Borgs Busted
Four In Thirty
Grilled waltzed into the semifinals of the Rook&Bishop tournament with a game to spare, as they defeated Bulgarian Division Four side Grozenborg handily, effectively sewing the tie up by the 29th minute. They eked two back in the second half, which served to mitigate their goal difference disadvantage somewhat.
A scoreless draw against LEXX in the first round had done neither team any favours, and Manlio Tressoldi would deliver the second Italian catenaccio that the Birds would encounter in as many days. With current Bulgarian national skipper Alexander Bogatev starting, Grozenborg were not to be belittled in midfield either... but neither were Grilled about to be overawed.
Conventional wisdom would have had it that Grilled would be spent after their draining three-all draw versus United yesterday, but contrary to all expectations, they were reinvigorated if anything -
Zhu Changchun was clearly up for it, as he skirted the edge of the Grozenborg penalty area at top speed before firing right smack into the far corner, all before four minutes had passed.
Despite stringing four across the back, Grozenborg were not exactly too convincing, particularly as their central pairing kept drifting wide unconsciously. In any case, it was not a shade on what the Birds had to contend with against -= Manchester United =-, but then again the understanding between
Zhao Jing Wei and
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim in the 15th minute was so magical that it might well have worked then.
Próspero Torres did his bit by holding it up as well as he could, and Grozenborg enjoyed some neat passing. However, they didn't find a way through, in contrast to
Chow Ying Lee, who once again made it clear that there was no protection against speed, by cutting past Dimitar Tzonev and drawing Ivan Samardzhiev out, before handing Mohd Safri the easiest of tap-ins.
Chow blasted a fourth in right after that, and with
Zhao Jing Wei taking just two minutes after the restart to up the score once more, it could be easily understood if Grozenborg were discouraged. However, Bogatev's impressive leadership abilities kept them going, and they got a real chance when World Cup winner Presiyan Angelov belied his 35 years to burn
Wong Ping Shun for pace. Sadly, Torres couldn't get on the end of that cross, but it was a taste of things to come.
Slowly but surely, the match began to shift Grozenborg's way as Grilled's will to compete wilted, and it was soon their white and aqua that covered the field purposefully. Angelov found the rare mix of sheer acceleration and cheeky creativity that had won his 38 caps at the highest level, and completely humiliated
Ling Fuquan with a spinaround before laying it off for Asen Prelkov to slam home.
Five minutes later, Angelov was at it again, and he got even Grilled fans on their feet as he took on, and beat, three in a row down the left.
Wong Tian Han raced out to engage him, but couldn't quite get close enough, as the world-famouse Number Seven poked it through for Nikola Chukanov to walk in.
Chow Ying Lee might have surged through to complete his brace after that, but he was left under no illusions as to who the spectators considered the Man of the Match for the day.
