Codingin Repeat
Fast Rush
Codingin FC did the double over Grilled, as they again achieved a two-nil win over their Western competitors. Italian defender Geppino Lucchese kickstarted it with a determined breakaway, and Jordan Himes applied the finish just four minutes later with a gem of a goal that Sulaiman was blameless in allowing.
The hosts were in reasonably high spirits after reaching the third round of the Masters, but four games in five days proved to be a superhuman effort on their part. Club doctors prescribed ice-water treatment and oxygen tents, but the players remained noticeably sluggish during their open training sessions.
Five days of rest might have healed the worst of their physical exertions, but the team were unable to reach the emotional heights that had sustained them through their international campaign. The spark was missing from their game, a consequence of too much soccer in too little time.
Codingin had no such considerations, and with young savant Kok Leng Li in tip-top condition, proceeded to bash in Grilled's tired midfield with aplomb. Rottman was well off the pace when he allowed Claes Månsson to slip behind him on the inside, and left Fredgård with an impossible two-on-one situation that the overlapping Geppino Lucchese profited by.
Up by one, Codingin slackened somewhat, and their second came completely out of the blue as Himes was by himself up front. Already surrounded by green shirts, the American striker stunned the partisan home crowd by pulling out a midair strike from his bag of tricks.
Sulaiman was marginally off his line, but that is only common practice when so little apparent danger is observed. Kek-Tjiang leaped instinctively, but could only watch Himes' audacious attempt part his hair as it went on its merry way past a rooted Sulaiman and into the far end of the goalmouth.
Stu Davis, nearing the end of his contract at Codingin, then got cautioned for excessive celebrating - probably one of the few times that a player who has not actually scored went overboard by removing his jersey. He also left the door open to van Liere, who pushed upfield at a frentic pace from the quick restart but found poor support.
Codingin continued to manufacture the better chances as Grilled's midfield was all at sea, and both Hendrik-Jan Boroffka and Bay Mulrain came within inches of extending their lead.
Anders Fredgård compounded Grilled's troubles when he didn't hold the line on an offside trap, and had to resort to crudely hacking down Himes to save a goal. Thankfully he got the ball too, or it may have been a straight red.
There were some half-hearted cheers in the second half by the home faithful that gradually petered out as it became apparant that their heroes were in no condition to carry on the fight. Kadak won points for trying until the end, but there was simply no supply as that last pass never came.
Instead, it fell to the visitors to provide the entertainment, with Lucchese bending a fifteen metre free-kick just a hair's breadth wide with the inside of his right boot in the 59th minute. Dutch ex-national winger Boroffka then put a long leg out to deflect a low cross out of Sulaiman's reach from a short corner, but Sid was at the post and prevented Grilled from sinking even further.
