Bailey Wright eyes history as Lion City Sailors seek Asian Champions League Two q-final spot

SINGAPORE – When Australian centre-back Bailey Wright made his foray into Singapore football in July 2023, the former Sunderland captain said he wanted to “leave things in a better place” than when he first arrived.

Looking to make history for Singapore Premier League (SPL) side Lion City Sailors, the 32-year-old can do just that on Feb 20 by helping the team reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League (ACL) Two, when the Sailors face Thai side Muangthong United in the second leg of the round-of-16 tie at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

The Sailors hold a one-goal lead from the first leg on Feb 13 in Thailand, where their 3-0 cushion was reduced to 3-2 following midfielder Song Ui-young’s second-half red card.

As the away-goals rule does not apply in this competition, should both teams be tied on aggregate after the second leg, two 15-minute periods of extra time will be played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if necessary.

At the pre-match press conference held at the Sailors’ Mattar Road headquarters on the eve of the match, Wright said: “We already have a history now of making history, so we don’t want that to stop.

“What lies ahead of us is another opportunity to make that happen. We want to do what no one else has done yet and see where it takes us.

“We’ve certainly enjoyed it so far, and we want to keep enjoying it.”

While the ACL Two is a new second-tier continental tournament that was launched this season, this is the first time in over six years that a Singapore side have reached the knockout stage of an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) club tournament.

The last team to do so were Home United, the previous iteration of the Sailors, when they were crowned Asean zonal champions of the AFC Cup in 2018.

On top of Wright’s goal-scoring prowess from set pieces – he has racked up six goals this season – his defensive nous will also be much needed as the Sailors look to keep a clean sheet, which they have managed just once in seven ACL Two games.

“I’m a defender, I want to keep clean sheets. Our goal is simple. We want to go win this game. Obviously, clean sheets certainly help and we’ll be working hard for that... we’re getting stronger and stronger as a defensive unit,” said Wright, who has 29 caps for Australia.

If the Sailors navigate their way past Muangthong, they will face three-time J1 League champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the last eight. The Japanese side thrashed Vietnam’s Nam Dinh 4-0 at home on Feb 19 to advance on a 7-0 aggregate score.

Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic declared that his team will not sit deep to protect their slender lead.

“It’ll be difficult to keep a clean sheet at this stage against quality opponents,” said the Serb. “Of course, we want to defend well, but we also have to respect the fact that the opposition has its strengths. In the last game, I felt we were very close to doing so before the red card.

“We’re not going to sit back and wait for the defence to do their job. We have to play our football. We have to attack, and we have to score.”

Muangthong coach Gino Lettieri was bullish at the pre-match conference as he hopes his side can show that they have learnt their lesson from last week’s sloppy showing in the first half.

The Italian said: “We didn’t come here for a holiday... we’re here to win and reach the next round. They (Sailors) have high quality, but in the second half... you could see the potential we have in the team.”

He also threw a barb at the Sailors, hitting out at what he felt was gamesmanship from the SPL side in the first leg.

He said: “I was a bit surprised by the style from (Sailors) that with every contact, they go on the ground, stay (down) for one to two minutes. I think they don’t need to do this. This is a good team, they (should) play football, play honest and enjoy the game. I was a little bit angry about this.”