Nialed It
Ling Ringers
Seldom has a win in an exhibition match been so warmly received by the Grilled faithful, as today when the Birds' 5-0 over Saudi Arabian Division Two club Al Nial became their first victory in five games. The almost-entirely locally-staffed hosts had only two foreign faces, American head coach Brain Fisher and Argentine forward Adrián Peralta; by far their best on the pitch today was centre man Turk Haj-Omar, but his level of ability would not be matched by his mostly-reserve teammates.
Grilled had chosen this occasion to refresh themselves on the 4-5-1, with
Chow Ying Lee the one ahead of the five.
Rinor Isufi was again put in the middle, flanked by Mohd Safri and Tian.
It was a sign of just how low Grilled's spirits had fallen, that Al Nial's second-stringers could drive them back from the get-go. Even Tian's usually-reliable leadership was at a low ebb, and he did little more than watch sullenly as the hosts tore down the wings.
Krystian Rykowski was fortunate not to concede after ten minutes, when wonderkid Fawzi Al-Hamadi - who earned the first of his eleven national U-20 caps thus far just a week removed from the youth academy - displayed just why he had been making huge waves. Feinting a pass, he ripped by Mohd Safri and
Lee Lee Hao, before holding off
Ling Fuquan to flash a magnificent left-foot cannon barely over.
Grilled were stumbling about nearly completely clueless, and their salvation would come from an unlikely source. With the blue-shirted home team by far the more up for the challenge, it was
Rashid bin Ahmad who first halted more than one deadly attack, before turning it around. With Chow making no headway, Rashid went it himself in the 33rd minute, and silenced the partisan home crowd with his sliced lob over Badr Talha.
It might not have been what he had meant, but it was just what the doctor ordered for the Birds, who began looking much more by themselves. They would put themselves up another before half-time, as
Colby Awyong put his own head on the line, stooping dangerously low to get it to
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim. The national striker didn't let that dedication go to waste, with a roaring effort that near blew Talha's gloves aside.
The Birds side that resumed the game after the interval was far more sprightly than the one that had started it, and Al Nial were to get a taste of what they were capable of. Chow, who had been ably shackled by the eager Nabil Hamed Al-Gharby all day, would finally lose him when Isufi carved out space in the 51st minute. The Albanian seriously considered taking the shot on by himself, but poked it over to Chow at the last instant, for an easy mop-up.
More was to come, and
Ling Fuquan would be in the thick of it. With Grilled now back in their recently rarely-seen all-out mode, Al Nial were finding it impossible to cope, all the more as Grilled's players were no longer keeping to their positions. There was no-one keeping tabs on Ling when he made his way stealthily down the middle, nor to get in his way when he slipped it in with a light touch.
It was a near-repeat in the next minute, as Ling staked out the left side instead.
Clément Meyer came through with a burst past Ramzi Bin Hendi, and Ling could not miss when the ball came to his feet almost on the goalline. 5-0.
With the match about over as a contest, Luis Alcántara signalled for Chow to come off, and
Leong Wan Kang to take his place. This broke Grilled's stride somewhat, and the home fans were expectant when Peralta broke through on the left, only to fire straight into
Krystian Rykowski's chest. Yehia Fahmy then tried to manufacture a penalty, but wound up booked for his unconvincing simulation.
As it was, Al Nial were lucky to escape letting in a sixth as
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim narrowly missed a wonderful lob soon after former Saudi international
Qassem Madaini replaced two-goal man Ling to a voracious reception, and Turk Haj-Omar would end the match with just some valuable experience and a yellow card besides, after getting too personal with the admittedly irritating Isufi.
