Nepal Trek
Toma Takedown
Nepalese II.4 aspirants Trektemov Tjolinge would host Grilled Birds today with a title race against Skrubuglerne going to Nepal well in the making, but the purple-clad Lumbini titans would not fare well against the Birds' XI. 36 year-old Angolan Hamilton Ribeiro was Tjolinge's core player in midfield, but despite his considerable experience limiting Grilled's chances severely, his lack of mobility would prove fatal more than once.
It was perhaps inevitable that
Gandhik Chitre would be called upon to lead the line sooner rather than later, after his sustained output over the past weeks, and his supporting cast for the day would be
Chad Thach and
Hwang Teck Fu.
Chia Kwang Tse would be back in midfield after a busy weekend, with
Cameron Law in goal. Law would see very little action, however, with the home team concentrating on pressing the Birds off the ball, but with little idea what to do with it afterwards.
Age would be a bit of an issue with Tjolinge everywhere, a key example being American sweeper Sarhaan Fathy, who had won the Cyprus national double with Elxipre 71 four seasons ago. He had remained instrumental in Tjolinge's promotion from Division Four to Division Two after his S$3.3 million transfer, but the inevitable lessening of his pace - never outstanding to begin with - forced him into some questionable challenges. One on Chitre in the 21st minute would see
Toma Tamiya have a free-kick on the right edge of the penalty area, and young San Marino custodian Fabio Zafferani watched placidly as it dropped over his wall.
That indifference did not endear Zafferani to the over five thousand locals who had made it here today, but they would warm up to him somewhat, with his brave dash towards
Gandhik Chitre when the forward slipped through, seven minutes later. The pressure was sufficient to see Chitre lift it high, and Tjolinge would up their high press afterwards, convincingly pushing the Birds back into their own half.
This amount of resistance was certainly asking too much of Tjolinge for long, however, and while they would more or less keep it up for two-thirds of the second half, one sensed that Grilled were concurrently waiting for them to tire too. The Birds would rev it up as if a switch had been switched on about the 75th minute, and after an interesting short free-kick tried by Toma,
Lim An Keng would score for 2-0 in the 79th minute after Sures Budhaksetri slipped.
It was slightly cruel on Budhaksetri, who had been a real warrior all day, but football is unforgiving that way. Tjolinge's troubles were hardly over in any case, with Grilled now expending all their pent-up energy, and their disciplined press would be far less effective against multiple all-out runners.
Paulino Trindade appeared to have been fairly shoulder-charged by Fathy as he made to shoot in the 83rd, but Jordanian referee Qasim Musa Skojha had other ideas after reviewing the replay, and
Toma Tamiya knocked the penalty home easily.
Chia Kwang Tse would be off for
Teo Chuan Yong before the penalty was taken, and hardly had the game restarted when Italian teenager Massimo Formentin put in a mean-spirited tackle on
Damian Hutter, after a day of frustration up top. Trindade and Chitre then nearly combined for a classic centre-forward's header, with Teo's improvised follow-up well blocked by Zafferani. German boss Stefan Holleben's final act would be a double sub that saw Björn Serena and Nicholas Tabula come on, just in time for the final whistle.