Flowers Wilt
Vikram Takes Pick
Grilled Birds would seek another friendly - this time at home - against a Zambian club a week after their trip there, and III.1 frontrunners The Flower Kings obliged.
Vikram Mudaliar would transpire not to be the kindest of hosts, as the Grilled Number Nine bullied his way to a hat-trick, against the Kings' mixed lineup of youth and oldies.
All eyes were on Zambian U-20 midfielder Emmanuel Nyoni, who had made his international debut as a substitute in a 1-5 loss to Senegal, about a fortnight ago. The England-connected Kings had no shortage of teenagers looking to Nyoni's footsteps either, with Bwalya Osward Zulu and Boniface Sakala reportedly already on the radar of their national scouts. At the other end of the age spectrum, 38 year-old Lebanese journeyman Melhem Jezzini would lead the visitors out at The Cooking Pot, The Flower Kings being his tenth club in a long career, spent mostly in Poland with the now-reformed Żółte majty szatana.
Eren Serpin had heavily hinted that friendlies would play a larger role in considering reinstatement to the first eleven than before, and with names such as
Vikram Mudaliar,
Salah Kamel,
Wu Jinglong,
Gilbert Webb and
Teo Chuan Yong in the Birds' selection, one could only marvel at the level of competition for places. The Kings' Marek Smoliga was not about to give it up easily, despite recognizing the current distance between the sides, and they would work to shut down play as far as was possible, in a 4-5-1.
This was effective for a bit, but there was a very real limit to how much they could chase the Birds players down, with the Kings' teenagers going flat all too quickly after their initial burst of activity. They remained nothing if not determined to hobble Grilled's play however they could though, and if the result wasn't pretty, they did at least prevent Grilled from getting close in. Webb was the first to gain a clear opening in the 18th minute, but his off-balance attempt was skewed wide of William Saileti's near post.
Most of the diehards gathered at The Pot this cloudy afternoon had little doubt that their team would come good eventually, from their behaviour in the stands, and it would be
Wu Jinglong's sheer class that told on the half-hour. Lucky Litana might be a full nine years younger than Wu, and no slouch himself, but the Chinese winger was simply irresistable on his stubborn push down the right. Several basic stop-and-starts threw Litana off, and the final cross would find
Vikram Mudaliar well prepped to shove it home.
The Kings' previous resolve all but broke at that, and Saileti would be beaten twice more in the next two minutes, as their defence fell away.
Salah Kamel sensed their wavering as the Birds drove forward after a gamble on a punt downfield had failed, and with Grilled's forwards doing their part in occupying the few remaining defenders, it wasn't tough for Kamel to get in close and score. Mudaliar had much the same idea, and while Jezzini knew what he was up to, there was just no way the veteran was keeping up. 3-0.
Goal number four would come in the 36th minute as the Birds kept their vise grip on, and
Prokop Mottl made a meal of contact with Jacek Walenciuk. Another referee might have regarded that as simulation, and Mottl was fortunate that Wilhelm Dubiński saw it his way.
Gilbert Webb conferred with
Wu Jinglong over who was to take the free-kick, and it concluded with the latter flighting it into the far side of goal, after Webb's dummy run.
Mudaliar for one appeared especially eager to win his spot in the starting lineup back, after having been dropped from Grilled's league XI for the first time last Sunday, and from what he displayed today, Serpin would have to give him due consideration. Ever commanding at the apex of the Birds' attack, he required two men on him to seriously impede his movement, and a lack of such respect would see him complete his hat-trick in the 57th minute.
It was not all bad for the visitors, that said, and William Saileti made an exceptional stop off
Prokop Mottl a little later, with Potipher Sianga nearly embarassing
Manuel Vadalà in the 69th after the Italian was slow to recover following a clearance. Vadalà did have enough acceleration to reach the lob right before it snuck in under the crossbar, but it was probably more down to Enock Muzanenhamo's lack of composure on the rebound than anything else, that preserved his clean sheet.
Wu Jinglong would pass the captain's armband on to Mudaliar after coming off for
Heng Dong Chu in the 70th minute, which the forward took as a sign to continue banging them in; Saileti would be impeccable against both him and Kamel in their following efforts, however, and the match would end 5-0 after a flood of late substitutes.