Nine Guineas Please
An Keng Revival
The Birds, still smarting from their league loss, would tread new ground with this flight to Guinea in western Africa, where they played Conakry club FC STEEL UNITED. The IV.43 members had been spun off by Romania's FC_OTELUL_GALATI, and had won their last four competitive matches. Grilled were another matter altogether, however, and their cookie-cutter 4-4-2 would not withstand the Birds for long.
Dimitris Germanakos would be relegated to starting in friendlies for what was otherwise a pretty standard Birds second XI, with veteran local midfielder Kaldouyanké Doumbouya leading STEEL out in their customary whites with blue diagonal stripe. While there were no huge names in the hosts' lineup, 19 year-old Spanish right winger Miguel Alonso de Santocildes had been spoken of positively by observers.
The rout began in the second minute, as the hosts' spirited defence worked against them; a tentative low cross by
Damian Hutter would come off Chérif Kanimou's arm as he leapt sideways to block, and
Toma Tamiya waited for debuting French trainee goalkeeper Astrid Tshungula to commit himself, before shooting the other way.
Tshungula would continue to be exposed to the merciless nature of professional soccer, as the Birds laid into this inexperienced STEEL side with all they had.
Lim An Keng gave him no chance with a bullet header off Trindade's ninth minute delivery, with
Chia Kwang Tse adding another from Toma in the 18th minute. He would have a couple of encouraging saves, before
Paulino Trindade and then
Chad Thach brought him back down to earth, for 5-0 by half-time.
FC STEEL UNITED would fare a lot better from the restart, and they would actually hold out for over half an hour without conceding further. Some of that could be attributed to Grilled's taking it easy, though, and once they cranked up the pace once more, STEEL were in trouble. The home team defended a tricky free-kick routine well in the 75th, but had no defence against
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's bulldozing five minutes later.
They would have the consolation of at least testing
Dimitris Germanakos before the match ended, as they built a respectable attacking move from the restart. Chérif Kanimou, culpable for Grilled's opener, would get his team's first strike on target with a drive from just outside the box, that the goalie barely parried. Undeterred, Kanimou followed up by himself with
Atang Mangoye caught ball-watching, but Germanakos was equal to his second try too.
This inability to get a consolation weighed on the STEEL players, and they would be further deflated when Trindade skipped through to claim a sixth, in the 85th minute. Kanimou's ardour had not been doused, but his awkward fall would bring nothing but a yellow card, and
Lim An Keng would stuff two more in to complete a very late hat-trick.
