ACL At Astana
Leong Lights Up
Grilled Birds got off to a fine start in the unofficial Asian Champions League friendly competition, a throwback to past days when weekly game limits were imposed on clubs. They were hosted by Kazakhstan Division Three side Astana_United, who fielded what was in effect their U-20 team. It was thus perhaps unsporting that Grilled included the likes of
Gennady Dvorak and
Rinor Isufi, but they could perhaps count it as a learning experience.
Astana's Serbian gaffer Božidar Tatić knew what he was doing, from his hearty welcome of Grilled's contingent, and his charges while spirited, were also clearly impetuous. Not unexpectedly, following much harrying in the first ten minutes, their good work was undone when the teenaged Gennadiy Avvakumov tried to shimmy his way out of his own six-yard box. He was met by
Chu Xin Lee, who made great use of the awkward bounce to crash it past French senior Jean-Rémy Lamiaux.
The Birds made the most of their opponents' undirected fervour, and were three up by the eighteenth minute. More unwise dribbling saw Astana forced into a bad backpass, that
Leong Wan Kang snapped up;
Rinor Isufi would then fling himself unreservedly at a tempting
Neeraj Muthyala cross on the very next attack, and got just enough on the ball for it to beat the goalie.
Astana did give Grilled trouble when they managed to string their passes together on the front foot, and a slippery run from Bakhtiar Aitaliev saw him tie
Mohammad Ramli Saliman up, and Yaroslav Pimenov took care of the delivery with a banging right foot. They could have made it very interesting had their 32nd minute counter come off, and
Valentin Batâr - in to regain some confidence following the weekend's travails - was lucky to see Janibek Ismadiyarov's floated finish shave the bar.
The hosts really went for it as the half neared an end, and this saw
Rashid bin Ahmad depart in evident pain, after he came off by far the worst in a three-way pileup with Nestor Gorelyi and
Hilal Bakhtiar.
Mohammad Ramli Saliman's late tackle on goalscorer Pimenov a few minutes later was far more clear-cut, and resulted in an immediate yellow.
Tatić would take no chances with his promising fullback, and perhaps also had the intention of making the match more competitive, in pulling him off for regular defender Daryn Dzhumagaliyev. It didn't help them in the short term, however, as
Leong Wan Kang made it 1-4 on the stroke of half-time, with a brilliant improvised overhead kick.
Lamiaux could only shrug at that one, but Batâr would also get a taste of helplessness, after Astana came out very strongly on the restart. Grilled's players could get nowhere close against their turbo-charged opponents in a great first few minutes for the hosts, and the 18 year-old Aibyn Dukenov got free of substitute
Remco van der Ban to bag his side's second.
Normal service soon resumed, and Ismadiyarov would be forced into a foul on Dvorak in a dangerous area, on the hour mark. While nothing came of that, the Birds soon regained the ball after Apok Dosaliev hit it high, and
Rinor Isufi saw what
Moey Xin Seng was intending, and broke nicely for the through ball. Lamiaux stayed on his feet, but Isufi struck it beyond his reach.
The Astana goalkeeper did have his moment, touching
Hilal Bakhtiar's well-weighted lob onto the bar, but his team would soon lose their skipper once again. Gergely Mészáros, who had taken over the armband from Pimenov, was suspended in mid-air when he took the full force of Dvorak's swing in his head, and was knocked out. Although it was clearly unintentional, it did not detract at all from the severity, and the Hungarian would be stretchered off still unconscious.
This cast a pall over what remained of the match, but not enough that
Leong Wan Kang would pass up completing his hat-trick, after Zharas Akanbay missed a simple interception to leave him free and clear.
Neeraj Muthyala would draw some boos after a reckless bump on Ismadiyarov some minutes later, but his apologetic reaction at least did defuse the situation.
