Georgetown Rumbled
Predator Chia
Grilled Birds made a long flight over to Guyana - in the north of South America - for their midweek friendly, where they took on 1.FC Georgetown in the jungles of Barima-Waini. The spinoffs of Swiss club FC Lutzkickers were led out by Polish goalkeeper and captain Maciej Sadziński in their home yellow and green, but it would be difficult for their young squad, after a high-powered start that they had no hope of maintaining.
Brunei head coach Mohd Hendra Azam bin Hj Ahmad exchanged pleasantries with
Tian Yonghang during the teams' warm-up period, but it was soon clear that the Georgetown youth were here to get a result. With none of their players over 22 years of age, it was hardly surprising that they neglected to pace themselves, which however did create some dicey moments for the Birds. Mexican livewire midfielder Emilio Lozano came the closest to scoring for Georgetown with his fifteenth minute breakout, but
Damian Hutter slowed him enough for
Cameron Law to throw himself on the ball.
It was all downhill from there for the hosts, who found themselves slowly picked apart by Grilled's calculated passing. Not even young legs could operate at full tilt indefinitely, as Georgetown found to their detriment.
Chia Kwang Tse chose his timing well to bypass Jorge Moro on his right 27 minutes in, and just about squeezed his grounder past Sadziński. The Birds were not beyond imposing themselves physically either, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would receive a yellow card for his bullying of Isaac Ternero.
Georgetown's Giorgio Zardoni tried to recover with a hopeful fall in the 41st minute after
Lim An Keng had made it 2-0, but referee Lyuben Raykov was having none of that. The final few minutes of the half saw the Birds rip their opponents apart, with
Hwang Teck Fu gaining the rare distinction of bagging two goals in the same minute, with his pair of hard-hit strikes in the 43rd minute. This was followed by
Cameron Law's departure for
Louis Vara, for a bad calf strain brought on by celebrating too rowdily.
Law seemed a little sheepish as he hobbled off, but his teammates weren't about to stop the party on his behalf just yet.
Toma Tamiya continued with the on-hold corner kick, and
Chia Kwang Tse nodded it beyond Sadziński's extended right arm after a long run-up. Chia could have completed his hat-trick immediately afterwards as Hwang rampaged through on the left, but the goalkeeper parried this time, and
Ha Qicai didn't have the angle to put it in.
Mohsen El Khateeb came on for
Toma Tamiya for the second half, which saw Chia complete his unfinished business in the 62nd minute. El Khateeb found himself at an advantage against a low-on-confidence Marcello Benassi, and
Hwang Teck Fu would prove extremely selfless in dummying the pass, when he had a reasonable shot on for himself. Chia was very appreciative, and made it known once he had sidefooted it home at the far post with Sadziński stranded.
The balance of play would return more to Georgetown's side after this sixth goal, with Grilled content to minimize injury - and exertion.
Paulino Trindade went for it with a good curler in the 69th, which however sparked the home team's best counterattack of the day. Unfortunately for them, Angolan winger António Correia skied it after a beautiful takedown, but Jorge Moro would claim the consolation two minutes later, as the Birds failed to play it out of their own defence.
Ha Qicai wasn't too fazed by the mistake, so it seemed, and the match continued with
Radovan Jaška getting some time at the back, as
Damian Hutter retired ten minutes from the end.
Lim An Keng would have another go as the Georgetown players were slow to react from Jaška's sneaky throw-in right after coming on, but was thwarted as local boy Hank Kohler raced back to clear the shot off the line.
