Thistle Prick
Toma Hospitalized
Grilled Birds' Dubai high wouldn't last long, as their second team went down to Rwandan II.3 challengers Kayonza Thistle in today's friendly. A spin-off of Romania's Millwall FC., Thistle's young head coach Robert Muhawenayo had expanded the size of his squad over the past seasons through constant acquisitions, though they had made a big sale just a few days before, in sending 20 year-old homegrown goalkeeper Jules Kubwimana to Beijing's Howyoung Utd for S$2.5 million.
This had new 18 year-old Number One Jean-Marie Izerimana, who had started his first senior-level match for Thistle just in the middle of last month, tending goal for them today, in all purple as a contrast to the outfielders' smart red, black and yellow stripes. The veteran European pair of Joachim Friedrich Köstrizer and Gwyn Hartson held court in midfield, with young home darling Ali Sibomana the point man in their 4-5-1.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's rehab continued as he was given the central midfield role for the Birds, with
Chia Kwang Tse and
Lim An Keng flanking him as
Aw Keng Chuan and
Genki Nagano were tried out on the wings. It would be a fresh-looking front three with
Toma Tamiya,
Kendell El Khateeb and
Paulino Trindade given license to roam, as Mohsen and
Damian Hutter protected
Dahan Bok's goal.
This was then about half a reserve team, and as it happened, it wasn't very good. The hosts, who had attracted over four thousand paying spectators to The Hell for this game, were by some distance the more dynamic side, actually in the final third. Chilean leftback Elodio Hoevel looked every bit the striker he was in his youth as he ran onto and pocketed Köstrizer's through pass in the 15th minute, and it took all of
Dahan Bok's reflexes to stop Gwyn Hartson's crisp shot straight from a turnover, seven minutes later.
Grilled were not entirely without their own ideas, but they would have to improvise freely, with there being few established partnerships on the pitch. One such was
Damian Hutter's surprise outside-boot loft into the Thistle penalty area 25 minutes in, that turned out to be just right for
Paulino Trindade to drive past Izerimana. The Birds would earn a free-kick about the 40th minute, that
Toma Tamiya powered into the wall; Luxembourg defender Joseph Dengler showed how it was done in the next minute, as he floated it in for Sibomana to head across, and Liwa Baccouche to polish off.
It was 2-1 then for the home team when Italian referee Stefano Marassi brought the first half to a halt, and Grilled Birds were somewhat improved when they came back out, perhaps due to increased familiarity with the conditions.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul seemed back to his old self when he twisted past two defenders to send a cracker into the crossbar in the 53rd minute, with Uruguay winger Fidel Martincorena retrospectively booked for his high boot on a challenge, despite it missing Marzuki.
A few minutes on, the Birds would get forward again, this time through
Chia Kwang Tse. Hoevel would dispossess Chia from his blind side just as things were about to get very interesting, however, and duly launched a torrid counterattack down the left flank.
Damian Hutter and
Aw Keng Chuan had to foul Hoevel almost simultaneously as he threatened to break through, and Joseph Dengler nearly scored from the free-kick, as he brushed the outside of the near post.
Muhawenayo made his first, probably planned substitution on the hour, taking 37 year-old right winger Christoffer Druden off for Krištof Filiač, with Druden passing the armband to Liwa Baccouche. There would be a brief uptick in activity as Filiač strove for impact, which would be paused in the 68th minute when
Toma Tamiya went to ground out of nowhere. It was serious from how
Lim An Keng immediately put the ball out of play, and indeed Toma would be stretchered off after a brief inspection, with
Chad Thach coming on.
That brought a response from Thistle, who put Diego Vázquez Torres on for Gwyn Hartson, and the Spanish Number Seven sure made his entrance known. Receiving the ball in midfield from Köstrizer four minutes after his arrival, Torres sold a simple but effective dummy with a feigned pass to his right that had several Birds defenders taken in, before scooting off and drilling it past Dahan Box from about eight metres.
This spectacular sequence of events had the crowd in an uproar, which had barely faded by the time
Chia Kwang Tse reduced the deficit to 2-3, by putting a deft chip in off the left post, following an unwise standoff from Baccouche. No problem for the home team, though, as Joachim Friedrich Köstrizer crowned a productive outing by converting Fidel Martincorena's piercing low cross from the left wing.
