Privateers Pinched
Safri Steals Win
The Birds squeezed into the semifinals of the Worldwide Allgäu-Guests III tournament, as they overcame the dismissal of lynchpin
Zhao Jing Wei early in the second half to take Cidade Velha Privateers to extra time, before once again outlasting their opponents when it mattered.
The Privateers had, after picking up the Campeonato Nacional title, endured an indifferent start; they had retained most of their star turns, though, with Hungarian former top scorer Ákos Gombos having worked up a head of steam in the cup, with eleven there already this campaign.
Further, the Cape Verde national side was very well represented, with no less than five starters having earned caps with the Tubarões Azuis. Of these, captain Carlos Maria Borges had just taken to the field against Morocco a fortnight ago, but the club's future is undeniably locked to the dynamic duo of Joaquim Chuva and Amador Diogo, both discovered by the Privateers' youth division - and just 22.
Their raw potential was evident early on, after
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim fired the first broadside, but his flicked header off regular supplier
Wong Ping Shun was clawed away by Gino Desbos. The ball was returned straight up the field, with S$7.5 million-rated German winger Mathias Zoffmann leading the charge, and his perfect delivery gave Chuva an easy finish.
Grilled were left reeling from this quick reply, and were unable to apply their usual passing game as Chuva and Diogo tirelessly patrolled midfield.
Zhao Jing Wei was forced into a cynical late challenge on Diogo in the tenth minute that he was fortunate to stay on after, as the Privateers thrived and nearly added to their lead from Antero Caeiro's dipping free-kick.
It was all very disappointing for Grilled in the first forty-five minutes, but it all became much brighter in the second half. Wong had again been the Birds' main agent of attack down the right side, and after he bullied Caeiro with his sheer momentum on a drive from the restart,
Woon Shun An snapped up the incoming cross to tie it up.
The Birds would then have to continue a man down, after Zhao was spotted holding Borges back in the 54th minute. This would sometimes have been ignored, but the referee held him to the letter of the law this time, resulting in a second yellow. Despite that,
Chow Ying Lee nearly managed to give Grilled some slack as he intercepted the ensuing pass, but Desbos was onto it.
Privateers then looked to have settled it, as they broke through Zoffman once more in the 61st, after Wong had overextended himself trying to force the issue and
Woon Shun An shot high. This left the German to outpace
Ling Fuquan as Desbos restarted immediately with the aid of an alert ball boy, and international forward Ernesto Fernandes was spot-on with his grounder.
Strangely, the loss of Zhao didn't affect Grilled too severely, and the remaining players picked up the slack. Mohd Safri in particular took it upon himself to make up the running, and his efforts came to fruition in good time. He was open when Woon picked Diogo off, and made the space for
Tian Yonghang to equalise with a measured lob.
Still, Cidade Velha were expected to have the upper hand, given that Grilled's ten men had much more ground to cover, but astoundingly it was the latter who began pushing back, and hard. This trend only magnified in extra time, and after a prolonged period keeping it on the peripherals of the Privateers' penalty area,
Zhu Changchun's speculative chip got lucky and came off just as Desbos decided to rush forward.
Now fully switched on,
Chow Ying Lee flirted with suspension himself as he tore into Gombos while on defensive duty, but Caeiro decided to square the free-kick, and it came to nothing. After that, Mohd Safri found his way through the middle to score, which the Privateers had no answer to in the ten minutes that remained.
