Feedback Passed
Claudio Caps Win
American Third Division club Country Feedback had Italian veteran Claudio Casola to thank for guiding them to eventual shootout victory in this week's friendly against the Birds, while his opposing captain
Moey Xin Seng had to endure the agony of missing the only spot-kick of the ten. It remained a show well worth the time and money of the near-5500 who turned up this scorching Georgian day, however, with flair and foibles on display in equal measure.
Seconday club of two-time The Pacific Premier champions Cotchin FC, Feedback have been steadily climbing up the series structure in the US of A, and although hipcat have sewn up III.10 with their latest victory, Feedback remain in good position to finish in second place. Marquee Turkish midfielders Serdar Okverdi and Ufuk Başbağ sat this one out, but in their place were Primož Centrih and Johnny Waters, solid players in their own right.
Facing Feedback's two banks of five, Grilled were scarely more outgoing as they left
Pompeo Bellamoli up front on their own; despite that, the proceedings were surprisingly lively, as the participants appeared to take that as a licence to attack freely.
Rinor Isufi for one certainly didn't pay much attention to his defensive duties, and was nowhere to be found when Casola came down the left to score.
The raucous home support celebrated that one loudly, only to top that when
Remco van der Ban went clattering into Waters in the 31st minute. This was nothing new for the Spaniard, given his roughhousing tendencies, but he did appear slightly intimidated by the vitriol from the stands. It didn't do Waters much good, though, as he had to be stretchered off.
This might have riled Casola up sufficiently that he worked a snide kick at van der Ban the next time the two were up against each other, which the referee did catch and book in the same way. However, Casola would go on to dispossess a blindsighted
Hilal Bakhtiar to score a second, and the crowd's delight was only compounded when a flustered Remco skied a sitter in time added on.
Exchanging
Zhao Jing Wei and
Low Aik Jia for
Rashid bin Ahmad and
Hariharan Prabhu gave Grilled the kick up the backsides they badly needed, and Low's willingness to run, as opposed to Prabhu's stolidness, soon shook things up. Giorgio Grazioso fared badly against Low, who seemed all over the pitch at times, and who would it be but Public Enemy Number One
Remco van der Ban who would take full advantage in the 67th, making it 2-1.
That was very badly received by the home support, and to their increasing dismay, it was the visiting Birds who would continue improving. Despite Bellamoli's outlandish tricking of Salvatore Lesa that almost paid off, he was taken off for a fresh
Leong Wan Kang immediately after. It proved a well-warranted substitute, as Leong slotted in the equaliser with five minutes to go, after Jorge Rincon Ramos had made a last-ditch saving tackle on
Rinor Isufi to seemingly protect the scoreline.
Feedback coach Jan Hogendorp took the opportunity to swap Grazioso around with Eskić, in view of Low and
Yuki Irie's activity down the left, but Grilled were on a roll by now.
Leong Wan Kang revelled against the tired home defence, and a naughty backheel after 104 minutes put Isufi through for a calm finish against Iranian goalkeeper Noushzad Sajjadi.
The Birds seemed to have it in the bag with that, but Primož Centrih would dig deep to summon a draining forty-yard sprint from nowhere to take it to penalties, and the young Moey would heartrendingly miss the post by a whisker on the first kick, to give the game to Country Feedback.
