Superjodu Judo
Douglas Early Enough
Grilled's friendly against Botswanian II.1 club superjodu botswana satellite team went on for 92 minutes this evening, but it turned out to have been decided after just two. Defender
Douglas Carapaica turboed in from the left flank then to give the visiting Birds the lead, and while there would be a number of fairly good chances coming both ways, this would be the only one converted.
One of the two extant franchises of the original Dutch superjodu, with the other based in El Salvador, superjodu botswana had been flirting with promotion to the top flight through the previous two seasons, but a relative dip has seen them languish in fourth thus far. This has seen budding German midfield star Yannick Banck leave for a club record of S$5.5 million last month, leaving a hole that has not been filled by any of their recent purchases.
Then again, this was hardly a serious outing for either side, and superjodu would put out 19 year-old Zambian national U-20 prospect Edward Katema, as their main attraction in midfield alongside Demir Abdulin of Russia. Italian captain Mario Salviati would provide the calm at the back. Grilled's picks included
Teo Chuan Yong and
Heng Dong Chu in the middle, with both badly needing more match fitness, after failing to establish themselves as starters.
As already revealed, however, Salviati and company would not survive Grilled's first attacking push, that had
José Luiz Velho latch onto
Toma Tamiya's hurried pass down the channel. Velho's awkward touch proved a blessing, as it caught Alán Casal by surprise, which left the Brazilian with a largely-clear path to goal, before Salviati could get over. In the end, it would be
Douglas Carapaica to lump it strongly past Bophelo Sibanda, as the former Panama youth international made the most of having driven the intial move.
That had the hosts on the back foot, and Sibanda would have to be on his toes, to save from
Teo Chuan Yong's rising effort some six minutes later. They did wrest back the initiative as the game went on, though, and much of the credit for that had to go to Katema. The Number Eighteen was wise beyond his years as he made it his duty to maintain possession as far as possible, and this would eventually lead to Mpho Sekgoma racing clear on the right. Sekgoma went it all the way by himself, but he was never beating
Manuel Vadalà at the near post like that.
They weren't done, and an unconvincing clearance from the corner saw new German signing Rüdiger Herriger rattle the upright from close up, with Douglas doing just enough to get in his face.
Cameron Law would hack it downfield this time, and the chase would be on between Teo and Salviati.
Radovan Jaška would take over as the two collided, only to skew it wide.
There would be a brief stoppage for Teo, Salviati and Velho to be looked at, with the latter having been hauled down by Herriger as part of the chase, which had the youngster rightly yellow-carded. The game restarted with superjodu again on the front foot, with Demir Abdulin putting it over this time.
Half-time saw a flurry of substitutions, as
Kalki Parvathaneni came on for a seemingly-uninterested Heng, and a double sub for the home team seeing Mpho Olerile and Kitso Kgaswane make their entrances. With that not having the intended effect, their head coach Angelo Gorza played his last card just sixty minutes in, with the clearly-exhausted Mpho Sekgoma replaced by hometown boy Moswen Ayanda.
One could hardly fault superjodu for not making a fight of it, and Katema's stock would only continue rising, as he started bossing it even against the likes of Teo. Not only a terror on defence, Katema would also have an incredible instinct about when best to support his forwards, and his understanding with Herriger cumulated in a delightful no-look backheel from the latter to him. It seemed more likely a goal than not, but
Manuel Vadalà did himself proud with a reflex block for a corner.
superjodu continued their advances, and Moswen Ayanda would try his luck going down after
Gilbert Webb had shouldered him off the ball in the 71st minute, but Omani referee Wissam Suhail Al-Afary was never buying that. Webb wasn't amused either, and made that clear to Ayanda. They would resort to long balls as time ran out, with Teo booked for a late tackle on Casal in the 85th minute, but that would be it with
Hilal Bakhtiar spending his remaining subs on
Dan Alstani and
Leonard Nguyen, to run out the seconds.
