Kang Xi Go Through
Mohd Safri Frustrated
Grilled Birds were held scoreless for the first time in a tournament as II.3 stalwarts Kang Xi Lai Le breezed to a 2-0 win, with the Birds' strikers collectively clueless. Then again, they should not be too down about the loss, seeing as to how Kang Xi kept the national duo of Wira bin Mahmood and Lee Siong Nie quiet too when they hosted BDSM FC yesterday.
In an era where he has seldom been called upon to decide the team's fortune, almost-forgotten Canadian custodian
Dexter Stacey proved instrumental in keeping the game from slipping out of Grilled's hands before they even got started. In just the second minute, Adam Noy made an unexpected burst that took him past the last man, and only perfect timing on his charge by Stacey kept a penalty from being awarded.
Stacey was called into action again in the 14th minute, this time from speedy local winger Manny Aldro, who has flourished after moving from Phantasm Hotspurs, earning 18 caps with the U-20 side. He leapt over Qaseem Madaini's sliding challenge and lashed a decisive shot right at the gap between Stacey and his near post, but the goalie reacted superbly to ward it off with a foot.
It was then the turn of his opposite number Martiniano Quintas to shine, with the 30 year-old Argentine cleared to play despite taking a battering against BDSM FC. His first real touch was a wonderful block off
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, who reacted to his suspension by putting everything into this game. That was still not enough, as was Madaini's sneaky drive from a tight angle in the 25th minute, hoping to catch Quintas off-guard.
The match entered a bit of a lull after that, with the teams reaching half-time without further incident. Kang Xi's French coach Benjamin Cochon was the more animated as the teams trooped off, however, and when the second half began it was apparent that some of his energy had rubbed off on his players.
They began to really exploit the width of the pitch, where Grilled have so often been found wanting with just two full-time defenders, and
Paolo Iten's failure to track back brought disastrous consequences, as Tzonkov struggled to keep tabs on the advancing attackers. In the end, versatile Iranian attacker Sorena Khalil Zadeh was set loose, and he tucked it neatly under Stacey to make it one to nothing.
Grilled hadn't managed to make anything happed when Kang Xi doubled their lead, with winger Gherardo Tucci streaking in, again from the left, and clobbering a delightful angled effort past Stacey. With time running out, they then drew back and invited the Birds at them.
It was a fair gamble given how poor the Grilled forwards had coordinated before that, but
Chow Ying Lee should seriously have made the final minutes more exciting, after he was picked out by Iten. However, Chow couldn't decide whether to head it first time or bring it down when either would probably have worked, and ended up fumbling it embarassingly at a thankful Quintas.
Although Grilled camped in the opposition half for the final ten minutes and created some promising forays, Kang Xi managed to hold on, and are now through to the finals of the SG Super Cup II.