Tigerish Tanning
Laudstron Laps
Grilled went down to probably the best side ever in Jamaica, the Tigers, who have gone unbeaten for the past 45 competitive games and won the last seventeen, snagging the league and cup double in that run and looking good for a repeat. Grilled actually had the stronger start, but were laughably impotent in front of goal.
Interest in the game ran pretty high, with it the last game of four friendlies arranged in the stadium this day. A tad over 7000 stayed to watch their home heroes entertain a Singaporean side, who were quick to threaten as
Lee Jie Siong controlled a nice infield throw and whacked it at the top corner as early as the third minute.
Romanian utility midfielder
Dragos Olaru hadn't improved much in his time with Grilled, as he was all too easily bypassed by Stefan Altmann and had to grab his torso eventually. He bucked up after the booking, though. There were gasps as Tigers goalie Stockwell Stirling passed to an unprepared defender, and
Ulf Hjortlind swooped in only to scoop the ball wide.
Hobson had even less luck when his turn came in the 24th minute, as a speedy rush by the recently-condemned Borup tailed off into a cross that bounced in front of goal. So many goals have come in this sort of chaotic situation, but when Hobson brushed the ball with his studs Stirling was already there to scramble it away.
Ugly play by
Dani Spirig earned him a caution too, as Grilled kept up their high-octane offence. Olaru, buoyed by several successful dribbles, might have scored his first ever goal for his club as he blazed past Hertzel Maymoni on a gutsy run, but Stirling was favoured by the gods and incredibly got a hand to Olaru's strong shot.
The Tigers actually had slightly more possession overall, but used it more in their own half. Winfried Krug for one kept trying to force his way through Grilled's backline with brute strength, but Tuan-Mu had far too much experience for that to pay off.
Krug's efforts appeared to bear fruit 53 minutes on, as he shook free of Liehner just as a through ball from Jamaican national midfielder Wil Flannery arrived. No dice, as Bao-Tam had his positioning right and swiped the ball out from under his feet. Krug's appeal for a penalty went unheeded.
The match began to swing, as Grilled's defenders in particular began to tire. Han Kok at times appeared to carry the team with his incessant running, but it was not enough and Tuan-Mu was forced into a bad tackle to prevent a sure goal. It might have been considered a professional foul, but the referee possibly kept in mind that it was after all a friendly and instead flashed the yellow card.
Another chopdown brought a freekick on the edge of the box for Tigers, and German striker Lutz-Peter Laudstron lined it up against a four-man wall. There was no subtlety in his ferocious strike which went between Jie Siong's and Spirig's heads, but there was something poetic in its savagery as it rippled the net.
Two minutes later, Laudstron did it again. Saro Tarroni turned two men inside out with a brilliant piece of close control, and it was two on two in Grilled's penalty area. Krug left it to his partner to kick, and Laudstron obliged with a hard-hit grounder that Bao-Tam could not reach.
His final encore came in the 79th minute, as he simply raced through the static backline and placed it into the bottom left. Laudstrong's no stranger to hat-tricks however, and a cursory glance at his records show that more than half his goals have come as part of a treble - some striker indeed!
His temper got the better of him soon after, and a disagreement during the kick-off saw him shoving Hobson to the ground. There could be no accounting for his actions, and with no small measure of regret the referee pulled out the red card and ordered the star of the day off the field of play.
There was time for Grilled to take something from the match, but a sad mishit volley by Hobson was all they could muster even as the Tigers continued attacking with ten men.
