Mom's The Word
Florian Flourish
36 year-old German frontman made himself the hit in American Division Two club YourMom'sNot Athletic's 6-1 romp in their friendly against Grilled Birds. The former national Apollo Cup winners gave
Moey Xin Seng an unsentimental introduction to the realities of the professional game, as their tireless midfield provided him with precious little time on the ball.
It was a sign of just how much Moey was valued by the Birds coaching staff that the teenager was given the armband on his debut, and he gave them instant reinforcement with a fearless dribble that was only stopped by extended chasing from Ahmad Dehghani Zadeh, formerly with Indian titans Trolls R Us.
That was however about as good as it went with Moey, who had his style swiftly picked up on by his far more experienced adversaries. Vietnamese Sedtakarn Mahadumrongkul, situated some twenty yards back from his preferred position, nevertheless was a class above Moey and
Neeraj Muthyala, which had
Rinor Isufi frustrated more often than not.
Zoufal didn't take long to get going, and the home team's pressure told in the 13th minute, when his delightful opener placed in between
Rashid bin Ahmad's legs rippled the back of the net. Grilled's offensive potential was again adversely affected by their 4-5-1 setup, which wasn't even paying off at the back.
With Grilled's engine room never managing to become more than lukewarm, Athletic were odds on to extend their lead, which Zoufal did in the 28th from a direct free-kick won off Moey. Seven minutes later, he rounded off his hat-trick, after Jean-René Foncke came in from the left side shaking off
Hilal Bakhtiar.
The Birds recovered somewhat during the break, and had their best spell of the match immediately following that.
Leong Wan Kang managed a corner with an ambitious effort put behind by Eric González, who was not taking chances, and
Colby Awyong would emerge from the teeming crowd to reduce Athletic's lead.
There were some encouraging signs following this, with
Rinor Isufi making some great runs from midfield, but to no avail as Dutch goalkeeper commanded his area well. Perhaps figuring that their own German hotshot might do the trick, Grilled sent
Domenik Bögengang on for Leong in the 70th minute, but it was soon confirmed that the 40 year old's legs had well and truly gone.
The switch also killed off what little momentum Grilled were barely hanging on to, and Athletic soon resumed their raiding ways. Mahadumrongkul stayed forward to profit from Juuso Vartiala's early cross in the 74th, but the spotlight would soon be returned to Zoufal.
As it happened, Zoufal would get his fourth with a straightforward header climbing above Awyong in the 81st, before
Krystian Rykowski justified his inclusion somewhat with a wonderful save off Juha Pahkajärvi.
Neeraj Muthyala, who had been behind play for much of the game, then overreacted with a mean-spirited clipping of Mahadumrongkul's feet, which did not endear him to the passionate home support.
The crowd definitely appreciated Zoufal picking up on some sloppy passing from Bakhtiar to make it 6-1, before an action-packed injury time saw
Tian Yonghang clip the post, and Pahkajärvi take it all the way back only to miss high. Juuso Vartiala and Bakhtiar were booked for an altercation away from the ball, but that would have no impact on the long-decided final outcome.
