Lights Out In China
Marek Makes Two
The Birds were awarded a walkover against Maldives third division side DiablosdeMaale due to a scheduling conflict by the latter, but they would not pick up a win in their replacement friendly. Guangdong hosts Guangwai - in a neck-and-neck race for promotion to the Dragons Elite - eked out a two-goal win, mostly attributable to Polish forward Marek Deoniziak.
The lineups suggested that it wasn't the most important of matches for either club, but the inclusion of Norwegian left winger Hans Solli did mean that Grilled had a real matchup headache in that department.
Hoàng Trung Quá did better than most expected, though, and even turned the tables on Solli several times.
This cosy-enough state of affairs would last for over half an hour, with
Yuki Irie finding more success deploying his fellow defenders, than going it himself. There was little he could do, sadly, when Marek Deoniziak ran full tilt into him, while on the shortest route towards goal. A penalty - which many in the away stands felt undeserved - was blown for, and Deoniziak took it himself, stroking it past
Dan Seng amidst much whistling.
Grilled's fans would be further aggrieved when Hao Zuwen nearly escaped censure for a much more violent stoppage of
Leong Wan Kang at the other end, with only persistent badgering from
Moey Xin Seng changing Andi Eisenbach's mind. They would be further delighted when Deoniziak hit it against the post in the 41st minute, when it looked as if it would be simpler to tap in, from Ge Deyou's head-on.
Luis Alcántara got
Clark Won on for the game-but-overwhelmed
Dante Tran at half-time, which would however coincide with a renaissance for Solli. Having made little headway against Hoàng before this, Solli would kick up a gear, and the left side would suddenly be an explosion of action. 52 minutes in, he would give both Hoàng and
Remco van der Ban the slip, and sliced a cross to Deoniziak, that the forward tucked away.
It all then quietened down a lot after that, with Moey and
Kalki Parvathaneni continuing their lonely struggle. Little would come of their efforts, sadly, with Leong barely even getting to touch the ball in advanced positions; Kalki would vent with a possibly-unintentional swing to Gu Guangyuan's knee, that left the playmaker in tears on the ground. The home crowd were nearly ready to mutiny, but somehow Kalki would dodge even a booking.
The atmosphere would hardly improve when Irie brought Hans Solli down after he had released his shot - which wound up clipping the crossbar. By this point, Alcántara was already just willing the match to be over, before things got even uglier, though Chen Xinfu's aesthetic near-miss in time added on happily calmed the mood somewhat.
