Sting Dodged
Chow On It
Grilled Birds survived much wayward shooting to complete the job against Egyptian Dawry El Momtaz side The Scorpions of Luxor, established in association with Italian club Davils United. While not overly proactive, the Scorpions kept it very tight throughout, and the Birds never quite could have relaxed until the final whistle was blown.
This had a lot to do with former Bulgarian national goalie Şadi Erdoğan, who despite being 34 had lost little of the reflexes that earned him his cap. Actually, the Scorpions customarily play a very offensive game similar to Grilled, though with more emphasis on securing the middle.
Despite that, the Birds retained an edge in that department, leading to their opponents rapidly switching to damage limitation instead. They were pretty good at that, and the Birds' first good chance came only when American expat Li Xuankai lobbed a backpass that former Atlético de Macoris defender Maxim Gunkin let through to...
Woon Shun An. Woon however put it horribily wide, a theme that would be repeated throughout the rest of the game.
Not quite yet, though, as
Chow Ying Lee would then demonstrate how it should be done, after another profitable tandem run with
Low Aik Jia. Their sheer speed of foot has been close to unanswerable for many defences, not the least Boris Cochet, who was simply unable to keep up with Low despite his faultless initial positioning.
All eyes were on
Tian Yonghang as he came in from the right in the 37th minute, but the usually-perceptive Tian somehow missed
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim screaming for it in the middle, and instead buried it into the side-netting from a hopeless angle. He was quick to apologize, though, and Mohd Safri took it in good grace.
Tian would almost certainly have regretted that mistake as the second half wound out to be one finishing error after another - Scorpions' striking substitute Detlev Mairhofer gave them added bite up top, which Grilled countered with the experience of
Zhao Jing Wei. Next to go was winger Vladimir Bajić, and his replacement David Vorraber had Scorpions come very close to an equaliser with his magnificent through ball to Theodor Leemans, only for Detlev Mairhofer to be late in arriving.
This appeared to remind the Birds of just how vulnerable their lead was, despite having been on top for most of the proceedings, and they made a serious effort to make sure of the win. However, it looked as if they would be disappointed, after Chow finally rounded Erdoğan, only to hesitate on putting it into an empty net, which allowed Cochet to somehow recover and block it on the goalline.
No matter,
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim had expected that to happen, and swooped in just the right direction to mop up... and there was Erdoğan again, diving to save a disbelieving Mohd Safri's shot immediately after recovering his footing. Well, it did finally go it, because the ball rolled right back to Chow, but frankly all of this drama should have been unnecessary.
Scorpions weren't about to let the tension subside, and a few minutes later drew one back. Theodor Leemans had not been given the opportunity to showcase his pace often, but did so to devastating effect once Dominique Davy opened the space for him; No Grilled player was anywhere near Leemans by the time he picked his shot, which flew straight past
Wong Tian Han.
This had Grilled putting on
Pompeo Bellamoli to help grind the clock down, and after some nervous moments, the Birds would leave with the points in hand.
