Tarawaddy Tonking
Velho Strain
Grilled Birds' tune-up for their all-important league fixture against Haha would be a home visit by Myanmar's ~*IRRAWADDY TARANTULAS*~, and the Division Four leaders - in just their second season - would not unexpectedly be battered by the Birds' vastly more battle-hardened reserves. The friendly would be notable for
Eren Serpin testing out a 3-4-3 for once, a formation also practised by the visitors, with
Yuta Nakakita captaining the team at leftback, and
Bernie Egan shouldering the central striker's position.
Against this, the Tarantulas' main strengths would like in midfield, with the relatively-young trio of Thiha Pyae Ko, Zaw Htet and Pyae Lam Mang holding the line. Seventeen year-old ethnic Chinese Qiu Dashan would start only his fourth senior game for the club on the right, with 27 year-old Aung Ko Naing Kyaw skippering from the centreback position.
Their Hong Kong head coach Tai Yingqming, who had won two domestic championships with the Hong Kong Stars, gamely admitted that he wasn't expecting too much out of this; indeed,
Radovan Jaška's first cross of the match was nearly fumbled by goalkeeper Nyi Naing, and had Egan been more aggressive, he might have capitalized. The Tarantulas then worked their way into what would be their only shot on goal for the match, coming from an enthusiastic Qiu Dashan, and it was good enough that
Manuel Vadalà had to concede the corner kick.
It would all go the Birds' way after that brief flash of defiance, and that
Bernie Egan's goal took eleven minutes to arrive was more a measure of Grilled's less-than-efficient link-up play, than any particular conviction on the part of the visiting defence.
Yuta Nakakita scored his first goal in a long while in the 19th minute, with
José Luiz Velho cleaning up a corner in the 21st.
Bernie Egan was doing most of the damage in this half, with Aung usually coming off the worst in a one-on-one, and the Irishman would slip through for his second goal on the half-hour. There was then a bad-looking tackle by
Teo Chuan Yong that practically screamed for a putative booking, though the Birds would get over it immediately with
Gilbert Webb's strike for 5-0.
The Myanmar visitors were taking it well enough, from the chatting about as they went off for half-time, and there was probably not too much point in being upset given how the deck had always been stacked against them. Young forward Naing Phyo Wai was one of the few who looked outwardly displeased, which might have had much to do with him barely getting a touch all through the first forty-five minutes.
The restart would be marked by Brazilian forward
José Luiz Velho finishing up his hat-trick, first on a clever run from open play, and then by getting himself in the right area, as
Salah Kamel went up for the high free-kick.
Heng Dong Chu would enter for
Wu Jinglong after 60 minute, and Velho would join Wu minutes later, after pulling his right thigh on Norberto Coda's rough challenge.
Leonard Nguyen replaced Velho, and the match went on. Prokop made it eight in the 76th minute after being all but forgotten by the Tarantulas backline, and
Toma Tamiya recorded the first friendly goal of his career, in injury time.
