Xvelum Axeing
Ling Limp
Grilled went down 2-3 to Santa Cruz-based Bolivian side Xvelum at The Cooking Pot, with the two-time national cup winners achieving the feat of monopolising possession. They were helped by
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim putting out some worryingly atrocious football, though inspired goaltending by
Krystian Rykowski kept the Birds in contention for far longer than they should have.
While some fans have questioned the wisdom of excluding Mohd Safri from the side, the man himself did nothing at all to dispel
Djan Bacelar's decision, as he put in some alarmingly bad touches from the get-go. In fact, his performance would have barely passed muster had it come from a reserve youth team promotee, and there was no mistaking that it had all fallen apart for him when he refused to even try to get it back after passing straight to Manu Mäkilä.
This led to his teammates inadvertently involving him less and less as the match went on, not that they had to make that choice too often. Xvelum bossed midfield throughout, and Grilled were fortunate that they had an off-day up top. Former national team defender Narciso Clavijo was heavily involved in their early bombing attacks, but had two fair headers stopped by Rykowski in as many minutes.
Xvelum continued knocking on the doors, but Grilled's Polish custodian was simply unbeatable in the first half-hour, making an unbelievable fingertip save off Àlex Romeu's world-class free-kick to keep his goal unbreached. It turned out to be the Birds who would go ahead, completely against the run of play, as
Chow Ying Lee turned on the afterburners to burst right through the Xvelum lines. Lois Melipil covered as best as he could, only for Chow to push it out for veteran
Che Harun bin Sabtu to continue his hot streak.
This stroke of good fortune was balanced out when it was discovered that
Ling Fuquan had hurt himself twisting on one ankle in the build-up, and
Hilal Bakhtiar came in just in time to watch Clavijo again being spectacularly denied by Rykowski from a corner. While Clavijo could rightly consider himself cursed, Cirilo Blacutt had no such hang-ups, and tapped the loose ball in.
Grilled had a short spell after that, causing Mäkilä to pick up the only card of the game in booting the ball away after tripping
Low Aik Jia. Half-time meant that Xvelum regained their earlier assurance, however, and after some minutes of being beaten back, the Birds conceded a second with Yiorgakis Gkonis skipping in from right wing to deliver a precise strike.
Xvelum were again absolutely hammering them in, and it was a wonder that Grilled didn't concede any further until the 59th minute, when Blacutt's lob came off the bar for gleeful teenaged forward Thiago Ocampo to follow up on. Juan Eduardo Rossel was a whisker away with his later strike, and
Joan Cisquell's entry for a knackered
Qassem Madaini did little to stem the tide.
At the end, the Birds made the scoreline look a lot more charitable than it should have been, as Rykowski made another excellent save off Ocampo, before substitute
Hilal Bakhtiar pulled another back from the ensuing counterattack.
