Fireworks Crackle
Cailloux Closing
Joan Cisquell's farewell appearance would come at the end of a 1-4 friendly loss to South Korean third division outfit Fireworks, whom were driven by French wingback Albéric Cailloux to an outstanding second half. Debutant
Mohammad Ramli Saliman was somewhat of a letdown, but he could point to jetlag from rushing over from a 4-0 win over Beerminators FC in Hesse, Germany with his old club.
Two league whitewashes had not been enough for Fireworks to get close to eventual III.10 champions .Everton FC., who won by five points, to which long-serving head coach Malte Opelka had responded by flushing the squad. 22 year-old Norwegian winger Ole Myren was signed, but this came after the exits of regulars Henry Kraan and Arik Naim, as well as Finnish trainee Konsta Palmroos, in the last few days.
Fireworks nevertheless mustered a fairly strong XI against the Birds, with Cailloux, Riccardo Caiuli and captain Adriano Bardini making for a formidable backline. Grilled's main draw for the day was, of course, the returning
Mohammad Ramli Saliman, who sparked a minor late rush for tickets when his inclusion was confirmed.
The wet weather didn't make it an optimal stage for his skills, as it happened, but it was not as if he could be overly faulted for keeping to high-percentage sideways passes with a whole new team. The impetus, then, would mostly come from the other flank, where
Neeraj Muthyala and
Moey Xin Seng had set their sights on heavy attacking. This produced a nice look at the Fireworks goal for
Remco van der Ban in the 13th minute, but his grounder would slide into the post.
The hosts were doing well enough with their unabashed long ball game, but Russian midfielder Shavarsh Dartanyan reminded that there was silk behind that unworked iron, with his inch-perfect flat volley off Maeg-Ju Lee's 18th minute cross. The spectators loved that one, and would break into hearty cheers whenever it was replayed periodically on the jumbotron.
Fireworks' newfound willingness to shoot claimed a victim in a different way five minutes later, when poor
Rashid bin Ahmad ate the full force of Agostino Del Bufalo's blast to the face, resulting in a battered nose that had to be blocked up with cotton swabs. Rashid would then continue playing on without extra fuss, to appreciation from the stands.
Grilled then had a bright patch that saw
Rinor Isufi skip inside to level after swapping positions with
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, but Fireworks always looked the steadier side. Maeg-Ju Lee and Young-Hoon Kim, who was making his first start for Fireworks, worked the flanks industriously, and Ove Overrein's accurate strike four minutes before half-time was no less than the home team deserved.
Djan Bacelar seemed to be seriously considering if Saliman should carry on, with the duo having a long talk on the sidelines before the restart, but the newcomer was eventually given the go-ahead. This was possibly not in Grilled's best interests, as he was never given time on the ball by the motivated Fireworks midfield, and he was reduced to tidying things up in his own half.
Fireworks continued building out wide, making full use of the available breadth, and
Neeraj Muthyala would get the only booking of the day, after illegally blocking Young-Hoon Kim once too many times. These assaults continued unabated, and Maeg-Ju Lee would eventually scoot down Grilled's abandoned left side, before tapping it to the supporting Albéric Cailloux for 3-1.
The Birds were just going through the motions by now, as the stresses of a long season began to tell. Still,
Rashid bin Ahmad was doing fine given the state of the game, mostly nullifying young target man Jong-Bom Shin. Rashid would be cheated badly after a stray strike flew past him in the 75th minute to be caught handily by
Dan Seng, only for Serbian referee Nae Ganea to call for handball and a penalty out of the blue.
Replays failed to show anything conclusive, but Ganea would not be persuaded, and Cailloux sent
Dan Seng the wrong way without too much trouble. Rashid for his part had gotten over it by the time he made way for the departing
Joan Cisquell, who came on as part of a triple substitution introducing
Domenik Bögengang and
Wong Ping Shun.
