A Stomp In Madagascar
Salah Strain
Madagascar top divisioners Jake the Snake would be the Birds' host for today, but while the Israeli-linked Madagasikara Cup holders are unbeaten for ten matches in competitive settings, Belgian player-coach Diederik Durant would not place nearly as much stock in friendlies. Durant would captain an experimental 5-2-3 himself, and other then the front three and fellow centreback Thibault Bétrémieux, this looked mostly used to allow the kids and veteran backups some game time.
The Birds would again line up with far more recognized names, save perhaps
Radovan Jaška and
Toma Tamiya on the left, with
Prokop Mottl and
Manuel Vadalà very much rotation-worthy. Still, all three of the outfielders among them would find the net. Supposed formations would not count for much as Snake mostly condensed into two banks of five in any case, especially after
Wu Jinglong shrugged off entirely unconvincing defending by Luis Fernando Cadaval and Giacomo Auditore, to edge through and score by the fourth minute.
This makeshift low block remained no fun to try and break through, what with the Snake forwards not too shabby in holding their own, and Grilled's own defensively-oriented midfield comprising
Sølve Lunde and
Douglas Carapaica.
Salah Kamel was left to do most of the creation, not exactly easy with Bétrémieux soon latching onto him. However, with the vast bulk of the possession, it was basically a matter of time before the Birds struck again, and Immanuël Wambeke would fail to get to
Toma Tamiya's speculative effort in the 34th minute - which seemed hit more out of wanting to get rid of the ball than anything.
Toma wasn't about to quibble over intentions, and Jake the Snake would assemble their first real assault on
Manuel Vadalà's goal from the restart. It looked a bit of a gimmick as half the home team charged Grilled's box, after it was played way back from the centre circle, but the blindingly-direct approach nearly worked with Greek forward Stefos Petrakis clearing space for Luis Fernando Cadaval. The defender couldn't quite get over the long pass in time, sadly for him, and his stretching header went slightly over and wide. A fair effort.
The final few minutes of the half would see Grilled go all out, and a very busy five minutes would begin with Douglas scooping an improvised attempt not that far over. Better would come from
Wu Jinglong and
Salah Kamel, thanks mostly to Kamel's hard work for both goals. Snake's homegrown fullback Mahandry Ravoajanahary would moreover be booked for a late bodycheck on
Radovan Jaška, on the move leading to Kamel's strike.
Durant had his team back in their assigned positions for the second half, but that didn't last long at all, as
Prokop Mottl turned Wu's fierce low cross home at the near post, barely two minutes into it. With that, it was back to whatever worked best, which would once again frustrate the Birds for long periods. Even
Sølve Lunde was pressed into having a pop or two of his own, neither of which seemed particularly confident, as reflected by their executions.
Grilled's griding about around the penalty area would throw up many opportunities for drawing fouls, at least, with Mottl pretty overtly knocked down in the 70th minute by Durant. The contact looked to have begun outside the box, but referee Jerry Spoonmore gave the penalty outright. The hosts were far enough behind that they didn't bother to contest the decision, and
Bhavya Panigrahi stared Wambeke down before sending the goalkeeper the wrong way with a little stutter at the end.
The friendly would eventually take its toll on
Salah Kamel, who had been doing just about all of Grilled's attacking centrally. After one of his usual energetic dribbles just before the 80th minute, Kamel would go to ground on his own, and signal for help.
Chu Xin Lee was only too happy to get some extra minutes in, and after exchanging a firm grasp with Kamel, he would soon play Jaška through for the Czech forward to redeem a not-very good outing by cheekily taking it past the keeper, for 7-0.
There would be one last penalty four minutes from time, with a bedraggled Cadaval not even trying to disguise his blatant shirt-tugging on
Kalki Parvathaneni by this point. Panigrahi would go for the top left this time, giving Wambeke no chance.
