtesy of a brilliant instinctive volley off Przemysław Kawczak's searching cross from the left.
If fairly disappointing for the defensive coaches on both sides, the match was turning out to be a feast for the spectators, who were ecstatic when Lego retook the lead.
Ling Fuquan was again well out of position when Krzysztof Żyś caught
Woon Shun An on the turn, and Thomas Mériau's extended run in support was rewarded amply with a goal.
The Birds were not giving up the ghost yet, however, and Lego began to waver under their forwards' unrelenting pressure.
Tian Yonghang once again rose to the occasion, and even the rival fans had to appreciate his skill in turning Mateusz Hanc inside out. Boiangiu batted Tian's first attempt back at him, and the Grilled skipper would not miss again, tucking it neatly under the Lego goalie.
For an encore, Tian struck a thunderbolt from the corner of the penalty area, and Grilled muddled through the remaining ten minutes to qualify as group winners.
