Revived At Pedalando
Can't Keep Chu Down
Chu Xin Lee might have been out for a fortnight after a serious wrist injury sustained against Bely Legion, but the enforced rest had by all accounts only seen the Number Nineteen totally refreshed. He might have only had forty-five minutes against Uzbek third division hosts Pedalando, but that was more than enough for him to turn the entire friendly on its head, with an inspired hat-trick.
Hovaness Noubaryan wasn't prepared to risk more first-teamers than he absolutely had to, which meant that his starting XI was again about a half-half split of regulars and reserves; it wasn't entirely clear where
Prokop Mottl lay along this divide, however, with the Czech forward having had some starter-worthy displays in recent months. His bold dummy for
Bernie Egan in Grilled's first probe was exactly on-point, for instance, and the Irish star had only himself to blame for not putting it away.
Pedalando were skippered by 34 year-old homegrown striker Nariman Mirzajonov, with head coach Oleg Kaplev reportedly still coming to terms with his developmental plan, after the club had turned fully professional barely two months ago. Indeed, they had yet to make their first foray into the transfer market, and would continue to rely on the rough and ready camaraderie that had brought them thus far. A poor streak of four league losses since their official founding has since been followed by three big wins, a possible indicator of a brighter future.
Those warm and fuzzy thoughts aside, there did remain quite a gulf between the johnny-come-latelys and Grilled's bunch, which did after all contain a couple of legit internationals. Mottl and Egan would carry on dictating much of the early going, and would put each other through more than once. Trainee goalkeeper Ixtiyor Behruzov lacked not for observation, though, and would be onto them with his decisive rushing.
Alertness and spirit alone could not preserve the home team forever, and the Birds would eventually take the lead in the 27th minute, as
Vikram Mudaliar shook off his previous mistakes to nod it past the keeper on a massed aerial raid.
Moey Xin Seng then had an accurate ground bent towards the far post kept out by rightback Kozim Abdul, with Islam Niyozbek booked a few minutes later for illegally impeding Egan. For all that, being just a single goal down at half-time was probably a good return for Pedalando.
The second half saw
Chu Xin Lee enter for
Bernie Egan, and the commentators had barely announced the substitution, when the hosts found themselves level. Abdul showed off some exceptional ball control as he bluffed his way inside Grilledn's penalty area with
Jérémy Tarin unwisely backing off, and his strike wasn't half bad either, as
Eren Serpin would discover.
That would turn out to be Pedalando's best moment of the friendly, as Chu's reign of terror began. If there were any doubts as to whether he could pick up where Egan had left off, they would be dismissed soon enough, as Chu introduced his patented brand of inventiveness. Seven minutes after coming on, he scoured the field and made as if to pass, before somehow booming it straight into the roof of the net with negligible backlift, for 2-1.
Chu was there again three minutes later, bodying
Islom Davlatov's dipping header from a corner from Behruzov's grasping gloves, before completing his treble on the hour, with a solid low shot taken first-time off
Moey Xin Seng's ambitious assist. As he disappeared under his teammates' mobbing, it became clear - Chu wasn't back, he had never left.
It was perhaps unfair to compare
Pompeo Bellamoli against such a Chu, but the Italian forward's days at Grilled are surely numbered, after a non-descript watch;
José Luiz Velho was definitely far more lively, in his twenty minutes after coming on for Bellamoli. Pedalando did have one more big opportunity, coming in the 76th minute as a huge goal kick found Nariman Mirzajonov unwittingly onside, but the captain couldn't open a good angle in time.
There would be two more goals for the Birds following that, with
Kalki Parvathaneni ghosting in from the right to chip a fifth up and out of the reach of the overworked Behruzov. A linesman then spotted some surreptitious ball-handling by Farhoud Manzari in injury time, as the centreback tried to get too smart against the homecoming
Islom Davlatov in the air, and
Jérémy Tarin put the penalty away in a very tidy manner.
