Shellshocked
Yuki Robbery
Yuki Irie decided a drama-packed Singapore Ruby Challenger Cup quarterfinals in the second-last minute, after Scallop Soccer Team looked to have managed the perfect late rampage. It would be an incredibly satisfying finale for the Birds, who had found openings hard to come by, after
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim went out injured after just sixteen minutes.
Few underestimated Scallop Soccer Team before the match, all the more as they had just walloped defending cupwinners and league rivals
-= Manchester United =- twice in the run-up, to make it eight wins on the trot. Their vicious weekend clash saw United's former Czech U-20 fullback Čeněk Labuda go off with a gashed leg, but only after Scallop had lost Romanian winger Virgil Raita to a Krušnauskas sliding tackle themselves.
With Raita unavailable, Scallop gaffer Erik Cant went with 39 year-old Spanish former head coach Ignacio Guergue as a stop-gap on the left, which together with the dropping of Tarcisio Fulcini, was immediately questioned by the fans. Kale Heromaa being chosen over Jorge Valtierra received less scrutiny, given Valtierra's indifferent form, while Polish goalie Wilhelm Obrał retook his place as first-choice goalie, over Australian trainee Ricky Sweeney.
Grilled for their part put out the red-hot
Yuki Irie in midfield again, while
Neeraj Muthyala's recent disciplinary transgressions seemed to have been overlooked, as he was trusted in the centre.
Ang Leong Kum and
Lee Lee Hao rotated freely on the left, while
Wong Ping Shun returned to his accustomed post wide right.
Scallop Soccer Team had managed a very respectable 20-4 goal record against credible opposition in their last five matches, with Argentine hard man Rocco Tuzzato having plenty to do with that. Great in the air, and fearless on the ground, Tuzzato all but radiated confidence as captain, and it could not help but diffuse to his teammates.
For all that, Cant's rotations nevertheless affected Scallop, and his choice of Andreas Rosstål as rightback soon came under question. While his credentials in tough old-school close marking were not in doubt, age and
Rinor Isufi's pace combined to make him look horribly out of touch in the 13th minute; fortunately for him, Isufi messed up his finish by overthinking it, to his own disgust.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, who had livened the game up with some cunning footwork, would then leave it on a stretcher. Having confused Heromaa thoroughly with his peek-a-boo ball control, his standing foot received the full brunt of the midfielder's swipe. Referee Péter Kiprich appeared to be deliberating whether this called for a straight red, but finally settled on the yellow, perhaps as Mohd Safri's trickery made it hard to assess the amount of intent involved.
Still, this meant that
Leong Wan Kang had to take up the mantle, and while he put up his usual big numbers in distance covered, he didn't quite substitute for Mohd Safri's expert reading. That said, his off-the-ball movement proved useful when Muthyala sought a target in the 21st minute, but fine initiative by Obrał kept Isufi from getting inside.
Grilled began to get testy themselves after tasting Scallop's physical and effective defending all too often, and
Yuki Irie went hard into Josep Oriol Puell in the 40th minute, getting himself booked too.
Wong Ping Shun would however get Grilled's best chance a couple of minutes later, after
Tian Yonghang played for the foul, but he couldn't get his free-kick to bend back in, despite clearing the wall.
Scallop were clearly the happier party to the nil-all at half-time, and other than a few sprints from Saturnino Oliveros, they seemed content to preserve the status quo. With Guergue clearly past it on the left, they were forced to rely overly on Markus Diefenthal to make things happen, and he was duly double-teamed whenever he held on to the ball for any length of time.
Fulcini would get up to stretch several times, but despite him being the obvious replacement for Guergue, Cant made no signal to order it. All considered, Scallop were actually not doing too badly, with Grilled limited to snatching at half-chances, more often than not.
Extra time, and probably even penalties, appeared to be the obvious outcome, when the game finally opened up. For the third time,
Rinor Isufi blew a wonderful opportunity, after
Lee Lee Hao flicked on to him from a corner. Somehow, he guided it to the near post, where Rosstål was stationed. However, the resulting corner would be sent to
Neeraj Muthyala, who made no such mistake with a crisp header.
Grilled were barely done with their celebrations, when Scallop negated it. The lead caused the Birds to stand off Diefenthal for once, and he required no second invitation to rip down the touchline, stylishly skipping past
Gene Filippone as he played the inches.
Wong Tian Han had to come out to meet Diefenthal, and Hungarian midfielder Norbert Dombi slid in a foot ahead of
Yuki Irie to send Diefenthal's cross into the unguarded net.
While no advantage accrued to either side after those two exciting minutes, the game had irrevocably changed; suddenly, it became a race to snatch a winner, and in this Scallop were only too happy to participate, each time the Birds' own attack was blunted. After a few rounds of to-and-fro, Pakistani striker Iqbal Raheel seemed to have made himself the hero for the day, as the reigning II.2 Golden Boot winner managed his run-up to Carlo Gambardella's cross quite immaculately, leaving Wong helpless against his excellently-placed header.
A few Grilled supporters made as to leave, but they probably hadn't made it to the exit, when the Birds levelled. Isufi, whose story had been one of many failures, would finally get one over Obrał with three minutes to go. He probably should have placed a pass for Leong, but selfishly ran straight into the heart of Scallop's defence instead - and got through it. None of them were ready for the sheer audacity of it, and the surprise factor was just about enough for Isufi to get a tremendous strike off.
And, before Scallop could collect themselves, Grilled took the lead again. It was another straightfoward move down the middle, if with some sharp one-touch passing from
Tian Yonghang, and for once Tuzzato was at a loss. He elected to handle Tian personally, but this left a slight opening, that
Yuki Irie immediately dove into, and scored from.
It was all but a knockout blow, with Obrał barely able to stand for the restart; Grilled, commanded by an animated
Djan Bacelar, concentrated all their efforts on seeing the remaining time out, with
Rashid bin Ahmad doing all in his power to get on the field slowly.
Gene Filippone would then be booked in injury time for some quite ridiculous shielding efforts, at one point all but smothering the ball, but it was all worth it once Kiprich blew for full time after three minutes added on.
