Striking Double
Hoàng Lets Loose
This Grilled side defeated their second Peiki club in The Global Trophy in a row, while picking up a third successive 3-1 scoreline, as they advanced towards yet another tournament final. There would yet be a twist, though, and that would be Vietnamese defender
Hoàng Trung Quá claiming two, with fellow centreback
Ling Fuquan making up the last.
Although the similarities between this Peiki and its offshoot, whom the Birds barely overcame last week, had been noted, they were if anything even more tenacious at the back; brought together by longtime goalkeeper Lajos Baranka, nicknamed "Panther" for his prodigious reflexes, and his able deputy - sweeper Tivadar Zatykó, it was questioned if a declining Grilled strikeforce were up to taking them down.
For their part, Grilled appeared to trade mobility for aeriel prowess, switching out
Rinor Isufi and
Wong Ping Shun for
Gennady Dvorak and
Neeraj Muthyala. And, of course, Hoàng would start due to the injury to
Gene Filippone.
It didn't even take all that long for the breakthrough. While Peiki were, as expected, meticulous in their coverage, they proved vulnerable to Grilled's mixed approach moving forward. Ten minutes in, Low nicked a corner off Csaba Mészáros at the left flag, and then got a leg to Dvorak's slightly-short delivery. Hoàng again was the one watching for just this setup, and he made not mistake with a blazing grounder that not even Baranka could reach.
Grilled's official attackers were, in contrast, rather poor, with
Tian Yonghang the main culprit as he fluffed a couple of great openings. This could be partially credited to Baranka, who closed the available angles magnificently both times. His most memorable stop however had him reach behind without looking to deny Muthyala's 22nd minute lob, while
Ling Fuquan probably only had himself to blame for his miss after Dvorak had done all the hard work.
Peiki were not without their own chances, and they might conceivably have entered half-time level, had their counterattack following Tian's first abortive effort worked out. This was stopped only by
Ang Leong Kum's trip on Bence Móra a yard outside the area, and Zatykó caught everyone unawares with a direct strike after Peiki pointedly packed the box. Luckily for
Wong Tian Han, the impressive banana kick only scraped the outside of the goalpost.
This was not too bad a state of affairs for Peiki, all considered, and they must have felt themselves in for a late recovery, as Grilled continued wasting their chances. After several tentative efforts,
Lee Lee Hao made his way through with a flashy turn of pace... only to muddle through the approach, and wind up all but running it out of play.
Just when Peiki skipper Csaba Bellovics was getting frisky, Grilled extended their lead. Sixty-six minutes in, after a lengthy and careful build-up,
Tian Yonghang threaded the needle with an outstanding square pass aimed at Dvorak. Zatykó would block his way, but the Argentine spotted another teammate out of the corner of his eye, and laid it on for
Ling Fuquan - who sidefooted it into the bottom left corner.
Lajos Baranka looked stunned at that one, and to be honest, the Birds players themselves didn't know that their defenders were capable of such precise finishes. Csaba Bellovics certainly wasn't taking any chances the next time Ling received the ball, and laid into him despite it being in his own half. Referee Song Jiazhong wasn't having that, and immediately got his yellow card out.
With time running out, Peiki began going for it aggressively, and discovered that they were actually pretty good at it. Instead of trying to hold it up, they started ripping it up at full pelt, and found Grilled ill-prepared to face that. Mészáros forced a magnificent save off
Wong Tian Han in the 70th, and six minutes later, Gyula Lopusni found the net with a flying header.
Their enjoyment was short-lived, sadly, no thanks to
Hoàng Trung Quá coming through the middle to cancel that out, with yet another faultless shot. Peiki would continue fighting to the last, but with Grilled now content with holding play up, there would be no way back for the Hungarians.
