A First Against Legends
Emperor's Sacrifice
The Birds defeated United Legends FC - S-League champions just two seasons ago - for the first time in the clubs' history, on their fourth attempt. While this would only be young Turkish head coach Nizami Alpar's second league match in charge, it could hardly be said that he had been left a depleted squad, with his predecessor having brought in former Nicaraguan U-20 forward Agustín Pena and Turkish striker Toros Yönetmen, for a combined total of near S$19 million. Neither started today as the Legends went for a counterattacking 5-3-2 in this Jurong derby, however, which led to speculation that Alpar had been ordered to focus on the Singapore Cup.
Few sides can claim to have crumpled Sarcastic Fringeheads and then Bot Team FC 4-0 apiece within a fortnight, all said, which was what United Legends FC managed a couple of months ago. Instead of long shots, however, Alpar would bank on wide counters today, while relying on veteran forwards Francisco Marciano and Áron Benkovics to deliver the goods. Fullbacks Jacek Pytel and Sven Hultner were out to smother Grilled's wingers in turn, but it would be through the center that this game was decided.
On the hosts' end, it was
Lim An Keng's turn to try and fill the midfield void left by Aw Keng Chuan, with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul moved out to the left. Otherwise, it was the same system that the Birds fans were accustomed to - including the unfortunate penchant to overextend.
Ananda Hettiarachchi might have come within inches of converting
Phillip Nagata's long cross in the 19th minute, but all that brought was Umidshox Abduvorisov's opener on the counter, as the Uzbek international cut inside
Hisham Zubari as the Legends piled into the space left behind.
The Grilled support must have feared the worst, but Zubari made pains to raise spirits - if not fix the scoreline - with a raking right-legged effort just two minutes later. The match was getting rougher in tandem with
Hwang Teck Fu lucky to stay on after a horrible-looking tackle from behind on Fred Cui upon resumption, with the visiting fans then booing Belgian referee Jean Dumont de Chassart for judging that Jacek Pytel had dived in the 32nd minute, despite some apparent contact by the covering
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko.
Grilled had to be the more anxious, having remained behind with the Legends always lurking for the counter. Their belated recovery started 36 minutes in, as
Lim An Keng put in an overlapping shift on the right wing, and crashed the ball off Kuwaiti defender Hilal Al-Hashmi and behind;
Genki Nagano wasted no time in curling the corner smack into the middle of the penalty area, and
Chad Thach swept it home after Mexican goalkeeper Pastor Obrajero was held up from reaching it, from the sheer mass of players surrounding him.
Legends skipper Benkovics briefly protested the impedance to no avail, before taking matters into his own hands - or left foot, as it was - by reading Grilled's backpass from kick-off perfectly. Zubari just about survived the pickpocket attempt thanks to his agility, however, and it ended with the unlikely sight of
Genki Nagano slipping it past Obrajero at the other end, for 2-1 in the 39th minute. Jacek Pytel put a half-volley over three minutes on, as Francisco Marciano got booked for shoving Genki over in the process.
The second half thus began with United Legends FC having to find an answer, which they were hardly lazy about. As it turned out, their formation was quite amenable to focusing pressure down the centre too, and excellent pressure by advancing former national star Abd Jamil Wardi sent Áron Benkovics through after 54 minutes. It was down to
Radomil Marcol to prevent the equalizer, which he did by mirroring the striker's lateral movements to perfection.
If the match had appeared up in the air, Grilled Birds would shut it down with two goals about the 62nd minute, starting with what appeared to be a powerful but off-target header from
Chad Thach, thanks to Hilal Al-Hashmi's timely nudge. This turned out badly for the Legends, though, as the new trajectory had the ball deflect sharply off Finnish centreback Vilko Hovén, who saw it coming mid-leap but couldn't move aside in time. Pastor Obrajero was thus left watching helplessly, as it bounced across his goalline at the back post.
United Legends FC had not made many mistakes at The Cooking Pot, but they committed perhaps the biggest of those in trying to swamp the Birds on the resulting kick-off. They wound up picked off by what should qualify as a counterstrike of Grilled's own, as
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko embarked upon an impressive thirty-yard dribble to place it well for
Lim An Keng. Lim for his part turned Abd Jamil Wardi with a breathtaking ease, and slammed the Birds' fourth past Obrajero's reaching left arm.
Even the most optimistic of the Legends support had to recognize that they were not coming back from that, and the Birds would not pass up on trying to rally their fans by padding the scoreline either.
Chia Kwang Tse came very close to that as he combined with
Ananda Hettiarachchi to carve the Legends defence open in the 79th minute, but lifted his lob slightly over the bar.
Hwang Teck Fu crashed full into Vilko Hovén in his eagerness to get to a possible rebound, and was duly sent off for a second yellow card.
Grilled looked a lot more vulnerable with just ten men, but did not stop their attacking play, with the crowd urging them on.
Dan Alstani evidently felt it crass to interfere what with his team still three goals up, and in any case Francisco Marciano's reducer from an 84th minute counter would have the Birds be more circumspect anyway. The game ended with a double sub right before added time, that had
Wu Ping De and
Paulino Trindade enter for Marzuki and Nagata.
