Critters Hold Aces
Mottl Saves Face
Another day, another walloping for the Birds, and while this particular friendly loss was largely a given from
Eren Serpin's player selection, it wouldn't have been much more agreeable for it. The club were, at least, not ducking tough opponents, as they travelled to Saudi Al Dawry Al Momtaz leaders Crispy Critters for today's workout; having just won the Saudi Arabia Cup with a 4-1 takedown of Al Hazm Ar Rass, the Critters are now looking to follow Grilled's example, in capturing the double.
Given that they, like Grilled, had bigger prizes on their mind, only two from their cup-winning eleven would grace the Volcanic Crucible: Georgian defender Nestor Bendeliani, and Italian attacker Alfredo Biagiotti. The Birds were, if anything, even more sparing of their resources, with only
Mateja Jeftić making the lineup, from their own final squad. Irish forward
Bernie Egan would however make a welcome return, following nearly a month out with a knee complication.
With Crispy Critters arraying themselves in the defensive low block that had caused Grilled so much pain of late, one could really not expect very much from their lightweight selection, which had
Leonard Nguyen for example being well off the pace. On the contrary,
Teo Chuan Yong thrived despite the thankless task of keeping this less-than-promising midfield together, and he moreover freed
Radovan Jaška in the 15th minute, with a sleek disguised pass. Jaška didn't miss a beat in switching it across to
Prokop Mottl, who thrashed it stiffly past Simon Meirlaen with his right boot.
That was all Grilled would get for the day, so it went, as the Critters soon demonstrated that it was a gift of sorts. Egan was, after all, the only true quality that the Birds had brought, and once the home side's defenders figured that out, it all got a lot easier for them. From defensive solidity grew offensive threat, and Andrzej Sośnica would slyly play for the penalty against
Yuta Nakakita in the 27th minute - and succeeded. Former national veteran Amjad Abdullateef Al-Afary placed it on the spot, and waited for
Louis Vara to commit, before sidefooting the ball the other way.
The Birds were actually not doing all that badly, but their downfall would accelerate after Romanian centreback Alexandru-Dan Buznă got forward to head Sultan Ali Al-Abry's cross home, in the 36th minute. Grilled were losing their shape badly, and once Adam Škunda redirected a careless pass from Jaška, it was open season on an undermanned backline. Sośnica was the obvious target, and he would draw Vara out, before rounding him for Critters' third goal.
Sośnica had apparently not lost his taste for scoring just yet, and Vara's lacklustre goaltending would give him another easy finish, a couple of minutes on. The 18 year-old should really have held on to the corner, but fumbled slightly upon landing, which had to be lethal with Sośnica breathing down his neck; the referee was not interested in Grilled's protest of their keeper being crowded, and didn't blink when awarding the hosts a second penalty either, after Jeftić's hand touched the ball whilst he was grounded. Vara stood his ground this time, but that was no problem for Amjad.
Already 1-5 down at half-time, Serpin had few illusions of restoring morale through this visit, and instead spent his substitutions with fitness optimization in mind.
Cyril Künzler went off for
Wu Jinglong, and
Prokop Mottl - who had been essentially invisible after scoring - would be replaced by
José Luiz Velho.
The Critters weren't impressed, and went another goal up in short order. They had held on to the ball for a couple of minutes after kick-off, and gradually built an attack up the right side, with Amjad and Sultan Ali Al-Abry doubling up on
Heng Dong Chu. The cross would eventually come from the former, and Škunda seemed to already know where it would land.
Yuta Nakakita went up for it too, but could only remind the spectators that he wasn't what he once was, even in the air.
Perhaps mindful of hospitality, Crispy Critters took it down half a notch after this, which allowed the Birds to survive the second half largely unscathed, but for Sultan Ali Al-Adawy's strike in the 70th minute that went in more through Vara's ill-assurance, that any true venom. Alas, Grilled had one last misfortune to endure, as
Heng Dong Chu crumpled clutching his right calf, with fifteen minutes left. It was evident that he wasn't fooling around, and the hosts were far enough ahead, that they could generously break off a very promising advance then.
