Kids Bossed About
Adam Attack
The Grilled reserves managed to let slip a three-goal lead at Venezuelan Fifth Division leaders Monagas Boss FC, eventually losing 4-5 at carol FC Arena. Then again, they had to do without
Neeraj Muthyala, whose thigh strain acted up badly the morning of the game, prompting
Dante Tran to be hastily pencilled into the starting lineup.
Mohammad Ramli Saliman and
Florus Romijn would make their returns, though, and staked out the left side together.
The teams were finely matched from the outset, with Monagas having Czech central midfielder Martin Adam to thank for that. Holding the fort on his own, with his side sticking to a wide 4-3-3, Adam more-or-less covered the central region by himself. His saving grace was that acting Grilled skipper
José Luiz Velho had a huge off-day, continually reading his teammates wrongly. Still, the Brazilian remains just seventeen.
With no real trend emerging, it took the optimism of youth, to grab the initiative.
Prokop Mottl doggedly chased what looked like a lost cause down the left channel, and somehow got a foot to the ball, right before it went out of bounds.
Dante Tran was onto the case, untracked by the Monagas defence, and duly turned the incoming ball past Mexican custodian Demetrio Heredia.
Heredia had a heated chat with the linesman over the ball having crossed the byline to no avail, and the match continued with the Birds ahead. Grilled would gradually grow into the game as it progressed, and
Islom Davlatov won them a penalty in the 26th minute, following a deliberate shove in the small of his back from Adalberto Duno, who was also booked as a result. Heredia was again vocal about the decision, but again could do nothing about the goal, which
Jérémy Tarin calmly lifted into the top left corner.
It went from bad to worse for the hosts, as Davlatov himself then barrelled in a savage cross from
Florus Romijn, in the 35th minute. Martin Adam had something to say about that, however, and he pieced together Monagas' most promising combination of the day yet from kick-off, swinging play from one flank to another, as they finally made their width tell. Michał Hajduczek managed to nick it across goal despite being badgered by
Ahmed Pećanić, and Adam beat
Dan Seng with an early take.
And, as if to confirm that it was no flash in the pan, Adam would orchestrate several more such raids as the half wound down, as Grilled suddenly found themselves under siege. Matter came to a head about two minutes from time, as Valentín Revello swung in a deep cross, into a crowded Grilled six-yard box. The last touch blatantly came off Adam's upper arm, after Seng had flapped ineffectually at the ball, but referee Marlon Frijling would turn home team darling, as he professed not to have seen anything untoward.
The turnaround would be complete, immediately after the second-half restart. Miguel Ferrer, who had just come on for Swiss forward Julian Scheier, used his fresh legs to great effect, as he rounded
Christian Mier and
Dante Tran in quick succession down the left. Looking up, he spotted Rubén Novoa calling for it, and while he put it long, it turned out a blessing in disguise, as Aniello Campetella had arrived unheralded at the back post.
This was enough to get assistant coach Luis Alcántara onto his feet, but his yelling from the touchline was not having the intended effect. Monagas continued turning the screws, and Adams nearly got his hat-trick in the 57th minute, with a very impressive try from near thirty yards. A bit later,
Jérémy Tarin would go into the referee's black book, after he had to scramble to take Novoa out, before the Spanish Number Nine could get inside to do damage.
Grilled would receive an unscheduled boost right when they needed it, as Adalberto Duno let a routine backpass run over his foot in the 62nd minute; with a yellow card hanging over his head, he seemed loathe to try and run
Iman Eshrafi too close as they sprinted shoulder-to-shoulder for the loose ball, and could only look on as the Iranian trainee got his foot onto it first, right as Heredia decided to slide in belatedly.
Alcántara instantly commanded the players to enter keep-ball mode, which was soon met with much frustration by the small but energetic home crowd. Admirably, the Birds' youngsters stuck faithfully to the plan, which was actually coming off pretty well. Hopes that it would be sufficient were dashed by a mix-up between Velho and Saliman in the 77th minute, though, which gave Monagas the opportunity to break forward in numbers. They made the most of it too, with Jörg Watermann tucking in the equaliser, after
Dan Seng had warded Miguel Ferrer's initial effort off.
Monagas would then score what would be the winner three minutes on, with captain Rubén Novoa reaping the rewards for tirelessly patrolling the frontlines. Fittingly, it was Martin Adam who provided from the right wing, having interchanged cleverly with Watermann to throw their Grilled markers off. The strike was a thing of technical beauty too, as Novoa caught it with the outside of his right boot in midair, spinning it unstoppably past a rooted
Dan Seng.
Alcántara's late inclusion of
Leong Wan Kang sparked one last all-out push from the Grilled team, who at the least appeared to have paced themselves better than before, but Demetrio Heredia would destroy hopes of a sneak leveller by picking the ball out from beneath Davlatov's feet.
