Ethiopian Negation
Kalki Cookout
Freed from cup commitments, Grilled Birds would start their weekly friendly schedule with a flight over to Ethiopia, where they were hosted by H.A.L. seventh division club CF Negus, at their Sala Tronului stadium. While Negus had been doing fairly well in VII.1524, being unbeaten for four games, even Grilled's second team would be far too much for them to take; of course, Negus were hardly fielding their best either, with it basically being their U-19 setup being led out by 42 year-old player-coach Sisay Bekele today.
The novelty of a Singaporean visiting team remained enough to draw somewhat over three thousand for the spectacle, and the least that the Birds could do was to reward them with goals. It definitely wasn't much to look at in a footballing sense otherwise, with Grilled completely overrunning their hosts' cookie-cutter 4-4-2.
Enrique Baena's opener in the seventh minute felt late as it was, as the Spanish winger gave vent to his natural inclinations, in boldly attacking the goal.
Bekele would try to corral his trainees into a more solid unit on the fly, but where they lacked in discipline and positional sense, he fell short in mobility. This would not do with the likes of
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Gandhik Chitre itching to prove themselves, and after they combined to send
Teo Chuan Yong on his way for a second in the 17th minute, Marzuki would hit one past young goalkeeper Wesenu Dego on the volley for himself.
It had to be tough on Dego, who had started just his fourth friendly for CF Negus, but he did have some bright moments, before it all fell apart again about the 33rd minute. He failed to cut out what was an eminently preventable pass to
José Luiz Velho from a free-kick then, and he hardly looked comfortable challenging
Damian Hutter in the air off a corner either, leading to Kalki putting it in, after 38 minutes.
Chia Kwang Tse wasn't about to go off without one to his name, and he made it 0-6 with five minutes left in the first half, shooting a tad selfishly.
Chia would indeed depart for
Chad Thach at the break, with Hwang and Chitre swappint positions - which made for a more-disjointed midfield, to tell the truth. The hosts had also restored some resolve, and that added bit of steel probably threw Teo off by just enough, as he got closed down by Mujib Habte and Ephrem Tegen Mekuriya on a prime opportunity in the 64th minute. Velho would not dally in a similar position three minutes on, which had it at seven.
The home fans were impatient for at least a bona-fide attempt on
Manuel Vadalà's goalmouth at this point, judging from the gestures coming from the stands, and they would come closest after Dego barely saved
Chad Thach's grounder in the 76th minute. Good anticipation by Harka Razek allowed him to get to the loose ball ahead of Teo, and he sent a superb long pass that had Vadalà having to save from Mujib Habte. The counter might not have come off, but it did sate both the supporters and Bekele alike.
Velho would be off for
Prokop Mottl as the final ten minutes approached, and
Kalki Parvathaneni would bag what would be the last goal of the match in the 83rd minute, after Bekele played Taganya Desalegn Degu short. The two minutes of injury time saw plenty of action, with Mottl rounding Dego only to chip it to the wrong side of the post, upon which a questionable corner was awarded. It was played short, and
Gandhik Chitre put his laces through it, only for Dego to end the day on a high with a brilliant block.
