Torpedoed By Tynec
Kilgore Wuz Here
In their first matchup against a Hattrick International club side, Grilled suffered a 1-3 away defeat in Colombia against VVS Torpedo Tynec n.s., with their reserve team proving as green as could be expected.
Ang Leong Kum excelled even though he was started at centreback, and was responsible for the Birds' only goal of the game, before it all went downhill.
Torpedo, spinoff of established Czech side VVS Motor Týnec n.s., were too finding their footing, but Jure Špar's simple asymmetric 5-4-1 appeared to suit their players to a tee. In a further demonstration of the sum being more than its parts, American veteran Gene Kilgore, nominally a fullback, was deployed mostly to hold up and distribute the ball in attack, and this wound up to be more than what Grilled's trainees could deal with.
The Birds would have their moments too, and after a long spell of Torpedo pressure ended with Milton Rátiva's miss from close range,
Prokop Mottl intelligently won a corner after being hemmed in following a long ball chasedown.
Chu Xin Lee elbowed his way to a contested header that Pavle Prvulović could only parry, and
Ang Leong Kum unerringly booted the loose ball into the net.
Grilled were buoyed by this gift, and they would get at the flustered Torpedoes with newfound gusto. Mottl for one had taken his dropping from the league lineup with good grace, and the young Czech bustled about the attacking third with clear intent. Torpedo would prove impervious from open play, however, and Kilgore would make the most of a mass charge down the right, offering himself up for Nicolás Angulo's assist.
Carlos Eduardo Tamayo would be booked for provoking
Dan Seng by needlessly stepping over him to retrieve the ball, and it could have gotten ugly had the referee not inserted himself between them. Whether because of his reaction or not, Seng would not return for the second half, as he got replaced by
Krystian Rykowski in a triple substitution.
The changes were probably not geared towards winning, seeing as how
Tian Yonghang replaced Ang in defence, without even
Rashid bin Ahmad to guide him - the former youth international would make way for
Jérémy Tarin.
With this so-called backline clearly not geared towards protecting Rykowski much, Grilled tried to keep play in Torpedo's half, and
Dante Tran came up with a unexpected pass to Iranian wide attacker
Iman Eshrafi in the 58th. His effort was tipped over, though, and after the corner got cleared too, Mauro Gabriel Jara put Torpedo ahead from a fine counter, as Tian and Tarin were sucked off to the left side.
The Birds fell for this again in the very next minute, after an abortive finish by
Chu Xin Lee, with young Evaristo Kaplan not quite having the composure to round
Krystian Rykowski. It was still okay for him, however, as his hurried kick on being closed down just about crept past the goalie.
Grilled's shape was a right mess by now, with their trainees having far more running in them than tactical discipline, and it wasn't too hard for the more-schooled Torpedos team to take advantage. They worked Kilgore into scoring range in the 63rd minute, and he got the crowd standing with a twisting strike worthy of any striker, that however whizzed by the far post.
A twisted ankle to Juan Pablo Anchique didn't slow Torpedos much of any, and they nearly made it four with ten minutes left, as Milton Rátiva dragged a low free-kick narrowly wide. It did get
Christopher Mauget booked at least, as the Frenchman's outsized reaction saw him block Evaristo Kaplan from making a follow-up run inside.
