Packing A Bang
Mercury Rises
Grenada III.2 club Grenada Packers, an offshoot of Switzerland's Zuzwil Rams, flew in for a friendly at The Cooking Pot - and left battered but unbowed after getting on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline. It was a fine statement of intent by the Packers despite the numbers, as they caught the eye with their patience and coordination when counterattacking, especially in the second half.
Iranian head coach Sam Kazemi had overseen two largely-successful campaigns in Division Three, despite falling short of the title each time, which owed much to their cohesion as a unit due to a lack of true stars. 23 year-old Swede Ove Häggin could be considered one if it came down to that, and he would take charge in the middle for the Packers' 4-5-1 today. The first half an hour would see their low block hold out, and the Birds' luck would not turn until Hyron Ferdinand had no choice but to trip a barnstorming
Aw Keng Chuan, 31 minutes in.
Referee Nikolay Voskoboinik would take his time in deliberating whether the foul took place inside or outside the box, and while his decision for the latter would be greeted with relief by Ferdinand and pals, it turned out not to be the letoff that it might have seemed.
Radovan Jaška sized it up before putting his laces through the ball, and it somehow passed straight through a hole in the defensive wall, to leave Lyndon Barrett gaping in surprise.
There was hardly any time for Barrett to berate his defenders, as he would have to throw himself at
Evandro La Face's effort in the very next minute, which barely came back off the upright. The bombardment continued with Grilled planted firmly in the Packers' half, and Tokarz knocked a second in after 38 minutes, before forcing Barrett into a great save next. That didn't prevent Emil Bujala from being shown a yellow card too, with linesman Sion Roberts catching him repeatedly pulling
Paulino Trindade back by the sleeve, in an off-the-ball incident.
Lloyd Ferdinand came on for an underworked Sylvester Alexis for Grenada Packers in the 46th minute, but this did not affect their fortunes much if at all, as Grilled continued sitting blithely in their territory.
Evandro La Face was persistently trying to make something of himself, and although he again found the woodwork after 62 minutes, he would finally come good from Trindade's long cross three minutes later, after Tokarz had missed the intended connection.
That made three, and the fourth was soon forthcoming, with fullback Mario Demontis next to be withdrawn for Alton Findlay, which made not a whit of difference as Tokarz duly swept
Federico Parada's low pass home. Kazemi managed to see the bright side of things as he chatted with Tian as both coaches waited for the next timeout to make their subs, with Clinton Warner on for Stig Værholm the Packers' last;
Mohsen El Khateeb didn't seem very willing to depart in contrast, but made way for
Teo Chuan Yong eventually.
The play was a little disjointed at this point with the Packers placing their full attention on defence again, which slowed Grilled's offensives to an extent.
Radovan Jaška was at it again in the 81st as he fought his way inside to unleash a strong grounder, but Barrett got down quickly to ward that one aside, and the ensuing counterattack up Grilled's abandoned left flank had Lloyd Ferdinand burn Teo for pace, before putting it past
Cameron Law.
There was more to come from the visitors, as
Lim An Keng got entirely embarassed by Sherwin Blackman, who turned Lim's feint against himself before casually tapping the ball in for 4-2. The Grilled midfielder will have to remember this whenever he feels like getting fresh in his own penalty area in the future, surely, but at least the attention would soon be taken off his mistake, by
Gandhik Chitre's breakthrough.
Hwang Teck Fu would then waste an excellent opportunity as he turned Ridley Spencer inside-out in the 86th , before a final double sub saw
Toma Tamiya and
Bilal Mohammad Harun show their faces, with the latter also inheriting the armband from
Federico Parada.
