Kadoorie On Top
Yip Yeah
A rare Saturday friendly in Kowloon against former Hong Kong Sapphire Challenger Cup winners Kadoorie FC would end with the hosts taking it 7-6 in extra time, but there was surely nothing much that even the Birds' travelling contingent could grouse about. Grilled were not playing their best goalkeeper in any case, which looked to have contributed to at least some of Kadoorie's goals, and there was positive aplenty from the remainder of the players.
Kadoorie's star would unquestionably be Algerian national forward Zakaria Zermati, who had just collected his 26th cap against Cameroon earlier this month; Zermati as skipper would support their homegrown ex-youth international pairing of Yip Xiaoze and Kung Chenglin, such that it was for once probably fair to state that Grilled might not have the more-decorated frontline. The remainder of their starters would be up there too, and Grilled looked to have a real challenge on their hands, against their Division Two opponents.
The first exchange, coming before five minutes had passed, would showcase
Sølve Lunde at his worst and best. The imposing Norwegian defender had divided opinions since his arrival two weeks back, and his limitations on the ground were laid bare yet again, as he was soon outdribbled by Zermati, who then cut his shot across
Cameron Law to the far post. Eager to make it up, Lunde would steam up accompanying Grilled's next advance, and this slightly-irresponsible choice would come good as he equalized from an essentially uncontested header.
That made some nice spice for the rest of the match, which would take twenty minutes to warm back up. French national Vũ Minh Anh would get the scoring back on with a sweet volley to the roof of the net in the 25th minute, standing in the middle of the box. That would only spark a rampage from Grilled, though, and after
Kalle ter Berg made it 4-2 following successive carve-opens from
Chan Ze Han and
Bilal Mohammad Harun, it seemed as if Kadoorie might be entirely submerged without trace.
Not so fast was their response, as they cut Grilled's lead back down to one before half-time. The circumstances were arguably less than clear, as Spanish midfielder Dud Greenhalgh appeared to have an elbow out in front of him, knocking
Cameron Law aside as he went up for the header. Referee Mario Vanzini declined to put it to the video referee, however, and frankly Law might have himself at least partly to blame, for not being more assertive in this situation. He has time on his side, at least.
Any lessons would have to wait for implementation, as Law was replaced by
Manuel Vadalà for the second half, but the Italian reserve custodian wasn't a figure of reliability either. He would let in two goals within seven minutes of coming on, as Zermati again owned on the right side, to get a good chip off in the 50th minute. A bit later, Espen Lyngby would come through on the overlap, and Vadalà would disappointingly let it between his legs for the hosts to retake the lead, 5-4.
There would be some bad blood between
Salah Kamel and Harun Topan as the Grilled playmaker felt that Topan had unfairly gotten him off balance as he took his shot in the 60th, and this would lead to both being booked soon enough. They did seem to get over it after that second mutual exchange, after which
Bernie Egan had Grilled back level, on a classic counterattack down the middle. Twenty minutes to go, and nobody was leaving just yet!
Chu Xin Lee underwent what seemed an unplanned substitution, after suffering a possible concussion against Lyngby, and
Eren Serpin took the opportunity to put
Yuta Nakakita on for
Gilbert Webb, at the same time as
Teo Chuan Yong. Grilled made the most of the restart as
Salah Kamel burst up the left flank, and his beckoning pass across the six-yard box got to
Wu Jinglong. Never one to panic, Wu would hold the ball in anticipation of Jaime Echeandía's sliding challenger, before firing it to the far post.
And that seemed to be the gamewinner too, as the Birds began stroking the ball around their own half - perhaps this was taking a friendly slightly too seriously, but one could hardly slam them for wanting to win this particular one. And they might very well have, even as a less-than-resigned Kadoorie made a last-minute triple substitution... had Yip Xiaoze not inserted himself between the Grilled centrebacks, to knock it past Vadalà in the third minute of injury time.
With that, the match went into extra time, and the hosts looked undeniably the ones whom were more up to it. Norwegian enforcer Jan Gausdal in particular raised his game to new heights as he broke several promising Grilled attacks up in their infancy, and the game would be decided as it had begun - with Lunde's ground game being exploited by a more agile opponent. Harun Topan would come through on the left following several measured feints, and he threaded it onwards to Yip to apply the finish.
