Tramontana Punishment
Penalty Travesty
Though Cape Town club SA Tramontana were undeniably the better between themselves and the Birds in today's friendly in South Africa, their achievement was polluted by Columbian referee Hernán Zambrano, who committed the cardinal officiating sin of deciding the match for the participants. A pair of quite horrendous penalty calls destroyed any possibility of Grilled raising themselves to an upset, granting the hosts as it did some quite unnecessary help.
Tramontana had come off a painful league loss to Drakensberg Park Rangers, after teasing a wondrous comeback, but they introduced themselves in a comfortingly carefree manner; they were definitely not wanting in terms of raw midfield ability, with homegrown pair Unika Shai and Muzi Marupeng potent as ever. And then there was Georgian former youth international playmaker Goga Romanadze, arguably the most popular of them all.
The young men definitely deserved their reputation, as they shredded Grilled's attempts at tightening their own middle, although to be fair
Mohammad Ramli Saliman was the only regular starting this one. Tramontana would rely unabashedly on their favourite pattern, a unique overloading charge down the flanks, peppered with plenty of free-flowing interchanges of both passes and roles.
A spirited team effort by Grilled's ragtag bunch of reserves just about held Tramontana off, and it could have gone on for quite a while longer, if not for a first bad call. What appeared to be a routine sliding block by
Rashid bin Ahmad was determined to be handball, to even Carlo Rumignani's disbelief - though the wily Italian forward was soon playing along. Regular taker Ngunda Bengono had decades of experience behind him, and scoped out
Krystian Rykowski before putting it away.
If once was an unfortunate accident, twice would look far more suspicious - and it would happen barely five minutes later. To really rub it in, it was in similar circumstances on the same guy, as the ball got inadvertently sandwiched between Rashid and Romanadze. Pretty much no other referee would have given this a second look, but whistle again it was, and Bengono ran it down the middle for 2-0.
Rashid was about to confront Zambrano before thinking better of it, which was probably the wise thing to do, given that this was after all merely an exhibition game. The Grilled defence did make up for it somewhat, as they stood stoutly against Tramontana's continued depredations. Unika Shai and Rumignani had good chances forced off target, thanks in large part to
José Luiz Velho's frenetic coverage.
That sort of play took a lot of the Grilled players, however, and they were gassed as Tramontana stepped up their dynamism in the second half. The casual swapping of midfielders in their system was a sight to behold, and against the Birds' ultimately ramshackle collection, it was sufficient to consistently set up free men. Croat Noa Žanko benefitted just two minutes in, as he simply ran straight through to score, after Romanadze and Marupeng's crossover run had split Grilled's confused defence.
This coordination was definitely a level above what Grilled's reserves were equipped to deal with, and they would fight a losing battle from then on. Ironically, the sheer threat of Tramontana's wide combinations meant that they would find most opportunities directly through the middle, as Grilled's players were led to spread themselves all over. Romanadze's strike in the 58th minute was an excellent example, as he found himself with only
Jérémy Tarin to beat, despite having slowly advanced from near the halfway line.
Romanadze was taking over the game by inches, and his thoughtful pulling of strings multiplied his teammates' effectiveness greatly. Perhaps most devastating was his sudden switching-up of rhythm, however, which he used to wonderful effect in collecting two assists in as many minutes. The abrupt shuffle to free Mulalo Shai was impressive enough, but it would be immendiately upped by his volleyed cross from the right - though Rumignani also did well to spot it coming in.
Grilled would try to get to the end with three drawn-out substitutions, but by then Unika Shai had long made it 7-0 for the hosts.
