Bucaneros Punctured
Mangoye +1
Puerto Rican II.3 hosts El Yunque Bucaneros held the Birds mostly at bay for a long, long while, but their hopes of a draw - or better - evaporated in the final fifteen minutes of a surprisingly competitive friendly at Estadio El Yunque. With their composure broken by a controversial penalty award, it went from 0-1 to 0-6 in a jiffy, as Grilled ran riot.
Founded by the Swiss management of Rossoneri Thusis, the Bucaneros - formerly Marmota - enjoyed straight promotions from Division Four to Two, in their first two full seasons. They appear to have hit a wall, however, despite the recent appointment of popular player-coach Ljubisa Brunner, who had been one of their main midfield drivers. The visiting Birds would once again be fielding a mishmash of a side, starting with just four first-team contenders in
Teo Chuan Yong,
Heng Dong Chu,
Douglas Carapaica and
Gilbert Webb.
That would be far more than enough, though it would take some time to be revealed, as the hosts began strongly. Douglas might have made the first moves with a desultory effort weakly at Javier Hurtado in the third minute, but it was the Bucaneros who made the first truly challenging attempt on goal. About four minutes on, Christian López would dummy it allowing Ángel Luciano to get into a one-on-one against
Manuel Vadalà, who admirably managed to stay on his feet, and get down in time when the finish actually came.
Bucaneros were definitely not treating this lightly, and there would shortly be a pair of yellow cards coming out, first for López and then for French centreback Emmanuel Mai. The latter might have conceivably been dismissed by another referee, after he felled
José Luiz Velho from behind, but local referee Roberto Noriega gave him one last chance.
The opener would eventually come via
Heng Dong Chu in the 23rd minute, after a heavily-contested period in the middle. Teo finally managed to fan it out to the left with Heng having freed himself from Marc Rosa. That was one-nil as Heng went the shortest route against Hurtado without delay, and
Cameron Law nearly added another a couple of minutes later, as he drew a bead on goal from some eighteen yards. Hurtado had been lobbed indeed, but it would not drop sufficiently in time to clear the crossbar.
The hosts clamped down after those lapses, and made it to half-time without conceding further, if without creating too much themselves. Brunner was a pillar for them, and tried to get it to Argentine Number Nine Pedro Ñancul Mugnaini as often as possible, but Webb had him mostly locked down. It is to the Scotsman's credit, then, that Mugnaini would be replaced by Juan Carlos Antonetti in the 62nd minute, as Brunner was moved to switch things up.
Grilled had taken Teo and Heng off for
Moey Xin Seng and
Kalki Parvathaneni in the meantime, and the newcomers proved scarce less effective in the main. However, clear chances remained dreadfully hard to come by as Bucaneros' midfield sat deep, but Grilled's break would come in the 75th minute, as Kalki went flying after what seemed like Héctor Arroyo lightly brushing him, right on the edge of the penalty area.
One could not accuse Noriega of playing favourites here, as he pointed to the spot without hesitation. The home fans weren't convinced at all, and booed
Gilbert Webb during his preparations and run-up, but didn't shake the veteran from a confident finish. Not only that, the decision would change Bucaneros' approach wholesale, and not for the better as they found themselves unravelling at the back. Kalki would get a head to a corner in the 79th, and while it wasn't on target,
Atang Mangoye was there to shove his first goal for Grilled Birds into the net.
That really broke the dam, and
Radovan Jaška would be next after a fairly indifferent outing, as he offered himself up for Moey to try a through ball. The match would then be briefly stopped for Kalki to have his shoulder looked at - an after-effect of a heavy collision with Mai on his headed assist - but the Birds would pick up right where they left off, as Velho then went down to a clear foul in the box. Webb stepped up again, and repeated his nerveless put-away to the bottom right corner.
Bucaneros then went all-in on a consolation, and came close enough through some very energetic running by Héctor Arroyo down the right, which was sadly let down by his final touch. Rather, it was
José Luiz Velho who got his goal with three minutes remaining, as he spotted the ball coming free from a chaotic indirect free-kick situation.
