Roundly Cornered
Chia Awakens
Grilled Birds pulled through with all three points - and perhaps even more importantly, no injuries or cards - against Controlar in their warm-up for the Emerald Challenger Cup final today. Considering that the Birds had won 5-0 on away ground not too long ago, this was one of the better matchups they could have hoped for leading into the big game, and the visitors obliged with a passive 5-5-0 formation towards damage limitation.
With yesterday's arrival
Hisham Zubari apparently not having gotten his player registration settled in time,
Tian Yonghang drew on his existing squad, and the fans would have a new face to welcome in any case with
Phillip Nagata debuting at left wing. Behind him,
Raúl Himadas again missed out on a starting spot as
Genki Nagano took up position beside
Ha Qicai, which the Spanish defender is reportedly unhappy about.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul meanwhile returned to the right side of attack, but from his pre-game movements, it was apparent that the Number Seventeen remained less than himself.
Controlar's bitter experience from last month had head coach David Nohales go back to basics, as he drafted Brad Yuen and Iván Lorenzo Drocco into a flat back five, sacrificing both forwards. In midfield, winger Surya Rajkumar was left on the bench as Nohales went all in on breaking up play, instead deploying Chan Chee as a floating left winger, with Li Loong Siong also included for additional beef in the middle.
This being the first time that Controlar had resorted to such a defensive setup this season in league play at least, one could expect their players to exhibit some unfamiliarity with their orders, but to Nohales' credit he had drilled them well; from the opening ten minutes or so, their gameplan was to try and force turnovers relatively high in their own half, and then break with personnel further from the ball to enable long passes that would bypass the bulk of the Grilled men.
Unfortunately, these tactics would prove difficult to execute with the Birds breathing down their collective necks, what more with the partisan home crowd solidly behind the Grilled players.
Genki Nagano was a long way from his usual post in the sixteenth minute after overlapping
Brian Reddy, but he was encouraged to stay up by
Chia Kwang Tse, who fell back in his stead. Just as well, as Genki soon stepped into a hesitant pass from Drocco, and pierced the unresponsive Controlar central defence to put it between goalkeeper Pedro Vasco Conceição Correia's legs.
That was a wonderful start both for Genki and the Birds, whose interpassing became more fluid if anything after taking the lead. Controlar's sitting back and packing their defensive third did bog down most of Grilled's move, at least up until the 26th minute, when
Hwang Teck Fu pounded it towards goal in mid-stride. Correia wasn't expecting that and could only parry it to
Brian Reddy, whose feinted pass sold Davizinho Mourão Barbosa down the river... only to then stroke it tamely at the relieved goalkeeper.
Well, it would be 2-0 in the 33rd minute as
Lim An Keng closed Tong Yi Chuan down and dribbled twenty yards before a fantastic finish, and Controlar were looking mighty vulnerable to individual rushes at this stage. Nohales would be busily giving directions from the touchline, but his team had other fires to fight; Genki nearly gave
Phillip Nagata a free goal from a corner, but the new winger spent too much time on setting himself up. Nagata did manage to dig the ball out to
Gandhik Chitre under pressure, but the Number Nine was himself mobbed, and could only output a weak grounder.
This was the opportunity Correia had been waiting for, and he released a huge kick downfield, with several Controlar players in hot pursuit. The Grilled defence was nowhere to be found as
Hwang Teck Fu and
Ha Qicai tried to delay what was in effect a three-on-two, but not very successfully as Håkan Ångwald emerged with the ball inside the Birds penalty area. Ångwald's measured finish looked to have gotten past
Radomil Marcol, but the Birds custodian somehow managed to lean back and claw it around his goalpost!
That incredible save brought Marcol an embrace from his skipper, and Controlar would not make the most of the ensuing corner, being wary of putting too many players in the box. Grilled began the second half by taking the still-ineffective Marzuki off for
Aw Keng Chuan, with Aw occupying his preferred central midfield spot, freeing
Chad Thach to return to the frontline.
It was an immediate upgrade with Grilled now closer to operating at their full capacity, as Aw gave the other midfielders license to release their natural attacking instincts.
Hwang Teck Fu sought
Chia Kwang Tse out on a 49th minute offensive, which was well and truly on once Chia came away with the ball against Darian David's all-in tackle. Chia scraped it back to Hwang, who had advanced in tandem, and sprinted through for the expected return pass - 3-0!
Grilled were clearly enjoying the game now, but
Gandhik Chitre would surely have relished it yet more, had his exaggerated curler from the right side not been stopped by Correia in the 51st minute. The Birds were instead creating their best chances from deeper, as with seven minutes later as Reddy juggled it past Chee on a crossfield ball. He then opted for the short lob towards Chia, who sent it over the goalie with a magnificent first-time volley.
Well,
Chia Kwang Tse was certainly the new darling of The Cooking Pot with that second goal, as
Tian Yonghang got his team to save themselves in preparation for Wednesday. There would be one last flare-up after
Hwang Teck Fu came off for
Paulino Trindade entering the last minute of regular time, which had the long throw get to
Ha Qicai on the edge of the box. The Hong Kong captain hit it hard with his right foot - and saw it carom back off the bar.
This was Controlar's signal to go for broke, and the visiting Woodlanders were not so beaten down that they had abandoned hopes of a consolation. Dutch referee Correia played the advantage as Li Loong Siong was cut down by a chasing Trindade a couple of yards outside Grilled's penalty area, which proved to be the right call for Controlar, as they got the spot kick with Darian David then illegally blocked off by the shadowing
Aw Keng Chuan. Alas, David would put it narrowly wide, to
Radomil Marcol's unabashed jubilation.
