Haha 3 - 1 Grilled Birds
Split Mirth
Ghiringhelli Grab
Having just captured their second Singapore Cup, Haha would build upon that boost at home, as they avenged last weekend's defeat to the Birds in short order. Newly-appointed head coach Witold Tatera saw no reason to diverge from Salah Abd El Razzak's basic approach to this fixture, which wasn't all that removed from what had worked for them against Club Dinosauria in the cup final. A flurry of counterattacks showed Haha what they had been missing last week, as Giuseppe Ghiringhelli came close to a hat-trick in a 3-1 win.
The Italian maestro was of course on a high, after scoring the opener in the cup final, and his movement on their first foray was enough to warn that Panigrahi and Douglas would have a challenging time ahead of them. Aw Tian Jin would go right back to shackling
Chan Ze Han, who nonetheless sought to do what he could at left attack. The first real opening then arrived in the seventh minute, as a long clearance by Douglas was redirected via
Moey Xin Seng to
Chu Xin Lee, who got a toepoke off. Giuseppe Teani had quick hands, though, and even held on as
Vikram Mudaliar closed in.
That would be an exception to the norm, as it turned out, with Haha otherwise having their defensive system down pat - Miguel Parguiña, the Birds' nemesis in their own finals clash three seasons back, would excel at both ends today. Mudaliar would take on much of Grilled's attacking burden onto himself, but Haha's five at the back including Parguiña meant that he oft hardly had room to sneeze, let alone wind up for a shot. Thus was it in the fourteenth minute when he was shouldered off a promising through pass, which instead led to Félix Valdayo summoning
Jānis Salmiņš into a barely-there flying save.
Salmiņš' heroics would not succor Grilled for much longer, however, as Haha demonstrated a frightening ability to commit men when it hurt. Several minutes on, they would spring into action following another close shave by Chu, who scraped the post after a good delivery from the right by
Shekar Kannan. Parguiña would race upfield with Isaac An carrying the ball out of defence, and took over after the hosts had winnowed the situation down into a three-on-three.
Salah Kamel did what he could to help, but couldn't count on Parguiña possessing such a cultured outside-foot strike.
The Haha support responded to the opener in fine voice, as their team reverted even more strongly to type, doubling down on their defensive posture. This included some extremely uncompromising tackles into the package, with Romanian winger Sorin-Dan Corbean doing a number on
Heng Dong Chu from behind, in the 29th minute - a clear booking. Grilled Birds were hardly innocents themselves, and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud soon snuck in an elbow to Isaac An's chest, that had the youngster winded for some moments.
It was Haha who continued to demonstrate more conviction in the final third, and Ghiringhelli would add a second almost out of the blue, as Corbean kept up his assault from the right.
Vikram Mudaliar had his own take on that, though, as he finally got one past Teani for the day. Parguiña and company might have effectively excluded him before this, but a daring run from kick-off saw him with a tiny window to attempt a lob over the goalkeeper... at which he succeeded gloriously.
That incredible finish lifted Grilled's spirits immensely, but not for too long, as Haha carried their thus-far working blueprint into the second half. They were finding plenty of space on the wings as the Birds had to press in, and Juan Martín Barboza would send several over from the left, with
Shekar Kannan not exactly renowned for tying up loose ends. They generally went to Valdayo, who however was not having his best day.
Neither was Mudaliar, by the way, goal notwithstanding. A couple of minutes after Valdayo's latest failure to capitalize, some great work by
Chan Ze Han saw the Number Nine left with the ball and an open look at goal. A standard finish to the back post would certainly have done the trick then, but Mudaliar ended up bouncing it narrowly past with his right foot. From his expression, he understood well how that could cost the team.
Then again, the Birds were having one of their best spells thus far, and Sorin-Dan Corbean would be caught up in the whirlwind, to his loss. He might have gotten the better of
Heng Dong Chu for much of the game, but his eager harassing would backfire badly in the 58th minute, when he appeared to tear his right hamstring after overstretching on a tackle. Előd Scsitovics would find it hard to get into the rhythm as Grilled pressed on, and Teani would have to stretch to his utmost, to divert a
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud cannonball headed for his top corner in the 65th minute.
Grilled's renaissance would not last much longer, unfortunately, and it would be Giuseppe Ghiringhelli to shut it down in a very telling manner. After their latest push had left them overstretched, it was down to
Moey Xin Seng to track the Italian star, as they chased the ball towards the Grilled penalty area. Moey's age showed as he was completely outfoxed by Ghiringhelli's tricky feet, and
Jānis Salmiņš' slight touch wasn't enough to prevent 3-1.
In the end, it would be Haha who looked the more likely to extend their lead further, as they mounted a number of serious counters, most notably in the 83rd minute when Ghiringhelli could have gotten a third. Instead, he would be booked for bundling
Douglas Carapaica over, after the defender had managed to insert himself between forward and ball. Philippe Heuze, who had replaced Valdayo, was probably the better option then.
Teo Chuan Yong would come on for Heng for the final few minutes, but there wasn't time to make an impact.
