Dalmacija Down Birds
Gallard Gallant
Grilled's aspirations of advancing in the El Balon del Mundo tournament were dimmed after former Croatian national champions Dalmacija u srcu outdid them 4-2, securing progress to the next stage. Forwards
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and
Tian Yonghang did their part with a goal each, but Dalmacija's French midfielder Jocelin Gallard preyed on two mistakes to lock it up.
While not quite reaching the dizzy heights that their previous title-winning squads had, Dalmacija's lineup nevertheless contained three former internationals, chief among them Omani skipper Khuelid Hazim Al-Ghusainy, who made his appearance at rightback. Front pair Khairul Fahmi Azmil Rida and Jamshid Nezamabadi, famed for their technical brilliance in stitching passes together, had also represented Thailand and Iran respectively.
The Birds stayed with the core that had put them in such good stead against Claseek, but with
Lee Lee Hao nudged back into midfield to make way for
Zhao Jing Wei, and
Gene Filippone returned to defence. These minor changeups didn't seem to affect their rhythm adversely, with Zhao interchanging fluidly between the forward and midfield positions.
They were doing decently, but Dalmacija's impressive awareness meant that there was no hint of a breakthrough. It appeared like it would take something special, which didn't exactly describe Mohd Safri's catching Franck Malmgren on the jaw, as they went up for the same ball. The referee saw nothing wrong with that even as Malmgren appealed falling down, however, and the always-eager Mohd Safri played to the whistle, taking it past a stranded Christoph Vandijck.
The Dalmacijans were not pleased with that decision, but they soon had other problems at hand, as the Birds continued mounting assaults. Encouraged by the success of their previous tack, they employed a mixed passing game that had their opponents guessing, and
Tian Yonghang was probably unfortunate to see his calculated lob shave the crossbar in the 27th minute.
Malmgren would then have his own back, as Dalmacija began getting into their stride. Domenik Hörlen had not been particularly active, but he would begin pushing
Wong Ping Shun with his unpredictable sprints, one of which was delightfully fed by Niklas Wästermar.
Yuki Irie was blocked off by Nezamabadi when Malmgren went for the headed kill, which must have felt like some sort of payback.
Jocelin Gallard then got in on the act a mere two minutes later, as he reacted quickest to the bounce off an unlikely potshot from distance by
Clément Meyer. Al-Ghusainy took the painful brunt of that one, but the rebound cleared Grilled's high line with distance to spare. Gallard would catch up and latch onto it just before the pair of
Wong Tian Han and
Gene Filippone arrived, and neatly half-volleyed into an unguarded net.
Dalmacija would be rather more circumspect when in the lead than when behind, and their mastery in cutting off angles kept Grilled stroking it around ineffectively in their own half for long stretches. Half time came and went uneventfully, as
Djan Bacelar appeared to be considering putting
Rinor Isufi on to stretch their defence. Zhao ultimately stayed on, and nearly contributed to an equaliser with a clever one-touch pass on to Mohd Safri in the 71st minute.
Al-Ghusainy again advertised his chops by cleanly taking it off Mohd Safri from the back, and
Clark Won would end up getting booked for trying to barge Vandijck off the loose ball. Bacelar had seen enough, and ordered a tactical double substitution - Won for
Low Aik Jia on the left, and
Hariharan Prabhu for
Ang Leong Kum, who had been mostly unremarkable.
The switch would end up a disaster, however, as it became Grilled's turn to get on the wrong end of the referee's call. They interpreted Pierson's second whistle as stopping the game for Prabhu, when he actually intended it as a restart. Gallard again was the first one to realise what had happened, as he surged down Grilled's empty left side to put it away past
Wong Tian Han.
Low and Prabhu were enraged at the mix-up, but the match officials were not accommodating of complaints, and Low in particular channeled his considerable energies towards setting matters straight on his own. He was just inches short of reaching Filippone's layoff from a corner, but would turn creator in the 83rd minute, as Al-Ghusainy finally got beaten on the ground, leading to an assist for
Tian Yonghang's crisp finish.
The Birds were looking very good at this point, and seemed set for another draw at least, as they severely troubled a shaken Dalmacija team. Grilled were dictating the direction of play for perhaps the first time, and after several abortive build-ups,
Clément Meyer appeared certain to level after Tian found him ignored on the left edge of the six-yard box. His shot would be extremely disappointing, though, as he rolled it straight to a relieved Vandijck.
Worse, Vandijck retained enough presence of mind to throw it out immediately, with Tobiasz Maleta signalling from wide right, having wisely waited for just this possibility. The ensuing breakaway ended with Nezamabadi putting it past
Wong Tian Han with a frame-rattling drive, which would be the cue for the full-time whistle.
