Attention In Mongolia
Teo Finds Taste
Grilled's post-season friendly tour continued with a visit to newly-crowned Mongolia Premier League winners LeafAttentive, who moreover have assembled an incredible eight Challenger Cups - and one Mongol Uls Cup besides - before ascending to the league summit. In this, they had a kindred spirit in the Birds, who had also waited a long while before capturing the S-League.
LeafAttentive gaffer Sammy Toth went for their usual friendly counterattacking orders, which had Austrian forward Tobias Beck and Bulgarian fullback Dimitar Raykov being their biggest names on show. Their team would be sprinkled with several local youngsters such as Gerel Surengiin, Checheg Tabin and most prominently, 17 year-old Taban Guyuk in goal. Then again, Guyuk's outfielders had been good enough to ensure a win in four of the five games he had served as goalie, the exception being a narrow 5-6 loss to Lithuanian A Lyga champions Straifo.
The Birds were not as generous visitors as LeafAttentive were hosts, as they stayed with a somewhat-overpowered lineup, that had
Chu Xin Lee join Kalki and Mudaliar in attack. They did sacrifice width with
José Luiz Velho and
Atang Mangoye tucking inside, and LeafAttentive would largely neutralize Grilled in an unfortunately-boring first forty minute. The temperature really started to increase with Beck outrunning
Gilbert Webb in the 40th, and
Jānis Salmiņš just about escaped disaster, with his decisive dive at the ball.
LeafAttentive wouldn't waste much time on complaining as they came right back on a counter, from which Hristo Púrvanov fired about two yards wide after Beck's setup. The resulting goal-kick would however lead to Grilled's first corner, from which Chu had his guided header to the near post, kept out by a well-positioned Hassoun Ibn Turk.
Teo Chuan Yong had expected that, though, and leapt in to bulge the back of the net, with an unrestrained right boot.
Chu had entered his element with that, and the restart saw him trick Tabin effortlessly on the dribble coming up from the right side, which developed into a shot into the roof of the net for 2-0. There was no stopping the mercurial Number Nineteen in this mood, and he further shredded LeafAttentive's defence once again on Grilled's next attack, only for them to be saved by a combination of Ibn Turk's caution, and the half-time whistle.
The hosts reset themselves adequately during the fifteen-minute rest, but their patience would not avail them on this occasion, as Grilled took additional care in not overextending themselves as well. There would be plenty of unproductive sideways passing in midfield, before
Sølve Lunde rolled the dice with a sudden forward pass, in the 70th minute.
Vikram Mudaliar was watching out for it, and the acting captain executed a textbook striker's finish on the through ball.
LeafAttentive stuck to their tactics, which nearly came off on a breakaway of their own, six minutes later. The Birds' midfield had lost their positional discipline for once, allowing Werner Rogelboeck plenty of space to run into, once he had eluded
Douglas Carapaica with a stellar first touch. It was left to Panigrahi to chase Púrvanov as the Bulgar again went through on goal, and the Grilled defender did enough to throw the shot off and onto the crossbar.
The hosts would not end the day empty-handed, as young Bayar Sarveshwaran destroyed
Atang Mangoye for pace down their left, before serving it on a plate for the popular homegrown forward. Mangoye's reduced composure nearly caused another soft goal from selling Salmiņš short with his backpass a couple of minutes afterwards, but the goalkeeper just about managed to bail him out then.
Grilled certainly looked much better on the front foot, and they went on to complete the scoring through
José Luiz Velho's stylish lob, which was met with discontent from the near six thousand home fans that had turned up. With two minutes left,
Hilal Bakhtiar would put
Mateja Jeftić and
Yuta Nakakita on, for what might well be their final appearances in Grilled's green, if word from the street is true.
