Sylphy 6 - 6 [3 - 4 p.k] Grilled Birds
Winds And Yellow Lights
Bok Stop
China II.3 club Sylphy might have crushed Grilled International 5-1 in a friendly last season, but the Birds were a different proposition, prevailing on penalties. The Sylphy lineup today would bear little resemblance to the ultra-defensive 5-5-0 they had greeted International with, with only a few players such as midfielder Miao Ciwei, winger He Changfeng and fullback Florentino Villa making a return - with Miao and Villa moreover already placed on the transfer list by head coach Shao Shuntai.
The biggest change was probably in goal, with German defender Ingbert Weidentrift donning gloves after another first-minute subbing off of legend Zheng Shihong, necessary with Saudi starter Waleed Muthanna having just been sold to Croatian Division Three side Nk Zelenjak for about S$4.5 million. The Birds had put out a reserve in Japanese backup
Dahan Bok too, and would also give
Mason Glendinning and
Kendell El Khateeb well-earned starts in attack alongside
Chad Thach.
While Sylphy appear to be retooling their squad in anticipation of likely relegation, they retained considerable strength especially in midfield, where 29 year-old homegrown favourite Ha Bangde continued to hold sway as captain. His academy senior Nezimmemet Kahar appears to remain in Shao's longer-term plans, if with veteran Myanmar left winger Denpo Tun Kyaw possibly on the way out. Jiangsu star fullback Fan Weida is supposedly surplus to requirements too, despite just reaching his prime at 29 years of age.
Grilled Birds certainly did not have their usual wide threat with
Virgil Huang and
Houssam Belhocine filling in on the wings, which had the hosts go off on a flying start. They had not yet settled when Indonesian forward Diwan Cahyadi knocked a high ball down for debuting teenager Ma Dingguang, who kickstarted his senior career with a laser-guided curler, even as
Damian Hutter closed in.
Dahan Bok had no chance as the ball nestled into the far top corner of goal, which had Ma make for the corner flag in a frenzy.
It was soon going to get yet better for the youngster, whose pressing of
Mohsen El Khateeb in the eighth minute resulted in a poor clearance, that Cahyadi easily took down and then volleyed home from. Two minutes later, Ma would then position himself perfectly as Denpo Tun Kyaw made his run in from the left side, getting in between two defenders to stab it in. This made it 3-0 for Sylphy by the tenth minute, and marked perhaps the best debut for a trainee in some years - unfortunately to be witnessed by just four thousand in the stadium.
Grilled were taking the disaster surprisingly well, perhaps as this was merely an exhibition, and their more-experienced players were able to calm the others down. While Sylphy managed an almost equal share of possession, the Birds had their moments too, and it was
Virgil Huang's turn to shine. Making only his sixth appearance for the Birds, the 18 year-old first assisted
Hwang Teck Fu in the fifteenth minute, before powering an instinctive effort past Weidentrift in the 27th.
The match appeared a lot more balanced after that, and it was Grilled Birds who made to take the lead going into the interval.
Kendell El Khateeb wowed the crowd with extremely slick dribbling that sent Florentino Villa the wrong way on the half-hour, but this was not matched by his finishing.
Chad Thach demonstrated that art in the 35th minute with a decisive header to equalize, on a play that also had Miao Ciwei retrospectively booked for tripping Hwang in the build-up.
The stadium announcer would comment that those present were getting their money's worth after Polish referee Rafał Niburski blew for half-time, and this admirable state of affairs would persist after. Grilled made a tactical change with
Chad Thach falling back to allow
Chia Kwang Tse his time up top, but the undisputed star of the day had to be Ma Dingguang, who lobbed
Dahan Bok on a concerted Sylphy attack in the 64th minute. It remains to be seen whether this will convince Shao to keep him on, however!
Grilled answered that quickly enough with
Lim An Keng thumping a solid goal beyond Weidentrift's dive three minutes later, but the home team then threatened to run away with the game. A spate of near misses followed, including a convincing bid for a fourth by Ma, and then Ha Bangde's cutting free-kick that cleared the wall - and then the crossbar by inches. Their momentum would only be apparently halted after Ingbert Weidentrift fell awkwardly on catching a difficult cross in the 74th minute, which did allow another trainee Kong Jingyi to make an unexpected debut.
As it turned out, this did not slow Sylphy down at all, as Kong's first touch - a big goal-kick straight down the middle - reaped big returns too, as Ma's had at the beginning of the game. Nobody had picked up on He Changfeng after he sprinted away from
Houssam Belhocine, and with Cahyadi and
Mohsen El Khateeb tangling each other up on the bounce, He would be free to latch onto the now-loose ball, and he caught it on the half-volley brilliantly for 5-4.
There would then be another long stoppage due to a second injury to a Sylphy player, this time wingback Fan Weida, who had come off by far the worse in an accidental collision with
Virgil Huang. That had utility man Yao Mingchao fill in, with a brief to protect the lead for the thirteen-odd minutes remaining.
Mohsen El Khateeb had other ideas, however, and turned unlikely saviour with his warningless ripping drive from nearly twenty yards, to make it five-all!
Mohsen would not see out the game as
Dan Alstani replaced his back two for extra time, with
Toma Tamiya and
Fu Wenlong entering for him and
Damian Hutter. Sylphy made no move to contest the extension, and Grilled Birds were first to pick up the pace with
Hwang Teck Fu breaking through to put Grilled into the lead for the first time, 98 minutes in. That lasted but two minutes, as He Changfeng got his own brace after Miao Ciwei stretched the Birds irrepairably on the right.
It was penalties, then, and there would be a buzz at both ends, with Sylphy seemingly considering whether to have Yao take over as goalkeeper from Kong, considering that he actually has a record at the position. The teenager would ultimately carry on, and the hosts started off after captain Ha Bangde won the toss. Ha very responsibly volunteered himself, and faked
Dahan Bok out with his stutter run-up for an easy goal.
Fu Wenlong topped that with a cheeky panenka against the obviously-nervous Kong, who lunged at the right post even before Fu had reached the ball. The next four takers made no mistakes either, with Miao Ciwei and Nezimmemet Kahar placing their shots unreachably for Dahan, and
Houssam Belhocine and Bok himself converting for the Birds.
The equilibrium was finally shattered with Sylphy's fourth take, as Spanish fullback Florentino Villa took much longer than usual to arrange the ball on the spot. If that was intended to shake Dahan, it had the opposite effect instead, as Villa then crashed the ball half a foot wide of the left post.
Toma Tamiya took no risks with a textbook sweep to the bottom right to send Grilled Birds into the lead, which was enough as He Changfeng then shot straight at
Dahan Bok.
