Rocket Agogo
Reece Pieces
The Birds went for a mismatch in their final warm-up before the league decider against Phantasm Hotspurs, and while this might have been unfair on Tahiti IV.11 club Team Rocket FC - only into their first full season - it probably also made for good practice for the fledging team. Given that Team Rocket FC are under the same management group as League of Wales giants Dracarys, who have won two national titles and three national cups, they should have little to fear about their future.
Still, for today, it remained a footballing massacre, as the Birds wasted no time in crushing Vilmos Siti's project-in-progress. The young Hungarian head coach might have been backed by the board in the transfer market, but from how his biggest purchase thus far had not reached the million-dollar mark - German trainee Folke Laurens for a shade less than that - surely not too much could be expected. Moreover, he had just shipped out promising young goalkeepers Liviu Millàs and Riccardo Peis for a combined total of close to four million, which left reserve option Keanu Utia between the sticks today.
That Utia had been lured back to the game on a semi-pro contract was soon evident, betrayed by his oft-questionable positioning that failed to make the most of his impressive frame. For example, he failed to come out when almost all professional goalies would have when
Paulino Trindade overhit his dribble cutting in from the left in the seventh minute, and paid the price. Then, he tried to beat
Gandhik Chitre to a through pass when it was clear to bystanders that he had no hope about six minutes later, to the same effect.
Questionable judgment aside, Utia could hardly be solely to blame for his team's resounding defeat today. A collective defensive muckup in the 25th minute had Team Rocket FC lucky to escape conceding a penalty, but that was of no concern to
Radovan Jaška, who smashed it home through a badly-constructed wall anyway.
Evandro La Face then made it four in the 37th minute as Adrien Pochon sold his captain short on a square pass, and ironically when a penalty was indeed awarded for handball after that, Jaška put it high over, to the amusement of the scattered crowd.
There was no point in being too serious, probably, and most of the Birds team would spend half-time signing program booklets in the galleries. They had certainly not been overworked, and resumed where they left off with tournament heroes
Evandro La Face and Orest Torkaz making a swop. A fifth goal arrived in the 62nd minute after typical hard running by Trindade down the left, followed by a rather atrocious dive by
Joe Reece in the 66th minute, that thoroughly deserved a yellow. The crowd saw the funny side of that too, at least, and Reece then scored in the 78th - with Keaka Tauru booked this time for a studs-up challenge on
Orest Tokarz, that luckily did not connect fully.
The match would resume with two goals, from Chitre and Reece respectively, which had the small travelling section clamouring for a hat-trick. Alas, Trindadem Chitre and Reece would all run out of time.