Uherák Undone
Škandera Striving
A rip-roaring 4-3 victory against Czech Division Two side FC Uherák was just what was needed to counter those Monday blues for Grilled supporters, who were only too willing to recognize their No. 16 Jaromír Škandera's huge impact. Škandera's height posed a constant mismatch throughout, but his two well-taken goals were ultimately not enough to save Uherák from elimination.
FC Uherák had completed the group stage atop a very competitive Group A, where they racked up two big clean sheet wins. Known for their avowedly-native focus, nearly the entirety of their twenty-nine man squad is composed of Czech nationals, the sole exception being veteran Hungarian winger Tamás Tölgyesi, who has not been active for over half a year.
Emil Volek was singled out as one to take notice of, having bagged over 150 goals in a long and productive career, with Miloň Knot his trusty sidekick as always; the Birds were focused on their own game, however, which turned out to be tough enough for Uherák's red shirts to handle.
Tian Yonghang would find a 15th minute opener, off
Zhao Jing Wei's rarely-seen crossover trick.
The rain began to really fall, though, which aided Uherák in regrouping.
Ling Fuquan became more cautious after conceding a cheap yellow for bumping into Knot, who then passed up a clear run after slipping in a puddle.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and
Chow Ying Lee weren't immune to the conditions either, and had their slowed-down grounders snuffed out by Věroslav Bonczek.
Filip Homoláč had equalised with a top-class curler sometime in between, and FC Uherák would then find themselves ahead, if against the run of play. A tame-looking long ball appeared destined for
Wong Ping Shun, who was sitting back, but Škandera clipped it inside with a graceful leap, and then beat
Wong Tian Han from up close.
If Grilled felt hard done by, they were not showing it, and in any case
Gene Filippone ensured that their opponents' lead lasted barely all of two minutes. As Uherák consolidated to try and finish the half ahead, they gave the Swiss all too much time just outside their penalty area, and Filippone punished them with a slightly-deflected cracker of a strike.
This was a more or less fair reflection of the proceedings, which had seen some disciplined pushing from the Grilled central column, mixed with several sharp raids from Uherák. Their skipper Filip Homoláč was determined to get his team over the line with more attacking overlaps, but that would contribute to Grilled's one-two to come.
The first was more miscommunication between Homoláč and his centreback Tomáš Stavinoha than anything. Although the backpass behind his last man might have been no more than an inconvenience most of the time, they hadn't counted on the predatory
Chow Ying Lee waiting for just such a slip. Chow got a foot ahead of Stavinoha despite his five-metre lead, and then made up for his earlier miss against Bonczek.
Uherák now needed that goal more than ever, but the ground finally went against them; Homoláč tried a classic push-and-run past
Wong Ping Shun, only for the ball to be left behind. Seizing the opportunity, Wong pumped it in the general direction of his forwards, and Mohd Safri brought it down for
Clément Meyer to volley home stylishly.
The odds were firmly stacked against FC Uherák at this point, but Grilled unwisely declined to press their advantage, instead opting to try and see out the last quarter of the match in their own half. Despite that, Tian did nearly up it to five, but Bonczek caught his attempt and kickstarted the counter, from which Škandera scored off Kristián Krakovský's straightforward cross.
This seemed to promise an entertaining end to the quarterfinals, and Luis Alcántara obliged by sending
Low Aik Jia on for a bedraggled
Zhao Jing Wei. This attacking sub had the counterintuitive effect of killing the game by making Uherák's wary right flank stay back, though, and Grilled wound up getting the outcome that they initially wanted.
