Safari In FrancoSan
Prokop's production, having carried over from the past weeks' matches against Internacional Aberrafuqueño and Be Champions FC, hadn't escaped
Hovaness Noubaryan's notice. "If he's trying to get more into the rotation, he's doing a very good job."
Noubaryan had words of encouragement for Grilled's Sri Lankan hosts too. "They're well on track to win the league and promote. Naidu's an excellent player to build around, and they have some new talent coming up the pipeline, like Váhovský and Narin Soly."
Russian forward
Nurlan Ablaev might miss the Buns' coming league clash with JUtd, after tweaking his knee - ironically in injury time - against Curaçao Division Four club FC Sandi. Ablaev had earlier equalized in the 60th minute, after Cuco Calister robbed Che Din Mohd Akram to open the scoring, late in the first half.
Sarkis Krikoryan then ate a set of studs in putting the Buns 2-1 up, though fortunately the gashes proved superficial. Finally, the debuting
Namdar Zarar - who had captained his new teammates expertly - marked his arrival with a barnstormer in the last minute.
Zarar was pleased with it too. "I feel five, maybe ten, years younger. The quality here is unbelievable, and I believe this squad can go on to do great things. Nurlan and Mushtag are some of the best forwards I've linked up with, and it's a shame Nurlan picked up that knock."
It was a hat-trick for
Safari bin Hj Jali against current Macedonian II.1 leaders and current Мактрик Куп holders FrancoSan FC, whose reserves more than held their own in the first half; Åge Falck had two free-kicks brush International's woodwork. The second half would be very different, as the 0-5 final scoreline might have indicated.
Wang Hanxuan acknowledged his comrade's lesser-revealed abilities. "Safari has seldom played at striker before this season, but he actually has all the tools to be a success there - height, acceleration, dribbling. Maybe we'll see him up front more, I don't know."
