Al-Nameeri's Pain
Grilled head coach
Eren Serpin complimented the Congolese visitors on the fight that they put up. "Despite not featuring their regulars, Katanga frustrated us for large parts of the friendly." he assessed. "I think we both took something out of the contest."
Acting skipper
Teo Chuan Yong had a high opinion of Katanga defender Awilo Ngeleka as well. "Other than one standout mistake in the first half, Ngeleka was fundamentally very sound. We would probably have scored quite a bit more without him being there!"
The Buns would host Morocco IV.59 leaders Rayan Stars at Carrot Field and come up with the same 3-1 scoreline, but at the cost of
Mushtag Al-Nameeri early in the match. The Yemeni forward, who had been Farmer Bunnies' biggest threat in recent weeks, would be brutally set upon by Faycel Sghir in the 35th minute; his left knee took the brunt of that, and from latest reports, he will be looking at a month out.
Nurlan Ablaev would pick up the slack with two good goals after Al-Nameeri went off, fortunately, and direct replacement
Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany fared rather well too.
Dalibor Kostadinović, while furious at Sghir's tackle, felt that it would not affect the Buns' campaign overly. "It was a red card to me, but at least we have Ibrahim ready to step in."
Before that, the Buns defeated Haiti third divisioners RC Haïtien to rise to third place in the V For Victory Cup tourney league, with none other than
Mushtag Al-Nameeri contributing two goals in the 5-0 wipeout. "He'll remain a big loss, obviously." Kostadinović continued. "But we have to live with it."
Grilled International were run rather closer in their very narrow 5-4 win over Canadian Division Four invitees PEI Panthers, whose 21 year-old striker Akash Finch exploded with a brace separated by barely three minutes.
Subhi bin Hj Ahmad and
Safari bin Hj Jali cancelled that out in double-quick time, though, and a relative lull lasted till the 59th minute, when
Chua Jun Long came up with a spectacular half-volley on the run.
Chua would again answer Remie van Mierlo's equalizer, but the Panthers were looking very good value for the draw, after teenaged Croat Valter Vrhovšek kept his nerve to slot it between
Azri bin Sazali and his near post, in the 75th minute. It would take
Tibor Atzenhain's marksmanship to finally claim this one for International.
