Ffferi Fabulous
Abdul Saves Face
Although Grilled were always regarded as second-best going into the quarterfinals, Hungarian giants FC ffferi nevertheless hammered in their superiority to a greater extent than expected, as they flattened Grilled by seven goals to two in an exhibition of structured possession football.
Ffferi, who are currently battling in the top division having steadily risen from the fifth over some seventeen seasons, started with two deep-lying forwards in the Spanish style; Marian Dascălu and Pascal Daum often dropped so far back that ffferi had seven midfielders in practice at times, and their fluency at transitioning from possession meant that their attack didn't even suffer much for it.
With so much tied up in the middle, the opponents' strategy was to explore with low-risk raids down the flanks whenever space was to be found, and there was none better for that than former national winger Lehel Papp, whose frightening control at pace has allowed him dozens of national caps at both youth and senior level. His shooting is also up there with the rest, judging by his deadeye sniping into the top corner from outside the area in the ninth minute.
It was too early for the Birds to give up, and the reliable
Abdul bin Jantan defied ffferi by making an intelligent decision to shoot directly from a pass, catching goalie Juan Reyes wrongfooted. Cruel reality was quickly restored, however, as Papp outpaced a slowing
Alex Fonseca dismissively and got his side back in front.
Grilled had no real answer to ffferi's plan, at least not with their available personnel, and attempts to drag them into a slugging match dissipated with an inability to work the ball through midfield consistently. Local champions Madarász and Réti punished the Birds from wing attacks in the meantime, condemning them to a 1-4 scoreline by half-time.
The break brought no answers to Grilled, and it was a case of compensating with graft and hoping for the best. While their efforts could not be faulted, the technical gulf between the sides remained too wide to be bridged through heart alone, and Zoltán Braun made it wider yet with a close-ranged finish in the 56th minute. Next up was Pascal Daum, whose understanding with his strike partner resulted in a goal off a free-kick that looked near-effortless.
bin Jantan salvaged some additional pride, throwing his body at a rare cross from
Paolo Iten and bundling it into the net. There was a suspicion of handball, but perhaps in view of the overall situation, referee Detlev Mehler let it slide, and the ffferi players didn't protest too loudly either. They would in any case get the margin back to five goals as Marian Dascălu burnished an excellent performance with an 84th minute goal.
