In A Lost Land
Bel Of the Ball
Today's friendly hosts were Guinea III.1 favourites Atlantis SB, who had opened up an eight-point lead over second-placed Ratoma Firebirds with four rounds to go. Their unbeaten league run could not prevent a perhaps unfortunate loss on penalties to LinGUINE Africane in the semifinals of their national Sapphire Challenger Cup, however, with Portuguese midfielder Marco Carreira having his kick agonizingly blocked by Emmanouil Kitromilidis - who would go on to lift the trophy as an unused backup for Johny Verwimp.
Carreira would not feature today with Costa Rican player-coach Gilberto Hall rotating his squad, which meant that want-away Austrian star winger Bernhard Riedmann was omitted too. There would be quality out wide in their 3-4-3 in the form of José Leandro Robles and Norbert Scsitovics, that said, with Danish striker Kalle Keller their central option in attack, and many holding high hopes for 18 year-old homegrown forward Boubacar Bâ.
Neither would get to flaunt their repertoire much today with the Birds taking hold of possession early, though the first half in particular saw little enough football of note, what with the Waterfalls Stadium living up to its name after persistent showers.
Damian Hutter would find himself caked in mud after sloshing through to secure an opening in the 29th minute, but lashing the opener past veteran custodian Sadio Keleba was more than enough to make up for it.
The weather however continued to not cooperate, which was probably fortunate for Hall, who found himself outmaneuvered by
Virgil Huang all too often even with the poor ground conditions. It was then up to 19 year-old Saïdou Yeressa to marshal the defence on his first start at senior level, a task he prosecuted more by sheer will than any particular system. He would be booked after 39 minutes for booting the ball away after fouling
Kendell El Khateeb, who he had otherwise mostly kept tabs on.
The match only got going in earnest about now, as Grilled Birds moved rapidly through their gears.
Chad Thach came close with a diving header that Keleba just about clawed aside, which had Number 99 Svajus Andruškaitis enter for Keller in an effort to spice their offense up. Andruškaitis would nearly score barely a minute after coming on too, as he fired inches over after
Hisham Zubari's weak attempt off
Hwang Teck Fu's nod-on.
It was then
Houssam Belhocine's turn to shine, as the Birds looked to the Algerian arrival, who was on his first friendly for his new club.
Dahan Bok restarted quickly, and
Virgil Huang settled for a free-kick after a brief contest with Thony Hamelet. It was a fine choice, as Belhocine bent it in from fifteen yards... before coolly converting from the spot after
Kendell El Khateeb went down in the box.
Estonian referee Johannes Eesmaa would not be the most popular man in Waterfalls after the latter two decisions, and Gilberto Hall would not let him hear the end of it, as the twain disappeared down the tunnel for half-time - which also saw Belhocine move into midfield for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, apparently to help him find his hat-trick. Hall expended both his remaining substitutes too, putting Louis Somadouno and Saïdou Koffi on for Saïdou Yeressa and Thony Hamelet, next to himself.
The updated backline contributed some vigour if not man-marking ability, as Grilled went further ahead by the 53rd minute. It was 4-0 as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul ventured forward with the assurance of a defender largely untested, and came across
Chia Kwang Tse feeling productive. Chia's ball over the top came off his boot just right, and Marzuki knocked it on with his shoulder, to open some space for getting his shot on.
There was nothing that Sadio Keleba could do about this, but the Atlantis goalie's day was far from done. Grilled's young forwards remained eager to make their mark, and
Mason Glendinning finally found an in after doubling up against Hall together with
Virgil Huang. Somadouno kept him from encroaching by storming at him from the centre, however, and Keleba had an easy save with Glendinning having no angle to work with.
The match suddenly got distinctly unfriendlier about now, as Eesmaa had to deal out a spate of yellow cards - four in ten minutes, to be exact.
Chad Thach began the streak after some all-too-obvious shirt-pulling on Bahamas international playmaker Patric Taylor, and his booking in the 63rd minute drew ironic cheers from the Atlantis fans, who had precious little to celebrate otherwise.
The home side would be increasingly impatient about getting a consolation goal for their supporters, but there was simply not enough supply going; a frustrated Svajus Andruškaitis sliced
Hisham Zubari down in the 69th minute after getting boxed out yet again, and Boubacar Bâ joined him in the book seconds later, for deliberately delaying Thach's attempted quick restart. The second try had
Damian Hutter fire into the side-netting... and Louis Somadouno carded too, for shoving the Austrian as he was trying to recover his footing.
It was probably wise for the referee to signal a water break to allow tempers to cool about then, and
Dan Alstani contributed by pulling Hutter off for
Mohsen El Khateeb, just as he looked about to confront Somadouno on his own accord. With a potential disaster defused, the match continued with
Houssam Belhocine knocking it all the way back to
Dahan Bok, after which
Kendell El Khateeb struck a wonderful drive to bring Grilled's tally to five.
