Marinos Torpedoed
Velho Valour
Newly-promoted Ecuadorean Division Three club Lobos Marinos weren't about to put their big names in harm's way, and understandably were taken to the cleaners by their relatively well-staffed Grilled visitors.
Yuki Irie wore the armband today, in what should be his penultimate appearance for the club, as
José Luiz Velho ripped three goals past Pepe Poncela.
Velho's, and Grilled's, first arrived after but seven minutes, with Marinos evidently not putting much stock in defence. Indeed, it was three by the tenth minute, with
Kalki Parvathaneni finding Kálmán Sánta-Balog a step slow on the turn;
Hoàng Trung Quá then felt free to unleash a grounder as Hamit Berdar passed short, and perhaps got a bit lucky there.
Marinos wouldn't make any adjustments to their 3-5-2, which was eminently unsuited to the challenge that the Birds posed, and Velho would have his hat-trick by the 34th minute.
Prokop Mottl, still supposedly nursing a light cold, was okay with playing second fiddle today, and his assistance was vital both times for Velho to find his opening.
Kalki received the only yellow card of the day from the restart, for leaping dangerously on 18 year-old birthday boy Angel Villafuerte, an act that he regretted almost immediately. In any case, Hoàng would add another, before Marinos had their first shot of the half. Hamit Berdar pulled some magic on the right side to set Villafuerte up, but the youngster let the through pass overrun him, and had to settle for a narrow miss from an extremely tight angle.
The second half began with
Chu Xin Lee blasting the seventh home five minutes into the period, but after
Chan Ze Han got in on the act too thanks to some sweet peripheral vision from
Bernie Egan, the Birds were prepared to take the pace down a couple of notches.
Hoàng couldn't hide his slight disappointment at not having the opportunity to get a third, as his number came up for
Jérémy Tarin in the 70th minute, but he did leave with a smile. A stoppage for
Prokop Mottl's ankle concern later, it was
José Luiz Velho's turn to abandon the field for
Kohei Okuya, but of course the Brazilian had his haul completed long before that.
The only question left was if the Birds would reach double digits, and
Chan Ze Han wouldn't advance that cause with an uncharacteristic moment of indecisiveness when confronted with a gaping net in the 82nd, instead opting to bring the ball down. Not to worry, though, as
Bilal Mohammad Harun contributed a bullet header from a corner with three minutes remaining, which set Kohei up for the final deed.
