Owls Bring Blues
Yoan Decider
Israeli visitors The Blue Owls brought a new flavour of sorts to The Cooking Pot, as the third division leaders and reigning Shraga Salomon Bareket Cup holders edged the more general Birds 3-2 in Singapore. Bolivian international midfielder Gonzalo Icis deserved most of the praise, even if Grilled had fielded their reserves in that department.
Then again, the Owls were hardly as serious as they were in the Israel State Cup, where they narrowly lost to Ligat Ha´al side C-H last Wednesday. Tzafrir Kelner, for instance, didn't make the trip, although fellow national player Khaleel Zayed - capped thrice for Yemen - started alongside Icis. They were content to take it easy, though, and only awoke after going behind.
That could be laid at the feet of
José Luiz Velho, who found teenaged fullback Avishai Vazana a less than frightening prospect. Vazana apparently thought Velho was out of options once herded into the corner flag, and was flummoxed when the Grilled winger sent a dipping cross into the box. Not only that, it spun just out of Micky Taran's reach, which left
Chan Ze Han the easiest of finishes once he kept his head.
That was by far the easiest attempt that Grilled were able to craft this day, as The Blue Owls made to constrict play as much as they could after that. Their midfield was effectively matchless in this regard, as Icis and Zayed summarily cleaned up with their superior physicals. Their main resistance came from
Kalki Parvathaneni, who however had to tone it down after being booked for obstructing Zayed's free-kick take, in the 31st minute.
Zayed would find the equalizer too, four minutes before half-time. The Owls had mostly been content to supply veteran Spanish forward Lluís Vergés, who couldn't do much by himself; Zayed's well-time rush from deep worked wonders that time, and he took Vergés' disguised layoff cleanly, placing it straight into
Krystian Rykowski's far post.
The match would only truly come into life in the second half, which began with
Pompeo Bellamoli entering for the slightly undistinguished
Jérémy Tarin on the left. As for the visitors, they continued the full-fledged pressing that had done them so much good, only amplified if anything.
It didn't take long for the Owls to claim the lead, as Bellamoli proved little better than Tarin at tracking his man. Then again, Richardt Klaußner got away with an elbow in the initial tussle, which saw him free to bomb down the right.
Yuki Irie tried his best to cut the incoming cross out with an extending slide on his back, but was too late to prevent Gonzalo Icis from getting to it first for 1-2.
Moey would prevent the game from becoming too one-sided, as he began to disrupt the Owls' interlocking lines in earnest. The space he made for himself was instrumental in creating a half-chance for
José Luiz Velho on the hour, but Velho fired slightly over. Undeterred, Moey would do it himself five minutes later, dragging the ball past Rafael Caneva before putting Grilled back on level terms with a dinky chip.
The Owls retook the lead just four minutes after that, however, as Klaußner was a terror down the right. This third goal would however be mostly attributed to Icis, who held it just long enough for Yoan Debailleul to make his move.
Hoàng Trung Quá was left on his wrong side, as Debailleul closed on on the goalie, before poking it through.
Mission accomplished, the visitors redoubled their defence in depth, which even Moey couldn't find an answer to this time. Acting captain
Chan Ze Han would try to force matters, and there was a brief surge of excitement after he dropped a shoulder and went past Otchigin Isuke in the 79th minute, but all that left him with was a sore knee from Caneva's saving tackle at the end.
New Owls head coach Albino Del brusco wasn't about to get complacent either, and he would replace the mostly-spent Lluís Vergés with Vietnamese striker Nguyễn Tồn - who didn't waste any time introducing himself to fellow countryman Hoàng. There would be no goal, fortunately for Grilled, as Rykowski covered the angle well.
There was a last hurrah for the Birds, with
Vikram Mudaliar finally shaking off whatever had ailed him for the past week or two; the Number Nine demonstrated that he retained monstrous acceleration worthy of turning a game on its head, as he exploded behind the defence out of nowhere. Vazana's desperate chase forced him to look for a pass, and while Velho's anticipation was admirable, his finish again left plenty to be desired.
Referee Clive Chaudhury saw fit to add only a minute to the end, which was however sufficient for Tồn to give Rykowski another huge score, and Grilled would be happy not to wind up further behind.
