18 Eight Zero
Niţu's Last
Grilled Birds razed visiting Nepalese IV.1 side Odesa 1880 FC for eight clear goals today, in a match that was marred by the likely retirement as a midfielder of their Romanian player-coach Viorel Niţu. The forty year-old was not about to miss the chance to command from the centre today, but a terrible accident involving his right ankle would leave him having to be stretchered off after 34 minutes, leaving his team largely leaderless for the remainder of the game.
Having already been hosted by The Blue Feather FC earlier in the season, the Birds were looking to re-complete their flag collection pronto, what with the announcement of Guyana and Tahiti as Hattrick's newest leagues. Odesa gamely accepted Grilled's open invitation to interested Nepalese clubs, and kept their heads throughout despite being entirely outmatched, as
Chia Kwang Tse's second-minute conversion so amply hinted.
Odesa had brought a fine mix of local veterans and eager trainees, the most eye-catching of which was 19 year-old Spanish left winger, Eduardo Quadra. Being set against
Brian Reddy would diminish his ability to shine some, and in any case the Birds were orchestrating just about all of the play, against the visitors' conservative 4-5-1. Packing the defence didn't save Bikash Kami from having to pull
Joe Reece down in the 13th minute, and
Phua Ming Xin took charge of the penalty, hammering it high down the middle after Sushan Magar moved first.
There would be quite a bit more work for Magar to handle, and a particularly busy six minutes midway through the half would see him oversee narrow misses from Reddy and Reece, but with
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan outleaping an undersized Naren Banerjee to score from a big header in the 24th minute. Viorel Niţu then had what might very well be his last act as a player, as he found himself swept clean off his feet by
Chad Thach's vigorous challenge. His awkward fall put all his weight on his right ankle, unfortunately, and it crumpled - leaving Thach frantically signalling for the medics to rush to his aid.
The match would resume under a much more sombre mood with Niţu having to be administered oxygen, and the Birds more or less went through the motions to half-time. News that Niţu had stabilized was warmly welcomed during the interval, and after a handshake by replacement captain Bikash Uparkoti, Grilled went back to full tilt as a sign of respect. This had Reddy knock two in by the 62nd minute, first from a clever left-sided run from
Phua Ming Xin, and then off a free-kick that had deflected off the defensive wall.
With five in the bag already, the pace slowed again with the Birds understandably not eager to give their guests any more injury trouble, with
Chad Thach noticeably restrained in his challenges thereafter. The Nepalese team would cope reasonably well despite the gulf in raw footballing class, with their famed stamina compensating when organization failed. This would last until the 84th, when Bikash Kami found himself a tad too casual in front of
Gústav Thoroddsen, who impishly pinched the ball off Kami's feet as he glanced the other way, before rounding Magar to boot for 6-0.
Thoroddsen was too much of a natural striker to be satisfied with that, and after
Brian Reddy tricked Piero Bubbi into committing to the outside on the Birds' next attack, the Icelandic hotshot made sure he was in the optimal position for the inbound pass, which came as expected. Phua then completed the scoring with another penalty, and he would once again wait for Magar to go one way, before rolling it the other this time.
