Multiple Record
Grilled's Hong Kong captain
Ha Qicai invited two-goal hero
Mohd Marzuki Khairul to lift the trophy together with him by popular acclamation, but also noted the contribution of all members of the team in the victory. "
Dimitris Germanakos made several big saves that counted as much as any goal, while
Hong Kang Leong showed incredible mental fortitude to keep his concentration after his initial miss. But everyone did great, really!"
Hong was entirely unperturbed as he took his turn with the cup, understandably so as he had literally just been handling the Saudi Arabia Consolation Cup in exactly the same way, last week. "What can he say, it's Wednesday again." the commentator quipped. "It must get to be a bother."
With the victory, Grilled Birds have set another domestic cup record in being the first local club to pick up all three Challenger Cups twice - also including the main Singapore Cup, if so desired. While there have been a number of multiple individual Challenger Cup winners, only latest Cup champs FC Barca Singapore, Arrogancae and United Legends FC remain actively in the running for this achievement, with others such as Be Champions FC and -= Manchester United =- having gone defunct before managing the feat.
The Ruby cup has thus far eluded FC Barca Singapore, despite their recent glories, while Arrogancae and United Legends FC were like Grilled stuck on a single Sapphire. In contrast, Tampines Phoenix F.C. deserve special mention too, with two Sapphires but only one each of the Ruby and Emerald versions, thus far.
"Well, we
do live to make history, at the Birds." head coach
Tian Yonghang interjected. "It's in the club's lifeblood."
Tian did reserve some condolences for Featureship's Beniamin Bălţatu, who will be out for over a month following the injury to his right knee, which turned out to be more serious than it appeared. "Bălţatu has always been a key player for them, which makes it hard to take. Here's to wishing him a speedy recovery."
Before the cup final, Grilled International had crushed Suriname II.1 visitors Electronic Eleven 7-1 in a well-attended home friendly, with over five thousand turning up.
Redhuan bin Mohd Aleshahfezan scored the first two, the second immediately after Clemente José da Silva's equalizer, before they pulled well away with more braces from
Leri Bezhanishvili and
Remond Bergervoet, and one each from
Tamit bin Said and
Chua Jun Long.
There was additionally fine news for Bezhanishvili, whose successful stint with the Georgian U-20 side several years ago, seems to have left his name resonating with the senior national setup. While the call-up list contains some two hundred players, it remained a honour for Bezhanishvili. "I'm just 23, remember?"
Farmer Bunnies would follow that up with their own unlikely 5-0 win in Kuwait against current Al Kuwayt Sapphire Challenger Cup holders Polonia Skawina, with
Ho Ah Kian and
Arun Ponnusamy grabbing two each against a Polonia side that had nothing to prove.
Koushan Khatibi knocked one past Alexios Fragkiskatos from the spot too, in the 22nd minute.