Grouse Egg
Hisham Hamstrung
Grilled Birds took a 2-0 win home from Norway against V.8 hosts The GrouseHunters, who are currently working to return to the Eliteserien after spending a glorious year in the top flight, some eight seasons ago. A Ponduscupen safir in their trophy cabinet further reminded of past glories, with German boss Julian Meiningen working to rebuild around the midfield core of 24 year-old local lads Octavius Fischer, Ivanas Čibirauskas and Garrit Schnürling, the first two of who would start today.
Polish youngster Mateusz Czarna would be their third midfielder for this friendly, with veteran Tomas Johansen providing the bite in attack. Macedonian goalkeeper Petko Ravnjanski captained the side, aided by defensive leader Snorre Kvamme at leftback.
Zaini Zainuddin Junaidi started his second game for the Birds as
Fu Wenlong withdrew to left wing, and
Dahan Bok returned between the sticks as well.
Conditions were not exactly ideal after intermittent rain throughout the past day, but Dutch referee Senna Brosens had seen worse, from his comments to the captains as caught on microphone. Zaini's unbridled enthusiasm seemed to catch The GrouseHunters off guard, with their players not knowing quite what to make of his random-looking runs, one of which nearly embarassed Ivanas Čibirauskas in the ninth minute after the trainee took him on fearlessly. Thankfully for Čibirauskas, Zaini failed to line his shot up.
Grilled continued to push the pace with the home team unable to muster a coherent press, and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko emerged with the first goal in the eighteenth minute, after
Paulino Trindade's initial dribble had drawn two men inside. Now presented with plenty of space to operate in, Hein considered the pass before surging into the penalty area by himself, and unleashed a powerful grounder just past Ravnjanski before Mateusz Czarna caught up.
The Birds' physical approach did contribute to their early control, but
Hisham Zubari would be penalized right after Hein's goal, as Brosens immediately booked him for upending an unwary Octavius Fischer. Zubari's protests that he could not pull out went unheeded, but this did not slow his colleagues down; 24 minutes in,
Genki Nagano slashed past Kurt Langedal with an impressive turn of pace, and a lucky chip bounced off his knee and past the wrongfooted goalkeeper.
Zubari would not get much sympathy from the near four thousand-strong audience after colliding with the goalpost following an attempted header in the 38th minute, though Ravnjanski was personally protective towards his downed opponent. That was
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's cue to enter, and the remainder of the first half would be played out without further incident.
The GrouseHunters only doubled down on their pressing approach after the break, with the expected effect of hobbling their few offensives. Ulf Moen was not entirely happy about the lack of service, but remained unselfish enough to play it back for Fischer in the 53rd minute, after getting latched onto by
Mohsen El Khateeb. Fischer's rocket from the edge of the box deserved to go in, but instead ricocheted powerfully off the far post, to the extent that it cleared the penalty area again.
As it was, that would be the last clear attempt of the day, with the storm returning to The Dream of Aasa stadium. Notably,
Markus Pallas could barely make
Mohsen El Khateeb out when his substitution was called with ten minutes remaining, to some amusement from the stands.
