alao 6 - 1 Grilled Birds
Alao Regal
Bandarra Still Has It
Portuguese IV.16 champions alao pulled few punches in today's friendly at their estadio do alao, which had drawn a pretty respectable crowd of over six thousand, against the Birds' not-very-star-studded squad. Velho and Mottl would lead the line - if not very well compared to what had been available - for Grilled, and were duly shown up by the hosts' superior organization in midfield. It was smooth sailing enough that 38 year-old player-coach Domingos Bandarra would join in on the fun in the 75th minute, and wound up scoring two from that cameo.
Top star and homegrown hero André Vieira would stay on the bench throughout today, but what remained was more than enough to teach the Birds kids as to what they were missing. This would be the same midfield as had been overwhelmed by Port-au-Roi Botteurs last Wednesday, and the week made little difference against the far more practised Afonso da Silva, Serhii Cheberyachko and Carlos Pereira Amaral, who while young had several years on Grilled's bunch. This would be shown up as early as the second minute when Daymon Hermsen came through unwatched on the left, and his cross would only be cleared after great difficulty.
The youngsters' unsettling thirst for blood had not beed slaked, it seems, with
Aw Keng Chuan the latest to inflict a game-ending injury on an opponent, with Cheberyachko having to leave after a sprained wrist on a solid tackle. This had Italian veteran Gigi Impellizzeri take over, and Grilled's physical approach would work fairly well for awhile.
Dante Tran came up with a long, low-flying crossfield ball that somehow eluded everyone, but
José Luiz Velho who stretched to just about redirect it beyond surprised young goalie Jerónimo Alado.
That was as good as the Birds would have it today, as Montenegro forward Andrija Filipović had them back equal straight from the restart, with skipper Miguel Ángel Córdoba supplying it from the right. The next ten minutes were a non-stop barrage with
Cameron Law distinguishing himself in making several breathtaking reaction saves, excepting Gabriel Pereira Rego's 29th minute finish with him already gone to ground.
Half-time saw
Lim An Keng make his scheduled tag-in for
Chia Kwang Tse, which however didn't blunt alao's attacking edge.
Lau Chu Soon tried to play the stopper role as best as he could, but it would always be difficult what more with a defensively-unproven and slowing
Bilal Mohammad Harun behind him. Carlos Pereira Amaral swept past both in the 56th minute for 3-1, and an unwise decision to try and hold on to the ball by Bilal would see his pocket picked for Rego's fourth, some five minutes later.
Tran and Velho would be subbed off for
Gilbert Webb and
Teo Chuan Yong at that, with the hosts' head coach Domingos Bandarra adding some tweaks of his own in the 75th minute - alongside nominating himself to come on for Rego, coincidentally right as alao won a penalty for a holding foul in the box. Well, this was regarded as funny enough by all concerned, given the non-existent stakes, and Bandarra sidefooted it about well enough from the spot to get it past Law.
He wasn't done, though, and none in the stands could doubt that the 38 year-old still had it, when he launched a free-kick over the wall, and under the bar, from some eighteen yards out soon after. It could even have been a hat-trick as he tried to challenge
Cameron Law after his awkward stop off Marcel Franek's finish, but would instead be carded for coming in a fraction too late.
