Turtles Rise Up
Chad Gets Start
Current Zambian Super League leaders Turtles all the way down saw the visiting Grilled Birds team off by five goals to two, but this was far from a disappointment for the Birds, from how head coach
Tian Yonghang saw it. Featuring the unblooded future core of
Lau Chu Soon,
Chad Thach and
Lim An Keng, the midfield made a fine go of it despite being freshly graduated from the youth division, with Thach even threatening a comeback late on.
The hosts were hardly putting out their first team for this friendly, of course, but in Lech Chruściński and Patrizio Tombini, they had veterans that far outmatched their Grilled counterparts in deeds and experience. They would have a debut of their own to make, that said, with homegrown Patrick Nalube inducted from their U-19 Turtle 01 academy. Russian defender Mikhail Lozinskiy conducted the defence, supporting an attack-oriented 3-4-3 formation.
Given this, the Birds were hardly favoured here, and the hosts lived up to expectations by claiming the initiative immediately. It took them only twelve minutes to go in front, with flying wingback Maxime James bypassing
Douglas Carapaica and
Gilbert Webb to feed Orest Pioterek for an expert finish. It got swiftly worse for Grilled as
Atang Mangoye sustained a clearly dislocated shoulder following an uncontrolled fall, which required
Chan Ze Han to kit up and enter the fray.
Chan's introduction would not prevent the Turtles from maintaining control of the game, and it was open season for their strikers at this point. Grilled's midfield hit their worst patch of the day with Lau struggling at the stopper position by himself, and could hardly shackle Tombini alone, much less the other two when they pushed up. Swiss striker Sebastian Turschl would clip it over the bar with
Manuel Vadalà at his mercy in the 21st minute, which left Jürgen Prinz to make it 2-0, with some excellent positioning to get on the end of Pioterek uncontested.
The Turtles were certainly owning the air, through canny reading of the game more than any physical advantages, as they extended their lead further from a corner in much the same manner. It would again be the Turschl-Prinz duo in the thick of things, with the former flicking a good header at goal, that Vadalà could only parry.
Lim An Keng would be caught ball-watching as Prinz moved first, and helped the loose ball over the line.
Chan did prove a lot more productive than Mangoye up front, if not much more deadly, with him tapping it weakly to Turtles player-coach Alexander Schranner as the Birds tried to finally find an answer. They were not entirely unable to create, fortunately, as Lozinskiy proved hardly invincible. Pressure at the right moment applied by
José Luiz Velho allowed
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud to gain possession at the edge of the Turtles penalty area, and the transfer-listed midfield star held his nerve to guide it past Schranner, for 3-1.
Vikram Mudaliar would make his return in place for Velho for the second half, which made a top-class pairing for Grilled here.
Lau Chu Soon also began to truly shine, especially with much improved support from his teenaged midfield partners. This had Lau storm the opposition ballholders with an impressive regularity, and his snuffing out of Chruściński in a promising position for the Turtles in the 67th minute, had to be accounted as particularly noteworthy.
It got even better, as the Birds' young midfield started reversing the conduct of the match, and began to launch the bulk of the attacks.
Chad Thach had both Chan and Mudaliar available and signalling for the past when he broke clear in the 71st minute, but instead elected to try the lob, after having been allowed inside the box by the scrambling Turtles backline. This seemed likely a lesson learnt... only for the ball to be carried just under the crossbar, by its remarkable spin. It would, then, be Thach's first in his senior career, and from the looks of it, there should be many more to come.
Turtles remained a cut above in raw collective ability and coordination, however, and hopes of a rally were soon collapsed by timely no-nonsense finishing by Chruściński and Pioterek. Nalube's attempt at contributing would be an unconvincing tumble as he tried to take the ball into Grilled's box, for which he was unceremoniously booked by Benin referee Kpemahouton Ali Yerima.
Gilbert Webb would be Grilled's third and final substitution after pulling his hamstring six minutes from time, with
Aw Keng Chuan replacing him very competently indeed.
