Washout At Felinos
Power Marchand
The rainstorm at La Jaula !! in Montevideo played right into Uruguayan III.7 hosts Felinos' hands, as they thrashed Grilled Birds 5-1 in their midweek friendly. Young winger Julio Marchand would be their standout for the game despite playing only one half, with veteran Number Nine Manuel Guzmán then crushing the Birds defence towards the end.
Turf conditions would be dodgy enough that Swiss referee Hansjörg Zinn delayed the kick-off, but the coaches on both sides would soon agree to get it done with. The few Grilled fans who had made the trip would be treated to the uncommon sight of
Fu Wenlong in attack, and
Zaini Zainuddin Junaidi making his pro debut at left wing. As for the hosts, Felipe Paz was their main attraction at left attack, other than maybe Roque Gastón Belastiqui in midfield.
It was so nearly a dream beginning to his career for Junaidi too, although
Dan Alstani might be asking him what he was doing on the right flank in the fifth minute. The unexpected overlap caught Elías De los Palotes unprepared, that was for sure, and required a reflex flying save by Tiburcio Tarocco.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko then had a penalty shout as he appeared to be felled in rushing for the loose ball, only to be instead carded by Zinn for simulation.
Grilled then fell behind in the ninth minute as Julio Marchand whipped a ten-yarder across the box and into
Dahan Bok's top left corner, to which
Zaini Zainuddin Junaidi responded with another remarkable dribble beating Carmelo Cazarré... only to be denied by Tarocco again.
Paulino Trindade's low drive five minutes on was deflected out by Cazarré, and another yellow - this time for
Mason Glendinning - broke the Birds' momentum.
The match then entered a relatively slow period with Felinos lowering the tempo, whilst being aided by the heavy ground in that regard. It was soon
Dahan Bok's turn to show his stuff with a leg block against Soriano Gnazo's drive, and
Fu Wenlong got the third card of the game for his late tackle on Belastiqui in the ensuing scramble.
Kendell El Khateeb spearheaded the breakaway at the other end, but the hosts won a free-kick immediately after - which was delivered to Marchand for a 36th minute goal.
Looking entirely chuffed with his team, Felinos boss Omar De María arranged a triple substitution going into the next half, as Cazarré, Belastiqui and Marchand departed for Francisco Meneses, Marcos Suffer Arteaga and Renato Sacco. This might have helped Grilled Birds actually as Felinos struggled to rediscover their fluency, and
Hisham Zubari broke through the right wing to feed
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko for 2-1 in the 53rd minute.
The revival would not last long as the hosts picked up the pace, and a long ball out to Renato Sacco put Grilled in trouble after
Zaini Zainuddin Junaidi entirely misread its flight. Now with a clear path ahead of him, Sacco pushed deep inside the Birds half before sending a deep cross in. Soriano Gnazo's header appeared to clip
Damian Hutter before flashing past Bok, and Junaidi took it badly as he refused to give the ball up, forcing a fourth yellow from the now-exasperated referee.
Genki Nagano tried to get his teammates back into the game, but Hutter would not help with a woefully-shot square pass on his next possession, but fortunately Felipe Paz snatched at it. Manuel Guzmán made no such mistake with his 78th minute opportunity, however, leaving Grilled no way back.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko did light the game up with an audacious lob that nearly came off two passes from the kick-off, but
Fu Wenlong disappointingly made a hash of the rebound, not even getting it on target.
That was also it for
Mohsen El Khateeb, who appeared to have sustained a minor ankle concern, which had
Markus Pallas replace him in defence. Hein continued to be Grilled's main offensive hope as he kept on probing for openings from his central midfield post, and
Kendell El Khateeb contributed with a strong run in the 85th minute that nearly opened it up for him. Nothing doing, sadly, and Manuel Guzmán struck hard two minutes later to end it at 5-1.
