Hurt On Kurt
Kün Get Any Better
Grilled's introduction to the Ruby Challenger Cup saw them ring up a 4-1 result over MetinKurt, their second meeting - and victory - over the City club. It took a hard-earned Zhu Changchun strike to get past them the last time round, en route to lifting the Singapore Cup, but
Cyril Künzler made it look almost easy this time against his navy-clad opponents.
Djan Bacelar would later admit that Künzler had not even been scheduled to start, but
Dante Tran coming down with a light flu in the morning made the Polish winger a natural next choice. He would swiftly attest to the wisdom of that decision, as he carried right on from where he had left off against the Bananas on Sunday.
MetinKurt, who had wound up in this fixture after being eliminated by former S-League team CoCoTeaTree Islanders in the last round of the main cup, would welcome Hungarian youngster Ádám Bede Fazekas back after his suspension from that game. He would start in defence this time as they kept on with their 5-3-2 setup, which again leant heavily on forward pair Richárd Török and Sylvain Chevalier to manufacture chances in isolation.
There wouldn't be much of that today, though, with the Birds still flush with attacking intent from their league adventures. The trainees were said to be still smarting from the public dressing-down they had received over the past weeks, and there indeed seemed a positive reaction - lines were being held, unlike previously, and spaces promptly filled.
It was thus a bad outing for MetinKurt's Lee Long Chi, who found himself mobbed and generally out of it as their lone playmaker. It didn't help that their English captain Flynn Wight was being overwhelmed by Künzler on the left, as Grilled's Number Eight again proved himself to be something of a flat-track bully.
Chirag Thevar certainly wasn't complaining, as the former Wings graduate finally found the net on his fifth Birds appearance from a precise Künzler pullback.
MetinKurt were hardly about to go down without a fight, and they would turn up their combativeness a couple of notches, which certainly threw Grilled off somewhat. Török gave an under-the-weather
Yuki Irie something to think about with his elbows, but local centreback Keshav Menon received even worse at the other end, as he took a
Christopher Mauget knee to the groin. Although it was incidental by all appearances, with Mauget booked into the bargain, it must have been of little consolation to the white-faced victim.
The injury did serve its purpose as a distraction, and MetinKurt levelled from the restart. No-one had thought to cover for Yuki after he had wandered off to get a knock looked at, and Fazekas came good from Leo Fossella's gamble. He didn't get to celebrate the goal, though, having jarred his ankle badly after releasing his shot, and would eventually have to leave on a stretcher. Raja Zaman Abd Ghani thus joined Dino Cortellazzi on, as a substitute.
Fazekas' contribution had at least instilled some real belief in his team, but before they could make proper use of it, the Birds went ahead in controversial fashion. There appeared an agreement for
José Luiz Velho to throw the ball back, after MetinKurt had kicked it out for a player to receive treatment - if dubious too - but Velho instead pressed the offensive.
Prokop Mottl was felled just inside the penalty area in the aftermath, and though the hosts protested bitterly,
Cyril Künzler polished the spot kick off.
This happening only heightened tensions, and it was strange how Rubén Leyva avoided flashing any more cards. MetinKurt announced their displeasure in the second half with multiple aggressive challenges, and Török for one was perpetually flirting with either grabbing a goal in due course, or getting sent off. Ultimately, he managed neither.
MetinKurt would be arguably hard done again, though it was partly self-inflicted. In the 67th minute, Cortellazzi seemed to knock
Prokop Mottl aside purposefully in contesting a defensive header, only to land awkwardly with his head bouncing off the turf, while stopping the ball with his hands instinctively. The ref wasn't buying it, and kept to the letter of the law by awarding the penalty, even as Cortellazzi was taken off for observation. Shawn Hsueh looked almost resigned to facing
Cyril Künzler again, and for very good reason as the Pole made it 3-1, almost mechanically.
Cortellazzi would not return from his concussion, which forced MetinKurt to expend their final substitution on Spanish lad José María Acheros, who however sure lived up to his billing as one to watch for the future. He was definitely persuasive close-in, as Grilled's forwards could vouch for. On the attacking end, fellow sub Raja Zaman Abd Ghani came very close to giving MetinKurt hope with a tremendous piledriver from outside the box, but it whammed into the upright, to his evident agony.
If there was one constant about the game, it would have to be Künzler's general ownership of his flank, made all the more impressive by his utter consistency. French fullback Jonathan Deval certainly wasn't able to keep up with him forever, and was bypassed after an ill-judged tackle in the 84th minute.
Chirag Thevar repaid his earlier favour with a brisk give-and-go, and Künzler would complete his hat-trick with a collected finish.
There could have been one more, but
Iman Eshrafi found the side netting, and the match would conclude with
Rashid bin Ahmad coming on for
Yuki Irie.
