Late Ippon
Trindade Comes Through
Ten seasons after their only previous meeting in the Singapore Cup, Kungfu 11 would have a second go at Grilled Birds, and came close to avenging their 0-6 washout then. Young Syrian player-coach Nameer Kelawi had evolved Kungfu's tactics since then, as he went for a counterattacking 5-2-3 pivoting around 29 year-old local hero Fung Aik Hao in midfield, and Chua Meng Tse linking up the attack. The Birds stayed with the familiar, pushing
Chia Kwang Tse into the centre-forward position, as
Chan Ze Han stayed on the bench.
There would be a strange beginning to this Sapphire Challenger Cup second rounder, as Kelawi grimaced through kick-off, and then took himself off for Lucian Penciulescu at the first opportunity. That had their supporters scratching their heads in confusion, which then transitioned into dismay as
Brian Reddy went full tilt at Penciulescu, who was still trying to digest Kelawi's hurried last instructions.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul was of like wavelength, and nipped in to apply the finishing touch for a second-minute lead.
The commentators duly noted how Kungfu 11 had missed veteran defensive midfielder Ng Chang Jing there, Ng having been crocked against Lawrence, KS FC in the last round, but the Jurong III.10 club had moxie to spare yet. Augustus Chan turned smartly to evade an overeager
Gandhik Chitre cleanly in the eighth minute, and his winding run out wide right would see Italian Number Nine Catello Crescentini drop back... and pull
Ha Qicai with him a bit earlier than the Grilled captain intended. Ha realised his mistake almost immediately, but Chan was by then flying past him - and would drill it past
Cameron Law for 1-1.
That stalled what had appeared to be an unimpeachable Birds advantage, and Kungfu's numbers at the back would hold Grilled off with a few hiccups. Bulgarian sweeper Doruk Nikolov handled most of those with panache, and when he couldn't, goalkeeper Didi Milliard was there to clean up. This was what happened in the 33rd minute when Milliard punched
Chia Kwang Tse's no-warning strike way clear, which had Fung Aik Hao off and away on
Chad Thach's untimely slip. The three-on-two was on, and Kungfu 11 worked it cleverly to Chua Meng Tse back in the middle, and the striker was too good to pass such an opportunity up.
This sparked a furious riposte by the Birds, but successive strikes by Chitre and Chia came to naught, with Chitre first crashing an impressive fifteen-yarder solidly off the crossbar, before Chia threw himself at the rebound only to nick it inches wide. Kungfu defended even deeper having survived that, which did leave ample room at the head of their box.
Chia Kwang Tse was not one to shy away, and he relished his newfound freedom to shoot by feinting to the outside of Léandre Sender 56 minutes in, and firing hard into the roof of the net.
If Grilled's supporters thought that this had surely turned it around, they would be proven wrong once more, as Grilled again fell prey to Kungfu's deceptively deadly rushes up the flanks. They had honed advancing with minimal personnel into a fine art, with Fung Aik Hao especially adept at concealing his intent on the dribble. His move as if to pass threw
Brian Reddy off in the 62nd minute, which earned him just enough space to squeeze past and draw
Aw Keng Chuan to himself, before threading it inside for Lucian Penciulescu to make it three for Kungfu 11, with
Cameron Law going down too soon.
Even the most faithful of the Birds' followers would have to be a little nervous at this, with there hardly any guarantee that they would be able to find an equalizer in the half-hour left to them. Kungfu 11 certainly wasn't about to make it easy as Chan had them pull out just about every trick in the book to while away the minutes, but Grilled were simply putting too many balls in. One of them had to eventually count, and it would be Reddy's 77th minute cross deep to the far post, where
Hwang Teck Fu met it with a precise header that evaded Milliard's glove.
Kungfu 11 would finally show signs of cracking as the stress of being constantly on alert took its toll, and this got to Heng Pin Liang, who would be booked for attempting to delay a throw-in rather longer than was allowable. They did need the recuperation time badly, to be frank, from how Grilled were starting to slice through with sharp passing. Four minutes on,
Paulino Trindade would find himself presented with a gift as the ball clattered off a defender's failed clearance to his stronger foot, and he fired into the bottom corner on automatic.
This would be the goal to deflate Kungfu, and the Birds were not about to show any mercy, as they stroked the ball about in their own half daring the opposition to come out. This would not happen, and a late triple substitution would presage a quiet three minutes of stoppage time, as
Ha Qicai shamelessly ran out the final seconds.
