Kang Kong Imitations
Salmiņš Worry
The Birds recovered from their Hattrick Masters setback by again ousting Geylang III.2 leaders Kang Kong from cup competition, as they had last season in their successful Ruby Challenger Cup run. Kang Kong man-in-charge Augustin Málek had not been idle, from how he had evidently taken a number of pointers from Tazmania's victory over Grilled, from two days back. Unfortunately for Málek, he didn't exactly have access to talent on the same plane, which severely constrained their ability to enforce the same countermeasures as the Spaniards.
To begin with, Kang Kong would adopt the same 5-5-0 low block, if without former core midfielder and captain Ng Hui Kwang, who has since moved on to Norwegian Division Four side FC Faffi. This had Szczepan Molenda - who had been deployed as a forward in their previous loss - retreat to midfield, alongside Lim Hui Yau and Edward Bruś. Former leftback Olivier Frouin had also left for Serbia's Kolo gorskih tića, which had Argentine veteran Juan Agustín Baldoni resuming that responsibility.
On Grilled's end,
Teo Chuan Yong's recovery has been a little slower than expected, which left
Moey Xin Seng as the clear choice for midfield, to join form players
Bilal Mohammad Harun and
Kalle ter Berg. Bilal's reputation, mind, has apparently grown such that Kang Kong would set out to specifically shackle him, as Tazmania had, with Diego Germán Revilla his assigned shadow today.
That, however, did mean that resources were being drawn away from the marking of the Birds' strikers, but they would not be able to impress upon the deep opposition defence, for some time. There was no really getting used to such ultra-defensive formations, and it was all
Chan Ze Han and fellows could do, to slowly pick the lock. Twenty minutes would go by before
Bernie Egan wheedled the first save of the match out of former national goalie SS Kuruvilla, as he allowed his partners to open a gap for him.
The tension would build gradually if steadily, before it all erupted in one fabulous unbroken sequence, beginning in the 33rd minute. It would begin with an unforced error by Kang Kong sweeper Yip Keng Ping, who nearly threw away all his impeccable defending work before this, by selling Revilla desperately short on a pass.
Chan Ze Han was never one go left such a gift go, but his instant toepoke sent it careening back off the goalpost.
Bernie Egan swung at the rebound, but SS Kuruvilla had arrived by now, and he would block it out for a corner.
Vikram Mudaliar wasted no time in taking it quickly, which might have been a mistake, as Rodrigo Vázquez Acevedo gathered the cross deep within his own box, before somehow dribbling his way past several Grilled players, and all the way to the centre circle. Edward Bruś carried the break on down the right flank, with
Jānis Salmiņš taking a huge risk by rushing out of the area. The challenge sent the ball back down the field, and this time
Moey Xin Seng would open the scoring with a solid right foot, as he had just done in the Masters.
There would be more excitement from the kick-off as Grilled Birds reversed that as well, but SS Kuruvilla would not be beaten twice in quick succession, as he made a magnificent one-handed diving stop. Kostas Damaskinos would immediately clear to touch, which was just as well, as his teammate Edward Bruś would require urgent attention for a thigh strain, sustained in the build-up. Bruś would eventually be substituted by 18 year-old academy lad Kazuki Arai.
That would not help Kang Kong's efforts towards matching the Birds in midfield, with Kazuki very much a work in progress, but they would be able to hold their own defensively for the most part. Grilled would struggle to threaten SS Kuruvilla's goal through much of the second half, with
Vikram Mudaliar's diving header in the 60th minute all that they could muster, until the final ten minutes.
Kristof Cousot's inadvertent retirement of
Jānis Salmiņš on a rare foray would be the signal for Kang Kong to make a move, as they judged Cousot's yellow card well worth Grilled having to bring on their second-choice goalie, after Salmiņš went off as a precaution.
Hilal Bakhtiar responded by retaking the initiative by sending on
Bhavya Panigrahi for
Mateja Jeftić at the same time, unambigiously hinting that he was resuming the match on his own terms.
Kalki Parvathaneni would take it upon himself to shatter the opponents' last hopes, though, as he blitzed SS Kuruvilla twice in the next five minutes, upping the lead to two goals on the second attempt from a superb flying volley. Kalki understandably looked bewildered as he was immediately taken off for
Heng Dong Chu, but the Birds would make it to the final whistle with their goalmouth still unbreached, as Radovan Šlauf failed to test
Manuel Vadalà on a prospective Yip Keng Ping assist.
