Humbling At Home
One Can Only Laugh
The distance between Grilled Birds and the top level would be placed into stark contrast today, as Arrogancae flattened them 9-1 in one of the worst home defeats that The Cooking Pot has seen. Granted, plenty went wrong for Grilled today before it got compounded with their lack of a recognized forward and Arrogancae's flying high, but it remained a somber reminder of how far they had to go.
Despite his goal in the mid-week friendly,
Joe Reece would not even make the bench for this meet, as
Tian Yonghang instead trusted
Gandhik Chitre to lead the attack, with
Lim An Keng and
Chad Thach by his side.
Brian Reddy and
Federico Parada would start, Reddy after serving out his suspension, but it would soon be clear that they were aiming to reinforce the midfield today, and not try to range upfield.
The most influential change in personnel would turn out to be 30 year-old backup custodian
Cameron Law, starting only his seventh official game for the club, and his first since Mayuyu AKB48 a year and a half ago.
Dimitris Germanakos might not claim a place in the pantheon of Grilled's goalkeeping greats, but the supporters must have wished he were between the sticks, from Law's almost-immediate collapse. To begin with, the Number Thirty was left gaping at Matías Lautaro Zoppi as he leapt at a corner swung in by Daniel Pălcuţ, and barely even moved as the header dropped past him at the right-hand post.
What might have been a closer contest developed into a rout, with Grilled's lack of know-how in the final third gradually infecting the rest of the team. After getting caught in the trap of holding on to the ball too long in search of high-percentage plays, the Birds midfield would find themselves hustled off it only too reliably, and René Isaksen flew down the left after one such turnover to feed Constantino Ventura for 2-0 after just fourteen minutes.
There was no real coming back now, and young French referee Pierre-Charles Péron was not about to be of help, as he ignored the crowd's protests in awarding a penalty to the visitors for
Aw Keng Chuan's off-the-ball interference in the 31st, duly converted by Pălcuţ. The outrage was incandescent when he denied
Chia Kwang Tse in similar circumstances ten minutes on, and by the end of the half, Arrogancae were five up with Marcel Condan and Oskari Matinlassi having gotten through on the right.
Tian Yonghang had a grim face on as he bore witness to one of the most disspiriting halves under his command, but he had no answer given his sadly-reduced squad.
Manuel Vadalà appeared to be half-heartedly warming up during the interval, but in the end,
Cameron Law would slouch his way back between the goalposts, which did not make for an inspiring sight. And indeed, his communications with his centrebacks would be found badly wanting, when Adolfo Meléndez took the ball inside the penalty area, 53 minutes on.
Grilled's remaining objective had to be keeping the scoreline - and embarassment - down now, which was not at all easy, given that Arrogancae had seized control of the flow.
Cameron Law would have a small win to call his own when he stripped a René Isaksen in full flight of the ball in the 70th minute, which he celebrated with some passion. It would be a brief respite, however, as Oskari Matinlassi completely fooled
Ha Qicai with his twinkling feet after 81 minutes, which preceded a superb long shot goal by Marcel Condan, and then a free-kick curler by Daniel Pălcuţ.
The Birds did escape being shut out, as
Brian Reddy finally got a nose in on Pălcuţ as Chia swept it hard to him on the right, and
Ha Qicai's abandonment of his position bore fruit as he put himself into position to guide Reddy's cross home. Cătălin Sâmpetru would up it to 9-1 for Arrogancae as Grilled attempted a repeat, and after Hugo Jesus Santos's booking and a late triple sub by Tian,
Cameron Law was called into action against Ventura, to stop it from going into double digits.
