Malaysian Tigers Tamed
Kalled Up
Sudden signing
Kalle ter Berg would don his new Grilled shirt and slot in for this weekend's friendly without a hitch, as he behaved as if he had always belonged in this Birds team. The result in Kuala Lumpur against III.7 runners-up FC MALAYSIA TIGERS did nothing to disabuse observers, as Grilled were never overly threatened in strolling to a 3-0 win, despite experimenting with a number of players' roles.
For starters,
Cyril Künzler would be designated the most advanced man on the pitch at right forward, with next-to-no defensive duties, which might be an adaptation to spare his legs.
Heng Dong Chu would instead be placed at inside-left, in a departure from his normal assignment of out-and-out winger, with
Chan Ze Han also asked to play deeper than usual, probably to properly assess Ter Berg's abilities.
Chan accepted the orders with his usual utter professionalism, but it hardly prevented his innate brillance from shining through, despite TIGERS themselves being no lightweights in the department. Luca Zuffi and Abraham Ravn had been some of the top performers in their league, and though homegrown favourite Muhd Yusuf Umar has usually been described as the least reliable of the trio, his knack of pulling out visionary passes in stalemates has perhaps been second to none.
However, back to
Chan Ze Han, he knew exactly what strings to pull despite the relatively strange configuration, and in the 14th minute recognized that the team was best served by him going it himself. TIGERS' goalie Buffon, formerly known as Aldo Angelo Catellini, had nothing on Chan's flat strike to the inside of his far post. The next few minutes were also hectic for the TIGERS, as he had barely fended off a sizzling dribble by
Heng Dong Chu, when
Vikram Mudaliar ran onto the blocked shot and chipped it home for 2-0.
The TIGERS' best opportunity of the match was probably Antoine Griezmann's shot on an isolated
Massoud Dob, after he had gotten rid of
Yuta Nakakita with a filthy bit of skill. Very unfortunately for the expectant home fans, he went for the top corner, likely unnecessarily, and put it just high. Bulgarian forward Petar Alexandrov would be their most-used outlet for the half, but the Birds generally managed to marshal a double-team on him.
Six minutes into the restart, it would be three to Grilled, as
Cyril Künzler hinted that he was more than fit to continue serving as the Birds' first-choice right winger. He certainly didn't look his 34 years of age, when he took Manfred Kaltz - ten years his junior - on in a straight footrace to
Kalle ter Berg's through ball, and won. Ter Berg certainly seemed more chuffed at this maiden assist, than Künzler at yet another goal.
Massoud Dob continued protecting his clean sheet with a courageous dive at the feet of Abraham Ravn in the 67th minute, as the match took a turn towards being bad-tempered, not helped by the invective beginning to be thrown by small sections of the passionate home support. Things came to a head in the 73rd minute, when
Bernie Egan felled Muhd Yusuf Umar from behind, and Egan was lucky that referee Bruno Pumpa put the red card back into his pocket, after initially pulling it out.
A drawn-out substitution of
Radovan Jaška in for
Bhavya Panigrahi allowed heads to cool somewhat, and there was much cheering as Buffon then made a miraculous double save, first off Mudaliar's low drive, and then after
Yuta Nakakita blasted it towards the roof of the net. TIGERS then had one last big chance to seize a consolation from a rapid counter, but Berti Vogts simply didn't have the pace left after covering sixty yards, to get past a fresh Jaška.
