Greens In The Red
Iceta Ace
With both finalists having earned their spots with 5-3 victories in the semis, it was perhaps inevitable that the Ruby Challenger Cup would be decided by the same margin, with Grilled Birds lifting it for a record fourth time. A close match was expected from the last meeting between the sides in the Emerald semifinals three seasons back, though all three of Grilled's scorers that day - Aw Keng Chuan, Raúl Himadas and Brian Reddy - had long moved on. Omar Lyhstål, who got the Springboks' consolation then, could well have started today had he not transferred to German Division Six side SUS Juventus Neuenkirchen, less than a month ago.
Swärdbeck stayed with the counterattacking 4-3-3 that had served Springboks so well against Arcturules, as many pundits had expected, but with the midfield three playing narrow to try and keep it tight. Former Tampines Phoenix trainee Thomas Velankar returned for this purpose, alongside young Finn Kimmo Rämäkkö. Their A-list attack would also be out in force, with Swedish-Thai centre forward Puchong Sindhukamol flanked by Mongolian youth international Tsagadai Dologhon, and Spanish sensation Diego Iceta.
The Birds fielded an expected lineup, that had
Hwang Teck Fu captaining the squad with
Genki Nagano failing his late fitness test. This meant that newcomer
Leongīns Luško had to fill Genki's role in left defence, with
Hisham Zubari preferred in defensive midfield.
Lim An Keng and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul then had to be content with the bench, as
Dan Alstani rewarded
Wu Ping De for his recent contributions, with a place in the starting XI.
Much had been said about the form and importance of Springboks custodian Leo Savolainen in the lead-up to the final, and the Finn certainly cut an imposing figure as the game got underway at the downtown Singapore Arena. Haze levels were thankfully deemed acceptable, and the Birds got right down to business with practised interplay into the opposition half.
Chad Thach was especially active in the early going, and his run against Choong Yeng Aik yielded the first free-kick of the match some seventeen yards out, in the sixth minute.
Johann Schwietzer and
Leongīns Luško would confer briefly before the Swiss stood up, but his approach proved to be a feint as Luško swung in from the side. Unfortunately, the attempt would bend past the outside of the wall but not back onto the correct side of the goalpost, and Savolainen would restart quickly to Joseph Primm, who sent the ball deep downfield. Zubari's coverage left something to be desired as Sindhukamol raced clear, and his late release for Diego Iceta turned out to be just what the latter needed, to catch
Radomil Marcol in a bad place. One-nil to Sentoza!
That was just as planned for the Springboks, who exhibited even less urgency to press the initiative against Grilled Birds after taking the lead. This could well be comprehended from how their defence was holding up, moreover with three sprightly strikers eager to pounce on any mistakes. The Birds would be walking tightrope right until the 32nd minute, when a gamble by
Ananda Hettiarachchi caught the Springboks backline sleeping on
Chia Kwang Tse. The danger didn't seem immediate, but Chia would not hesitate as he cracked a first-time drive straight past Leo Savolainen to equalize.
This had barely registered for the Springboks, when they found themselves behind in the very next minute, after Tsagadai Dologhon tried to bypass two Grilled men at once on the restart, and predictably failed. Hettiarachchi again came out the better then, and he immediately switched play towards the left via
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko. Hein would in turn push the ball forward for
Wu Ping De after taking it upfield some twenty-odd metres by himself, and the winger made no mistake as he outpaced Joseph Primm by a step.
It got worse for Sentoza Springboks with Kimmo Rämäkkö left clutching his right knee on the ground even as the Birds players celebrated going in front, with replays showing him suddenly rearing up as he sprinted back in support. His medics would not take long to make a decision, and Rämäkkö appeared on the verge of tears as his grim-looking head coach signalled for a substitution. 35 year-old former Faroese U-20 international Niels Meitil was the very picture of empathy as he embraced the outgoing youngster then.
The players were raring to begin after the impromptu water stoppage, and Rämäkkö's injury had a silver lining for his team as they scored on their next possession. Before that, they had to survive another scare from Wu, with the self-assured star dodging all comers before pinging a lob off the crossbar. The Springboks were again the most dangerous on the counterattack with the Grilled players out of position, however, and Diego Iceta had their fans on their feet with a magical run right down the middle past three men to beat Marcol again, for 2-2.
Iceta was definitely the man of the moment here, and his name was still being chanted as Grilled kicked off. The cameras would focus briefly on
Chia Kwang Tse suddenly clutching his chest and going to ground, but that was a red herring as his fellows continued the attack, which concluded with
Phillip Nagata winning a corner off Leo Savolainen, with a low drive to the near post. There was plenty of pushing and shoving in the box as
Leongīns Luško curled it in, and although
Chad Thach appeared to be bundled over by Gabriel Cortadelles,
Hwang Teck Fu emerged in pole position with Alessandro Nappo unable to hold his ground, and put Grilled Birds ahead once more.
Swärdbeck and the Springboks team had plenty to say about that, with their protests being both over Hwang's use of his elbows, and Savolainen seemingly being blocked off from an approach. It was all former Dragons Elite star turned referee Feng Weicai could do to maintain order upon being mobbed, and he would consult the pitchside VAR replay for what felt like an eternity, before confirming Hwang's goal.
Grilled Birds thus went into half-time in the lead, and the stadium commentators had a field day dissecting the referee's ruling through the interval. There was certainly no shortage of barely-legal physical contact as the corner kick came in, with the final consensus being that they had more or less cancelled out. Swärdbeck was probably the busier of the two head coaches at this point, and he would use his second substitution at the start of the second half, by bringing Sri Lankan winger Chiranjeev Muniyarayar in for Thomas Velankar - which also had Meitil taking over as Springboks captain.
If the intent was to stretch the Birds more, however, this did not come off as they had hoped.
Phillip Nagata had perhaps been overlooked with
Wu Ping De getting much of the early attention, and the Birds Number Seven was only too happy to correct any such misperceptions, with a rolling advance up the right. The penultimate move saw Nagata invite
Chia Kwang Tse to collect the ball on the fringe of the penalty area, before he personally delivered the coup de grâce with a stunning volley on the return, which made it 4-2!
The Springboks were the ones having to find the answers now, which Grilled Birds were understandably not eager to help them with. Vexingly for Sentoza, they were not exactly set up to win or hold the ball, and
Hisham Zubari in particular was well content with playing it back whenever no high-percentage pass could otherwise be found. Alessandro Nappo worked tirelessly trying to force the Grilled midfield into errors, but those were hard to come by.
Grilled were fine with looking for fouls too, and their forwards would find a couple in advanced positions through the 74th minute.
Leongīns Luško stepped up for both free-kicks, and nearly blew a support banner away with his ferocious hit from the 65th minute opportunity, that cleared the crossbar by inches. Luško would then go for a setup on the next one, but this was all too transparent for Iván Colunga, who inserted himself in front of
Chia Kwang Tse to cut the floated pass out only too easily.
The game would then burst back into life as Springboks got another goal back, with Colunga continuing his streak of heroism for his club. An extended run down the right flank seemed risky enough, but his exchange with Niels Meitil came off perfectly, and made
Ananda Hettiarachchi look amateurish for once. The ball then got to Sindhukamol in the middle, who lifted it back where it came from... right exactly where Colunga wanted it for a bicycle kick. There was no saving the powerful finish hooked straight into the bottom corner, and if Springboks were still behind, it was only by the scoreline and not by their aura.
Sensing mortal danger,
Dan Alstani chose this moment to make a delaying tactical change, which had
Wu Ping De come off for the stabilizing influence of
Lim An Keng. The Springboks support would be increasingly unamused as
Hwang Teck Fu delayed the restart for as long as he could, and Feng was about to book him when he finally played the ball back. The wait did wonders for dousing Sentoza Springboks' ardour, though, and
Phillip Nagata came agonizingly close with his effort from the edge of the box.
Still, a bare single-goal lead had to be entirely surmountable for the Springboks, who would pull out all the stops to secure the goal they needed. Alstani continued dragging it out with a well-timed exchange of
Mohd Marzuki Khairul for
Hisham Zubari towards the end of regular time, about when three additional minutes were announced. A failed dribble out of defence by Choong Yeng Aik finally decided the contest, as
Chad Thach unselfishly squared it to the better-positioned
Ananda Hettiarachchi to confirm a fourth Ruby Challenger Cup.
