Strength In Seven
An Keng Revs Up
The Birds' final friendly of the season had them travel to Bolivia to take on successive third division champions The Strongest Centenario in La Paz, where the 70000-capacity Rafael Mendoza Castellon had been prepped for their Division Two warm-up. The weather did not cooperate, unfortunately, but the wet pitch was not enough to keep the match from going on; Dutch referee Waldemar van Meer joked about with the two captains, before current Bolivian national custodian Jesús Fernando Guerrero won the toss.
To the dismay of the more-informed locals, national team hopeful
Federico Parada was not included in Grilled's travelling squad after his Wednesday exertions, but there would be some flair on the wings at least with
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan suiting up on the right. The commentators would remark that this was a decently-balanced matchup, with Elliot Johansson and Saliou Sow able to give the Birds a run for their money in midfield, and Italian Number Eleven Albino Assennato a proven finisher up top.
Indeed, the hosts had a clear advantage in the defensive sense, what with uncompromising Croatian sweeper Vlaho Livaić assisted by two able defenders in their 3-5-2, and that was without coming to the undoubted quality of Guerrero - already capped 34 times for Bolivia at thirty - between the sticks. The opening exchanges did little to disabuse that notion as Grilled were frequently run off the ball trying to take it into the box, and Centenario opened 23 minutes in from a creative free-kick that had Emiliano Chinchilla rotate inside for an easy putaway.
There was sustained graft from Grilled's reserves, credit to them, which regrettably resulted in German left winger Jonas Leibniz having to retire with a concussion after Ferzan's all-too-meaty bump in the 27th minute, which had American Brenden Cochrane gain some unexpected minutes. Centenario would gain from the accident, however, as Julio César Rivero pumped the throw-in hard towards Grilled's goal, and Assennato shrugged off
Mohsen El Khateeb with ease to trundle it past
Cameron Law, who had committed far too easily.
The Birds were getting quite impatient now, but this would turn out well for them in the 35th, with Mohsen able to put up a response with a confident right-footed stroke, after
Gandhik Chitre's impressive approach work from the left. Elliot Johansson thought that he had been hard done by an unrecognized foul in the preceding move, but the referee would not miss his retaliation on
Hwang Teck Fu - which got him a yellow, and some restraining by his wiser teammates.
Half-time saw Rivero off for Tom Soleto from the hosts, and
Teo Chuan Yong come on for
Mohsen El Khateeb, who seemed annoyed that his goal had not allowed him more time to market himself. Centenario could not hide that they were in more trouble for long as they were gradually pressed back, and Raimond Duff would soon be replaced by Raitis Ronis to provide more defending from the front. That would not stop Grilled from equalizing in the 62nd minute, as
Lim An Keng fired hard past Guerrero, after the latter had gone to ground for Chitre's initial effort, and had been bailed out by Chinchilla at the far post.
Lim's strike lent the Birds additional vigour as victory looked well within their reach, and with Centenario's midfield retreating further and further back, it was mostly a matter of time.
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan was moreover getting increasingly unguardable down the right with his unrestrained physicality, with Cochrane not faring much better than Leibniz in keeping him under tabs. After another breakthrough on the right in the 71st, it would be
Evandro La Face to supply the finish, having cut expertly inside a pair of defenders to first open up the angle.
More was in the making as the Birds continued cranking the pressure up, and it took all of Guerrero's intimidation to throw
Hwang Teck Fu off in the 78th, after the Number Fifteen had sized up his shot just three metres out. It would still be a corner with it coming off Guerrero, and
Lim An Keng would once more be spot-on, as he drilled Ferzan's floated corner first-time inside the near post. That was 4-2, and made one of Lim's best outings in months.
This could have been it for the day, but Centenario gave it their all with their last push after
Radovan Jaška had gone off for
Gilbert Webb just before full-time. There was no question that the Scotsman was done, after he never got close to Assennato's dribble in a one-on-one challenge, and had to huff and puff just to get close enough to witness him then take it around Law.
