Princes Take It Easy
Footman Egemen
With a huge title decider coming up, Grilled Birds needed both a stern test and a fine showing, and got both of them in Brunei against prospectie II.2 champions The Lazy Princes. With a B-League gong and six Challenger Cups under their belt, the Princes certainly know their way about getting silverware, and must be counted amongst Brunei's footballing royalty; they did take after the other part of their name in this friendly too, though, with their reserves strolling their way to a light workout.
The ongoing shower didn't discourage nearly 3,600 locals from turning up to cheer on their team, even if none of their biggest stars - such as Lithuanian playmaker Bertas Micholapas, runaway league top scorer Mariusz Szymaniak or local Number Nine Hj Zainin bin Hj Zaim - were on show here. 38 year-old club legend Rosmin bin Hj Osman, capped eleven times for his country, would captain the Princes out at least, with Italian teenager Lino Marando probably the greatest attraction in this aggressive 3-4-3.
Grilled weren't about to pull any punches, and the fans had barely settled in, when Princes conceded the first goal. Referee Matteo Baron had called a couple of stoppages already as various players went over on the slippery grass in the first couple of minutes, but
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan seemed immune as he glided smoothly in from the right, with the ball all but stuck to his toes. Polish fullback Franciszek Surman, currently fighting to get his regular spot back, tried to interfere, but Ferzan cracked it straight inside the far post.
The weather took its toll on Spanish veteran José Clauses soon enough, as he got withdrawn for Hj Hashim bin Hj Juli in the 14th minute, possibly due to an old injury. The Princes perked up about now, and they would have the numbers to pose a threat whenever they got the ball to a forward. Ratano bin Ali Hashim held
Gilbert Webb back with some good shielding, and a couple of one-touch passes then got Rosmin bin Hj Osman through for the finish past
Manuel Vadalà.
The Princes switched back to a more passive mode following that, which was probably not to their benefit with
Aw Keng Chuan nearly converting a free-kick in the next minute, before
Chad Thach's ambitious lob was mauled wide by
Teo Chuan Yong, after Wong Beng Puay punched it back out awkwardly. Teo fared much better from a dead ball a bit later, as he got it up over the wall and then under the crossbar, perhaps with some lucky assistance from the swirling winds.
That didn't deter the hosts from continuing to operate reactively, and their contact would increasingly verge on the illegal, with
Bilal Mohammad Harun visibly annoyed after yet another hack at his shins from behind. There was just too much open ground for them to cover, however, and
Enrique Baena would get on the end of Aw's hurried low cross, after a purposeful advance up the left. Wong scrambled across goal to try and make the save, but only succeeded in palming the slightly-soft effort into his own net for 1-3.
Half-time had Choo Feng Hui move up into midfield for the Princes, as they met the Birds head-on with a mirrored 2-5-3, not that it did them too much good. This was especially with fresh legs on for Grilled, as
Lim An Keng and
Federico Parada came on, and immediately went about pressuring their opposite numbers. Ratano bin Ali Hashim would double down on the petulance with calls going against him, and finally got the very-patient referee to give his first card in the 54th minute, after he intentionally kicked the ball into the stands.
Webb would be gone for
Mohsen El Khateeb on the hour, which had Waldemar Jasiński share some words with
Tian Yonghang on the sidelines, as he sent on Pek Ah Seng for Hj Hashim bin Hj Juli at the same time. The Princes were resorting to the odd hopeful long ball by now, otherwise concentrating on breaking Grilled's plays down, which they did passably until Ferzan anticipated the still-rusty Pek miscontrolling a tricky backpass 71 minutes in. A quick sprint caught the defender off-guard, and it was four with a neat outside-of-the-foot flick.
Wong would only get busier in the final minutes with his teammates withdrawing more and more deeply, and he would make a stunning stop from a rare
Atang Mangoye potshot two minutes later, before close shaves by
Chad Thach and
Bilal Mohammad Harun. Ratano bin Ali Hashim's left knee would give out in the middle of all that, and Hj Jappar bin Hj Sagap would make up the numbers till the end.
