In The Doghouse
Li Finale
This would be the first meeting between Singapore Big Dogs and Grilled Birds since the former won the Emerald Challenger Cup final from the latter by some margin three years ago, and the outcome would be unchanged - if attenuated towards the Birds. It would be a new-look 4-4-2 for the Big Dogs, with newcomer Niklas Sara up top alongside 33 year-old Estonian Raivo Liim, who had missed out on that final. Loyalists Kong Da Wan and Li Han Choon would now form their midfield core, and the similarly-aged Piet Wanga and Boris Agger remained at fullback.
Hwang Teck Fu would be the only Grilled player to start at forward for both matches, what with Gandhik Chitre already left, and
Lim An Keng withdrawn to midfield for today. In their place would be
Chad Thach and
Chia Kwang Tse, as
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko refound favour for this contest.
Ananda Hettiarachchi joined Hein and Lim in midfield, as
Johann Schwietzer replaced
Hisham Zubari at right centreback.
Unlike the final, it appeared as if Grilled Birds had the slight edge for this replay, as they held more of the ball for the first five minutes. Those welcome signs would turn ugly soon enough, however, as their defensive line was found wanting at the first asking.
Lim An Keng's ambitious through pass towards Chia didn't come off, which left Li Han Choon bearing down on the Birds penalty area within seconds. Li eschewed the expected final ball to Raivo Liim, and instead squared it to Kong Da Wan - who scooped it neatly over the advancing
Radomil Marcol.
Being one-nil down after six minutes had not been on the cards for
Dan Alstani, from his frown in the dugout, but he evidently felt it unproductive to make changes so early on. The match proceeded more cautiously with Grilled getting more deliberate in pushing men up, and it took until the 31st minute for their next big chance. Chia had the ball drop to him after a hashed attempt from
Chad Thach, but pumped it into the crossbar with Gonçalo Santa Clara throwing himself at it. Experienced Dutch rightback Piet Wanga wasted no time running the counter upfield, and a superb thirty-yard assist had Raivo Liim make it two.
Genki Nagano would be seen telling his teammates to keep their chins up as they went off for half-time, and indeed in terms of creative ability, the Birds were not far behind the hosts if at all.
Phillip Nagata, who had been relentlessly marked by Boris Agger whenever he advanced, finally caught the break he needed in the 49th minute, when the nimble Dane slipped halfway through a turn.
Hwang Teck Fu attacked the low cross but got held back by Gábor Lengyel, though that was no issue in the end as
Chia Kwang Tse converted at the back post.
Grilled were almost hit by another rapid Big Dogs counter scarce two minutes later, on which Chilean referee Raúl de Luelmo got heckled by the home fans after not booking
Mohd Marzuki Khairul for a seriously bad-looking tackle on Big Dogs skipper Justine Deng. French defender Tanor Kanoute waited patiently on the ball as De Luelmo dealt with the complaints, but his eventual free-kick was too conservative, and was caught handily by
Radomil Marcol after it dropped over the wall.
The sense of unfairness only grew more pervasive as the Birds continued to attack into the opposition half, with the match officials apparently giving them the benefit of the doubt on more than one occasion. Matters came to a head when German winger Thorsten Bradatsch - on his league debut - clattered
Phillip Nagata from behind after the Birds player had lost him, which got him a yellow card. The home fans were less unhappy about the booking itself, which had to be deserved, than that it did not appear to be applied to Grilled as well. The referee waved the protests off, though, and nothing came of the free-kick to the spectators' approval.
An equalizer was long in coming, and Grilled's best opportunity looked to have been wasted in the 82nd minute, after a deep Nagata cross was badly mishit by
Chia Kwang Tse with much of the goal open. Few of the travelling fans likely held out much hope as Alstani put
Hisham Zubari and
Paulino Trindade on for Marzuki and Ananda, as the clock ticked down... especially given that just one minute of added time was indicated.
Then, magic.
Paulino Trindade put his fresh legs to good use as he challenged Wanga to a straight race down the left, and eventually wangled a corner from the defender, after threatening to cut inside.
Johann Schwietzer sized it up as the Birds threw just about everybody up, with
Radomil Marcol also joining in the fun. In the end, it was usual suspect
Lim An Keng to rise highest, as Gonçalo Santa Clara couldn't fight his way through to him in time.
There would be another long stoppage as the enraged home team crowded De Luelmo to protest Santa Clara being blocked, but replays eventually showed that the goalkeeper had been impeded as much by his comrades, as the Grilled team. A final twist in the tale was in the making, however, as the Big Dogs arranged their own Hail Mary... that came off for once with Li Han Choon finding the winner from a tight angle, to send the packed stands into overdrive.
