Courtney Advance
Nearly Hadi Carry
The Birds might have crashed out to reigning Argentine Primera División champions Los Courtney in the Hattrick Masters, but they nearly took it to extra time, with Atte Pääskylä winning it for them on the stroke of the ninetieth minute. As a consolation, Grilled Birds had dominated by sheer volume of chances despite having no right to, and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud further cemented his status as a potential future core player to build the team around, with a great equalizer on his Masters debut.
As the clubs landed in the exotic environs of Palm Island, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for the first-round fixture, few expected the Birds to get anything out of this, owing to their indifferent recent form, and Los Courtney's nine-match winning streak in all competitions. They moreover have had the luxury of a leisurely dismantling of busqueda de la libertad over the weekend, but their three come-from-behind league victories in a top national league before that, more than indicated their raw strength. Greek head coach Yiorgos Lazarou had led them from Division Two to the Argentine title in three seasons with his favoured 3-5-2, and he would not deviate from that formula today.
More frighteningly, Los Courtney had further enhanced their side by swapping former Portuguese goalkeeper Duarte Mendes Andrade for the higher-rated Basílio Alves, with dependable Italian midfielder Yuri Ercolini again captaining the club. While perhaps relatively short on international caps, few could contest how well main attackers Kutsi Kıymet, Atte Pääskylä, Phạm Phúc Thuần and Sukhdev Jogani complemented each other, with their sum being greater than its parts. The Birds' main remaining advantage would probably be their experience in the competition - this being their tenth Masters match - as compared to Los Courtney making their maiden appearance.
More than mindful of the early goals they have conceded, the Birds would begin cautiously, with their midfield three of Moey, Bilal and Chu sitting unusually deep. Up front,
Hilal Bakhtiar had gone for a freely-interchanging Chan-Hadi tandem, with
Vikram Mudaliar tasked to stay on the shoulder of the last man, and test their backline as frequently as feasible. Bakhtiar's main ploy would soon be revealed, though - borrowing from De Rodenburcht's tactics, he had
Douglas Carapaica come out to man-mark Belarus national playmaker Valiancin Pazutka, whereever he might be.
It may be hard to isolate whether this adaptation made the difference, but what could not be denied was that Grilled Birds were the ones taking on the shots, for most of the first half - beginning with
Kalki Parvathaneni's breakout run in the 17th minute, although he would be eventually caught by Artur Stuła. These were not the clearest of opportunities, but
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud nonetheless gave Los Courtney a real scare in the 27th, as his first-time cannonball struck the crossbar. The match would be briefly halted for
Teo Chuan Yong to be looked at following a heavy fall, but the Birds came straight back firing;
Chan Ze Han probably should have gone for it instead of trying to take it around Alves on Moey's through pass, but the angle was bad either way.
Los Courtney might have appeared to be getting battered by the less-perceptive, but the truth was that Abd Hadi's hitting the bar besides, they had never been notably uncomfortable - and with Alves extremely difficult to beat from distance, allowing some of those was a measured strategy. In contrast, they needed just the one attempt to make it count, as Jogani eluded Kalki on the right side, with five minutes left in the first half.
Moey Xin Seng tried to make up at leftback with Douglas otherwise occupied, but the Argentines had arrived in numbers, and Kıymet could not miss once the cross got through to him.
This was hard to take for the Grilled set, who had thought themselves to be doing fine before then, and Panigrahi would try the route one tack, upon kick-off. This had Jogani carded for a messy tackle on
Chan Ze Han following some hurried keep-it-up by both teams, and the quickly-taken free-kick would get through for Abd Hadi, with Alexandru Ungureanu having stepped up too late. Ercolini couldn't stick with the Birds' new darling as he executed the perfect stepover, but Abd Hadi's finishing would let him down - if just - once again.
The second half saw the Birds continuing doing what they knew best, and Los Courtney again playing the percentages with their solid defensive organization. Kalki was perhaps Grilled's biggest danger overall by this point, but between Jogani and Stuła, he would not get many open runs. There would then be drama in the 59th minute, as referee Dino Celadin seemed to have awarded the match to Los Courtney, by giving them a penalty after a Kıymet effort had brushed
Bhavya Panigrahi's hand in the box. Replays confirmed that the contact was unintentional and even barely perceptible, but Panigrahi's arm was away from his body, and from Celadin's gesturing, rules were rules.
The Grilled players seemed largely resigned as they took up their positions on the edge of the penalty area, as former Italian youth international defender Walter Lullin walked the ball to the spot, like he had done so many times before.
Jānis Salmiņš would do some jumping about on his line to try and distract Lullin, and made a premature half-step to the right, just as the shot was taken. This proved to be the correct gamble, and Salmiņš would get a big hand on the ball, enough for Douglas to arrive and hack it far away.
There was no call for congratulations yet as Ungureanu lifted it straight back into the box, but Salmiņš went up to claim it with authority, after which much back-slapping was had. This escape definitely lifted Grilled's spirits appreciably, but while there was no lack of intensity in their offensive posture, there simply was no peeling Los Courtney's defence apart. That is, until
Heng Dong Chu came on for Kalki, in the 70th minute. This was a substitution that had rarely brought a concrete impact, but today, Heng's first delivery went straight and true towards
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud. Unlike say Moey and Bilal, Abd Hadi was not known for his heading prowess, but his glancing finish to the far post was immaculate.
That leveller really had the Birds fired up, and for perhaps the first time in the game, Los Courtney were in very real and present trouble. Lazarou had definitely felt the wind change, as he signalled for Ungureanu to be more proactive in pushing upfield, which however played directly into Grilled's hands, at least initially. Lullin was forced into a late saving tackle on Mudaliar, and Panigrahi nearly capped the reversal with a brilliant curling free-kick. Alves didn't look like getting to it, but the ball refused to drop at the end, and instead brushed the crossbar.
Well, the woodwork wasn't on Grilled's side today, to say the least, but from what was going on, they had easily close to even chances at taking this. Bakhtiar would try his luck again by taking
Chu Xin Lee off for
Salah Kamel, but while the Palestine star was a more than competent replacement, there would be no repeat of Heng's tumultuous introduction, with Los Courtney now more than wary.
As extra time loomed - and not exactly against the Birds' wishes, it had to be said - it would sadly be the Argentines who wedged the last word in. Their forwards might not have featured much today, but as with Kıymet before him, Atte Pääskylä would not require a second take anyhow. The Finnish veteran saw the field clear before him, as Grilled's defense from midfield finally failed them, and he would advance decisively from the right, to put the winner past a despairing
Jānis Salmiņš.
