Cheesed Off
Zhao Lights Path
Grilled's march into the last sixteen of the Cup would not be impeded, as they polished off CharlesCheesePie 5-2 before a capacity crowd at See Mee Lan Park. Most of the Grilled regulars were well familiar with the Serangoon venue, with it being a recurring destination for them, and they soon discovered that a two-season absence had not changed much about the place. The fans were as ebullient and rowdy as ever, and the old bunch of Mohd Ali, Soon, Wong, etc were only too eager to resume where they left off. In fact, the only truly new face was Turkish forward Halil Yaraşık.
A very notable omission from the CCP starting eleven was their 31 year-old national star Zulharisan bin Mamud, who had yet to recover from his leg injury. His absence was not dwelt upon by the hosts, though, as they had no lack of ready replacements. Add that to their recent culture of winning, with consecutive league titles in III.6, and it would be safe to say that they had nothing less than victory on their minds.
The Birds were angling for no less than that too, and going by how they kept
Gene Filippone on despite
Rashid bin Ahmad being match-fit, they were intent on taking the game to the hosts. It was end-to-end stuff right from the get-go, and the opener should really have happened before nine minutes. Regardless, it was
Zhao Jing Wei who claimed it, after a well thought-out run into the penalty area that opened up enough space for a measured lob.
Zhao was booked shortly after for a late tackle, and it was CCP's turn to take the offensive. Their 2-5-3 was always going to cause problems whenever the ball went upfield, but Argentine striker Pascual José Amado simply hit a world-class strike in the 14th minute, rendering all other considerations moot. There was no way any keeper on Earth would have stopped his fiercely curling bolt into the top corner, and
Wong Tian Han did well to even move in response.
The packed stadium went into full voice, and Amado nearly wrote himself into club lore with a stylish headed attempt from afar. He demonstrated great technique in using his waist to generate power on his header, and only barely put it wide; had that gone in, and the Pies taken the lead, there could well have been a different outcome.
It didn't, though, and
Chow Ying Lee earned Grilled some welcome breathing space by scoring on the break, with
Wong Ping Shun doing his best to stretch play down the right. The balance still lay with CCP at this point, but after centreback Mario Gneo smashed it inches over the bar from a corner, the tide once again began to turn in the Birds' favour.
Having managed to keep possession for a fair stretch, the settled Grilled midfield began to probe at CCP's defences, and
Zhu Changchun made his move in the 39th minute, suddenly running right at Çetin Pursak. His unexpected drive destroyed the shape of CCP's backline, and Zhao once more planned his movement perfectly, arriving at just the right spot to try - and score from - a repeat chip.
3-1 was about as good a result as the Birds could expect to secure at half-time, and out of the sides' Romanian head coaches, it was János Daday who had more to do during the break. Having presided over sixteen matches against Grilled, Daday likely knew his opposition inside-out, but was limited by the personnel available. The game restarted with no changes, and the crowd could only watch nervously as the minutes went by with cautious play from both sides.
It was clear that CCP were wary of letting the visitors in, had they committed too many men to attack, which would have been the death knell for their hopes. However, with time running short, they had no option but to make things happen, and their worst fears nearly came true then, as
Tian Yonghang sprinted back on the counter, and nearly made it 4-1.
Their risky ventures did pay off after that, as Silviu Iancu completely skinned
Abdul bin Jantan after 76 minutes. There was a chaotic rush to stake out the Grilled box as Iancu took his time to bear down, and after the cross was sent in, it was the big former Italian Division Seven top scorer Yaraşık who outclimbed Filippone to finish it off with the side of his head.
That reply gave the restless supporters new hope, but their shouts for a comeback were quashed within two minutes by
Zhao Jing Wei, who in doing so completed his first hat-trick for Grilled. Again, it was
Wong Ping Shun who gained the ground down the right against Gneo, as he arguably outshone former U-20 winger Wong Chang De in their direct confrontations. Zhao, a former Cup winner with Arrogancae, was icy-cool as he waited for the pass to come, and put it away without a second thought.
The coaches barely had time to formulate a response when the goals came in, but when they did, the substitutions came at the same break in play. Daday persisted with putting the tall Luigi Leanza on, as CCP prepared to pump long balls in, while
Niculae Stanca countered by introducing
Rashid bin Ahmad to shore up the Birds' defence. Unfortunately for the home team, Leanza had barely stepped on the field when
Woon Shun An sprayed it forward seemingly randomly, just right for
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim to poach the fifth.
Three down with ten minutes remaining, the Pies had to throw everything into attack to stand any chance, but after Mohd Ali bin Abu Bakar shot wide from a tantalizing position, they knew that the game was up. Worse yet, Leanza was caught on the chest by
Wong Ping Shun's boot while running at full tilt, and laid out cold. Thankfully, he managed to be roused after a few minutes, but by the looks of it will certainly be unavailable for some time.
