Forever Reinvention
First Half Symmetry
Dan Alstani's first official game in charge saw Grilled Birds rack up a double-digit victory against Serangoon amateurs Singapore forever 2 in the Singapore Cup, before a packed arena of Birds fans desirous of watching their new head coach in action. Resale ticket prices had reportedly gone for many times their original sum on the secondary market, and it certainly looked as if there was marginally more than the listed capacity of twelve thousand spectators in attendance, from the pockets of viewers standing around the exits.
Singapore forever 2 had been in Division Three just four years ago, moreover after four straight IV.40 titles, but an ownership struggle had them plunge all the way to the fifth division in the ensuing period. They would come out of administration with a whole new squad of part-time enthusiasts, which however was still sufficient for them to promote from V.44 ahead of clubs such as Sengkeng Sappi and Voyagers Santos. 18 year-old polytechnic star Vishnuvardhan Prabhu would be one of their biggest draws, as he featured in a young-and-not-so-young strike duo with 33 year-old private trader Hayden Zhang.
Forever would have the poor fortune to face what was essentially the Birds' best XI, save for
Fu Wenlong starting on the left of defence a day after being signed - not that he was expected to do too much. There were few issues with his basic fitness from how he gave Prabhu little space to breathe in the first ten minutes, by which time the Birds had taken total control.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul had the glory of Grilled's first goal of the new season, as he swept stand-in right winger
Genki Nagano's basic low cross home in the eleventh minute, with opposing captain Husam Tabrani coming up just a bit short.
The Serangoon club did all they could to slow the match down, but to no avail against Grilled's vastly more experienced - and probably talented - team. A clogged midfield would not prevent
Hisham Zubari from thundering a second past 21 year-old university student Austin Jung after a formidable run out of the back, and it was 3-0 ten minutes later with
Lim An Keng also eager to pull the trigger, following a temporary switching of sides with old buddy Marzuki.
The first half then ended as it had begun, with Zubari and Marzuki getting their braces in early.
Fu Wenlong took his time sizing up a free-kick from about thirty yards out in the 34th minute, and lofted it to
Lim An Keng, who held bank teller Mohd Yusuf Syamsul Bahri off to nod it on for Zubari. Two minutes later,
Hwang Teck Fu got bogged down by a double-team just outside the box, but that meant that nobody was guarding
Mohd Marzuki Khairul - a fatal mistake if ever there was one.
It was thus 5-0 at half-time, and Hwang wouldn't have long to wait to reopen his goal account either. Perhaps it was due to being against non-professionals, but
Chad Thach certainly looked very good in slashing through Forever's midfield, before punting the assist forward. 67 minutes in, foreign stars
Ananda Hettiarachchi combined with
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko for a tap-in by the latter, with
Chad Thach bullying Tabrani into a very much forced error ten minutes later, for the eighth goal.
The Birds fans were shouting for ten now, and this was where referee Gerald Hesel came in. Nasri Minhat's shoulder-barge into
Lim An Keng as he crossed over into the box in the 79th appeared at least debatable, but there was no delay in awarding the penalty, which was tucked away competently by
Fu Wenlong. Ruzain Zainuddin's high boot that nearly took
Phillip Nagata's head off the next minute was a clearer call, and this time, Austin Jung did read Fu's body language correctly. The slashing kick to his bottom left post remainded too fast to stop, unfortunately, and the Grilled faithful would have their due.
