Samuraiis Spirited
Lim Rings In
Japanese fourth division club Borussia Dortmund 09 2020 arrived at The Cooking Pot for today's friendly, and perhaps contrary to expectations, their overall management hails from Romania, in particular the venerable Bucharest side Nickelback. The Samuraiis, as they are perhaps better known, have carved something of a reputation out in Hokkaido too, and according to Spanish head Miguel Dalmases, are after a return to Division Three pronto.
Few of their regulars would make the trip down today, however, and the casual nature of their approach was perhaps best encapsulated by former national U-20 goalkeeper Akira Okawa, starting at left wing. They did have the Japan's current youth international goalie Shohei Yogo - nicknamed "
The Indestructible" between the posts today, which had to be extra motivation for Grilled's attackers - who as additional encouragement, were facing down an inexperienced defensive line.
Such was something that the hot-blooded
Enrique Baena could not resist, and in the ninth minute made to curl it in at the near post, after just about knocking the ball past Hideo Oga. A more composed cross would have been the choice of many a more seasoned winger, but it really wasn't too far away either. Shohei had it under wraps nonetheless, and this would kickstart perhaps the Samuraiis' best offensive sequence of the match, that left Yuji Matsuo with a possible tap-in, just five yards out. He was slow to read Hiromasa Nakahira's intent, sadly for him, and
Cameron Law smothered it in time.
This left the Birds largely in control, and their next serious effort would see Shohei beaten.
Bilal Mohammad Harun played it out elegantly from the back, and the Samuraii midfield would regret allowing his long, skipping pass through.
Lim An Keng still had it all to do, with the bounce being somewhat awkward and debuting defender Yuji Matsuo closing in fast, but he lived up to the occasion with an incredible half-volley into the roof of the net, by the shortest possible distance.
The youngster surely enjoyed that, from how he whooped while airplaning across the goalline, and it was a finish surely deserving of such a reaction. The Samuraiis collected themselves admirably on going behind, that said, and the remainder of the first half would see them deny Grilled any further shots on target - and not for want of trying by forwards
José Luiz Velho and
Prokop Mottl.
Lim would, probably not wholly willingly, give way for
Chia Kwang Tse as prearranged for the second half, not that he had been too effective after his undeniably great goal. The Samuraiis remained largely unable to get the ball anywhere near Law's goal, no thanks to their conservative 5-5-0 formation, and when they received a free-kick near the halfway line in the 64th minute, captain Taichi Yoshio recognized it as an opportunity not to be passed up. Having put half their team in and around Grilled's box for once, Taichi lifted it to the head of the penalty area, where Keisuke Osawa got a slight touch on it, delivering it to Hiromasa Nakahira for the nerveless finish. One-all.
Coincidentally,
Gilbert Webb and
Teo Chuan Yong were waiting to come on at that point in time, and the Samuraiis' celebrations would see the duo tap in for
Dante Tran and
José Luiz Velho respectively. All the visitors wanted was to reach full time now, it seemed, and their intensive man-marking all over the pitch brought the desired result. They managed it pretty cleanly too, with the first card of the day coming for Shinya Hashimoto in the 85th minute for his marginally late takedown of
Paulino Trindade.
Extra time it was then, and perhaps out of courtesy, Shohei would be replaced having been mostly untroubled for the second half. Young Ryosuke Takeda got his chance then, and lasted all of eight minutes before having his goal breached. Grilled won a free-kick on the touchline, and an accurate crossfield pass saw
Prokop Mottl put onto goal by Baena. Keeping his footing was the hardest part for the Czech striker, who only had it prod it past Takeda after that.
Iranian expat Nader Naddafian - tasked to operate as a target man - would then be booked for protesting what he felt was holding by
Gilbert Webb to no avail, as Grilled came the closer to extend their lead. Takeda would recover some pride with two respectable saves against Trindade and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul in turn, but with the Samuraiis failing to produce at the other end, this match had to go to the Birds.
