Xameron Zapped
Won Wakes
Swiss Division Six side Xameron FC 1982 made their first showing in the Worldwide Allgäu-Guests III tournament, after yielding the first two rounds to walkovers, and duly got run over by a bubbly Grilled XI. It could have been worse had it not been for the heroics of Polish keeper Andrzej Koniarek, who kept all too many potshots at bay.
Neeraj Muthyala found his way back into the starting lineup despite his sending-off in the last match, as
Djan Bacelar kept squad rotation in mind.
Moey Xin Seng was pushed out to the left, with
Low Aik Jia's fitness still in question, and
Yuki Irie got dropped back into defence.
Grilled had been making something of a habit of quick starts lately, and today was no exception, with
Clark Won putting them ahead within four minutes. He accompanied
Clément Meyer on a raid upfield as the forwards obligingly drew Xameron's defenders coming the other way, and then neatly chipped Koniarek after Meyer's blocked shot rolled invitingly to him.
A spate of saves then followed with Slovenian centreback Klemen Lovro not quite managing to stem the stream, with
Rinor Isufi's non-stop bustling around taking its toll on the Xameron backline. This would lead to Won managing another clean strike, as Zhao found him with a crossfield diagonal pass, but Lovro saved his team's bacon this time by putting his body on the line.
They would not get to half-time without conceding another, though, as
Moey Xin Seng found the back of Koniarek's net in the 37th minute, with a monster of a shot from well outside their penalty area. It was fine testament to just how many weapons the youngster had under his belt, and was roundly celebrated by his fellows.
It was more of the same after the interval, as Xameron demonstrated little of the ambition that had seen them take their last three league fixtures. Moey bothered Marian Kosiedowski mightily down the left, but had his attempted assists blocked by Koniarek, who in turn had Andrej Spasojević to thank for absorbing
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's powered lob at his abandoned goalpost.
There would be one more goal in this.
Tian Yonghang, just coming off a hat-trick against Mito86 FC, would trap the ball inside Xameron's six-yard box with great economy of movement. He would then make an unexpected turn to the outside and squeeze it in with his weaker foot, the very definition of a goal born of long experience.
Xameron did have a great opportunity to grab a consolation after that, with Lucio Amori tearing past
Ling Fuquan after Kosiedowski slid a clever through pass into space for him. Unfortunately,
Yuki Irie got over in time to force a premature cross, that found Mihail Zlatkov in an awkward position, and was ultimately sent spinning wide.
The match continued with
Kohei Okuya given a run-out, replacing a near-spent
Moey Xin Seng, and he had barely gotten on when
Ling Fuquan saw his try from long range deflected aside.
Domenik Bögengang finally came on for Isufi, but didn't even manage to touch the ball, as the referee blew the final whistle immediately after that.
