Floup Flipped
Papa Yay
Twice Teranga Ligue 1 and Senegal Cup winners Afterfloup FC would be Grilled Birds' friendly host on qualifier weekend, being blissedly uninvolved too given their fourth-place finish in II.4. Former Senegalese U-20 fullback Sagar Diémé would sadly be left on the bench, having arrived for S$9.6 million from Germany's Wir schaffen das e.V. a little more than a season ago; despite that, their back five of Cheikh Kassoka, Boucar Voyel, Mayoro Coundoul, Lémou Ba and Moussa Abdoul Medou had all been capped at youth level for Senegal too, explaining why the club has often been described as Senegal's defensive future.
Against this all-Senegal lineup, Grilled would be somewhat lacking in purity with four foreigners in their starting lineup, with
Darko Andrović notably returning to left wing.
Chia Kwang Tse had not done enough to merit a return to the Birds' strongest XI, so it seemed, and one could understand given how
Lim An Keng for one looked. Having received a harmless-looking square ball from
Hwang Teck Fu in the seventh minute, Lim pushed beyond Sylvestre Diong in a flash, before continuing past the hesitating Coundoul to chip it past Masseck Diack.
Afterfloup responded with spirit with central midfielder Fatel Sow Mbaye carrying it up the right, only to collapse following the slightest of contacts by Andrović just as he entered the box. Portuguese referee Mário Simões was immediately mobbed by the Grilled defenders, but he wasn't interested anyway. Grilled retook initiative, and
Lim An Keng had the fans on the edge of their seats 17 minutes in, after the defence inexplicably backed off. He curled a wonderful effort at the far post, but Diack showed just why he had been capped ten times at youth level, with a magnificent flying save.
The home side redoubled on their pressing game, only to be desperately unlucky in the 23rd minute, as
Aw Keng Chuan's speculative wild pass took a slight deflection off the unaware Cheikh Kassoka. This was enough for
Gandhik Chitre to knock it on for
Ha Qicai with Coundoul otherwise having it covered, and the Hong Konger would not disappoint with another delicate lob, for 2-0.
There were no further major chances for either side up to half-time, and with
Genki Nagano replacing Aw, Grilled would try to extend their lead - but
Darko Andrović's frequent forays up the left would be reliably shut down by the fleet-footed Lémou Ba.
Brian Reddy had no better fortune against a very physical Medou on the right either, and it would be Mbaye to take Ha on - and win - in the 61st minute.
Radomil Marcol couldn't cover his angles fully, but Mbaye's accuracy left something to be desired.
Afterfloup did pull one back in the 71st minute after Mouhammad Benga broke through on the touchline for once, with the 32 year-old Papa Abyaye keeping
Raúl Himadas at arm's length to score. Grilled's attempted reply through
Mohd Marzuki Khairul six minutes later would be blocked on the line by Kassoka, however, and it was only left for
Damian Hutter and
Toma Tamiya to get some random minutes.
