Bought Over
Hnoune Does Honours
Neeraj Muthyala would make his senior debut for the Birds on the losing end, but it was not for want of endeavour as his colleagues never managed to form a coherent front in this excursion to Morocco. Former national Consolation Cup winners Not1Buy were rarely threatened by Grilled's experimental 4-5-1 lineup, and a shot to the forehead by repurposed goalie Arkam Hnoune was sufficient to get them the win.
The hosts were however all too sporting with their starting eleven already, with wingers Chawqi Boulahrouz and Ali Jendoube the only regulars in it. National U-20 player Abid Quanan was placed in the middle, but it was hardly the slick dribbler's best position, and it showed.
The Birds were not better by any stretch, as assistant coach Luis Alcántara was intent on training his players to keep their shape. With Oualid Kinani dutifully tracking
Leong Wan Kang all over, Grilled's attacking options were severely limited, all the more as
Rinor Isufi appeared content to take it easy after proving himself over the previous few games.
It was Not1Buy who had the better chances of a dull first half, and it took 34 minutes for the first ripples of expectation to appear. Zaki Khalili's opportunistic cross after taking wide was brought down smartly by debutant Abdelnacer Hbabi, but the 18 year-old was hustled aside by
Rashid bin Ahmad.
Old-timer Abdelhaye Zoufri was more decisive when his turn came with five minutes left, but his flick didn't test
Krystian Rykowski either, as it dropped maybe a foot wide of the far post. Amine Benslimane appealed strongly for a corner, claiming that
Hilal Bakhtiar had gotten a touch, and was booked for his pains after several warnings from the linesman.
It was tough to tell whether Grilled were actually interested in taking this one, given that Alcántara all but insisted his back four hold firm on the edge of the area. As an exercise, it certainly tested the players' discipline, as
Low Aik Jia visibly chafed at the restrictions - he had gotten past Jendoube often enough, but invariably lost out to Hadjar Ouassmi or some other supporting defender after that.
Colby Awyong replaced a disappointed
Kohei Okuya at half-time, and wasn't much of an improvement as Grilled tried to figure out what to do. Then again, it wasn't as if Not1Buy were exactly threatening... but their time did come in the 55th minute, after Boulahrouz cannily played to the whistle after apparently felling
Tian Yonghang.
With
Hilal Bakhtiar waiting for a call that would never fome, Boulahrouz cut right inside, and chose to make the short pass to Arkam Hnoune instead of trying the tantalising crossfield for Zaki Khalili. This meant that Hnoune still had to face Awyong, but he handled that with style, wrongfooting his opponent before opening up for a shot across Rykowski.
The crowd woke up for a while at that, but soon resumed their lull as the Birds responded with no real urgency, not helped by team heartbeat
Tian Yonghang having to come off for a bad gash on the leg, accidentally inflicted by Zoufri's studs.
Leong Wan Kang's endurance then failed him when
Hariharan Prabhu finally unlocked the Not1Buy defence, and the hosts adapted by themselves parking the bus.
Grilled did have a go at tying it up in the 81st minute, when
Rashid bin Ahmad of all people found himself in Not1Buy's six-yard box, but his attempt was well stopped by Abdessamad Aqasby. After that, the only notable incident would be another unwise challenge by
Remco van der Ban on Jendoube, who will as a result miss their Sunday game against fc hay nassim.
