Smoked By Weeds
King Yasen
Grilled's East Europe - Asia Championship came to a screeching halt at the hands of Romanian fourth division club Joints Club, as Yasen Naydenov lived up to all expectations with a rocking individual display. The former Bulgarian U-20 regular took just three minutes to make a mockery of the Birds' so-called preparations against him, and although Grilled would retake the lead through some rapid incursions, it would be Naydenov and company who would last the distance.
He would take just three minutes to put his team ahead, in fact. It was all looking so fine for the Birds, with
Kalki Parvathaneni taking them forward, when a sneaky stuck-out leg by Iraqi Younis Radwan saw them on the wrong end of a counter.
Gene Filippone had some inkling of what was happening, but couldn't get near Naydenov as Radwan played it over the top;
Valentin Batâr dashed off his line, but was beaten by Naydenov's near-inhuman leap.
It didn't exactly improve for Grilled after that, and Naydenov might well have come up with a showstopper of a second in the 25th minute, when he swirled one straight back, after Batâr had been sloppy with a free-kick. Fortunately for Grilled's Romanian custodian, it would ultimately swing several feet wide.
And then, the reply. The Birds had been struggling against Joints' united back four, but it all changed when
Kalki Parvathaneni switched to simple pace, in the 28th minute. Even better, the central defenders had migrated over to the other flank, due to
Tian Yonghang making a nuisance of himself, which left Kalki with just about enough breathing space to get a successful strike in.
Seeing that,
Rinor Isufi went with the same tack when the ball was played to his feet two minutes later, and it worked again. Of course,
Ang Leong Kum's cultured touch, that curled the ball just outside Per Forshult's range, could not be underestimated, but Isufi nevertheless needed all of his acceleration to hold off the chasing Kazimír Bacík.
As might have been expected, Grilled tried to continue in like vein, but Joints were too good to fall for the same trick a third time. Not only that, leftback Ugurcan Okakin would claim some measure of satisfaction for being culpable in Grilled's first goal, as he won out against
Hoàng Trung Quá to convert a corner. The Vietnamese was adamant that he had been forced down, but the match officials weren't interested.
The second half saw
Moey Xin Seng come on for Tian, as
Djan Bacelar betted on the up-and-comer sparking the Birds to life, and he was nearly proven right almost immediately. Weaving a mesmerising spell with his first dribble off the bat, Moey found himself improbably getting inside Joints' guard... but his lob would, agonizingly, clatter off the crossbar and go behind.
At this stage, it wasn't too farfetched to see Grilled pulling it off;
Neeraj Muthyala was particular inspired on the left, though he did get a yellow card for hacking Falco Wermter down, and a double sub about the hour mark by Mats Gyllenquist didn't change much. Kalki looked odds-on to restore Grilled's lead, sliding onto Moey's clever roll-back, but Joint's Chinese goalie Fan Dongguo threw himself onto that just in time.
It would take something extra for Joints Club to get out of this, and it was lucky for them that they had just that - Yasen Naydenov. The Birds had forgotten their third-minute lesson by now, but then it was not as if anyone could have done much, with Naydenov in such a mood.
Gene Filippone looked like he was standing still when the Bulgarian opened his stride, and Batâr couldn't keep up with his quicksilver footwork either.
A fourth goal would arrive several minutes later, with Krisztofer Boczkó packing heat with his left foot, right before being taken off for Filipino Randolph Salcedo. The Birds were well and deflated by the sudden turn of events, and didn't managed to create any clear chances, before the ninety minutes were up.
