Of Emperors And Princes
And A Polish Hussar
Grilled Birds progressed from the second round of the Sapphire Challenger Cup by dismissing III.16 challengers Kang Xi Hui Lai Le 6-2, with victory all but assured after early braces by
Hwang Teck Fu and
Ananda Hettiarachchi; this would be matched by Kang Xi's fierce Polish forward Stanisław Łuczyszyn, but the outcome was seldom in doubt.
The Birds had previously met their predecessor club Kang Xi Lai Le twice in three seasons in cup competition some 37 years ago, winning both matches by five goals. There had to be few fans at the Ballota Stadium today who still recalled the likes of Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and
Tian Yonghang running riot then, though Tian himself would be conspicuously present in one of the VIP boxes, having diplomatically kept himself out of sight since
Dan Alstani took over at the start of the new campaign.
In direct opposition to the Birds, Kang Xi Hui Lai Le had won their last three competitive games, with 21 year-old wing starlet Teo Chi Yong finding a winner against Pitahaya FC in the league, after they swept Offshore Haven 5-2 in the previous round. Interestingly, young head coach Lew Kim went for a 3-5-2 today after playing a 5-3-2 to great effect against Haven, having evidently made a tactical decision to reserve his squad's strength. Neither Teo nor Cuban midfield livewire Octavio Cortés would start today, while a chastised Alstani got more serious by restoring
Chia Kwang Tse to attack.
Grilled's supporters remained wary after their disgraceful collapse against West Merlions on Sunday, and the initial happenings did little to restore confidence. The Birds appeared overly cautious and more than a bit wooden, which had them take fourteen minutes to test Romanian goalie Viorel Acsente through
Mohd Marzuki Khairul. The PTSD then returned as Sorin Măceşaru scooped up the parried ball and ran it thirty yards up the right side before Boris Umlandt took over, and a simply centered ball to captain Łuczyszyn saw the Birds behind once more.
This was not
Radomil Marcol's mistake for once, it had to be admitted, given that his defence sold him out there, but that could not have given Alstani any relief. Fortunately, the Birds were actually the better footballing side by some distance today, and a three-minute spurt beginning in the 21st would see them 3-1 up. This included two from
Hwang Teck Fu as the Birds found him surprisingly flexible against young Swedish centreback Abdalla Mwalimo, with a flat volley from Ananda sandwiched in between.
Ananda Hettiarachchi was not one to rest on his laurels, and he would find his matchup against Chen Chee Tian much to his liking. Chen was a tough and hardworking man-marker, but Ananda flowed all over the place, and he would latch onto
Phillip Nagata's inbound ball to score with grace in the 27th minute. The Sri Lankan seemed almost unblockable at times, as Stanisław Łuczyszyn found out 35 minutes in, when he was booked for charging the Number 48 down out of necessity.
Lew Kim had his team fired back up at half-time, though there was little reason to think that they could still turn this around. They did give a respectable go at it, granted, and Łuczyszyn claimed a contested second goal in the 58th minute, after it seemed to come off his upper arm after a mid-air duel against
Fu Wenlong. It could have gotten concerning had Spanish left winger Albert Claravalls succeeded with his swerving drive ten minutes later, but Marcol had his post covered as it bent away anyway.
There would be a brief stoppage following that attempt, for Swiss referee Dionys Sauders to study Giovanbattista Speranza's wild running-down of
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko, as he hastened towards a potential rebound. Speranza somehow escaped a red, but this served to reawaken the slumbering Birds. Ananda's hat-trick effort in the 72nd minute wasn't that far away, and Hein would get his own back four minutes later, after a preplanned free-kick.
It was thus 5-2 to Grilled going into the last twelve minutes, but Kang Xi were not ready to concede quite yet. Teenager Raghav Patni impressed as he outpaced Hwang and then
Lim An Keng on an unexpected rush, but intended outlet Boris Umlandt couldn't keep up either. Instead, it would be
Hisham Zubari to add another - and be booked later, as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul failed to join him on the scoreboard only because of Acsente's goaltending skills.
