Chicago Schooled
Zöttl Provocation
Grilled Birds' second invitation of an American club to The Cooking Pot for an official friendly came seventy-two seasons after the first, with well-known Illinois team chicago mobstaz answering the call. Currently acknowledged as one of the top five clubs from the state, the mobstaz had just re-promoted to Division Three, with the big purchases of Emil Zöttl and Alexandre Peigne at the beginning of the previous season finally making their impact.
21 year-old German rightback Zöttl was especially active against an under-the-weather
Toma Tamiya, and after
Lim An Keng's second-minute close shave had woken the visitors up, the Birds would soon find themselves threatened by mobstaz captain Santiago Fragoso's laser-guided running down the touchline.
Damian Hutter's expectation that Fragoso would not be able to keep the ball in play turned out unfounded, as the winger sliced it back into Grilled's penalty area, where Zöttl smashed it past the unprepared
Cameron Law.
This was as good a start as the mobstaz could have expected, and once Grilled regained their composure, they would find it nigh-impossible to find lone striker Lawrence Lightfoot for another chance. That said, the Birds were not having much luck either, as
Paulino Trindade and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul had their attempts graze the post just a couple of minutes apart. It was left to
Chia Kwang Tse to equalize in the 29th minute, with a bold dribble that went straight for the jugular.
It remained all level at half-time, but the Birds' extra quality - and home advantage - would come to the fore after that. Seemingly buoyed by their coaches, Grilled attacked with unusual vigour from their kick-off, and the non-stop sprinting by their forwards in all directions around the box would have its intended effect. Nobody was focused on
Gandhik Chitre as he retrieved the ball about fifteen yards out with so many of his teammates weaving about, and the Number Nineteen made them pay with a cool finish slotted to Chase Whalen's left post.
Grilled would not have long to wait before the third goal, as
Damian Hutter - who had not exactly been occupied in defence - waltzed right into the opposition box, and got a little fortunate with his finish. Whalen appeared to have it under control, before Grenadian goalkeeper Dwight Babb, moonlighting as sweeper today, stuck his foot out late and inadvertently redirected it past his fellow custodian.
Chad Thach, still clearly on a high after winning his first senior cap with the Lions, would claim the fourth an final goal ten minutes later in the 71st, as he positioned himself excellently for
Lim An Keng's assist. Thach would then leave with ten minutes remaining for
Chan Ze Han, which was also about when the game was paused for Iranian fullback Meysam Azadeh to have his ankle looked at. He would be able to continue, and the match ended with Whalen saving brilliantly from
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, with a mid-air change of direction.