SINGAPORE - Lion City Sailors’ maiden Asian Football Confederation Champions League (ACL) campaign, which ended with a 2-1 defeat by Daegu FC in their final Group F match, has only fuelled the determination of coach Kim Do-hoon and his players to keep improving.
A win on Saturday (April 30) would have seen the Singapore Premier League champions finish second in Group F and given them a shot at securing a historic spot in the competition’s knockout stages.
The group winners and three best runners-up from the east region’s five groups advance to the round of 16.
Instead, it was the South Korean side who thanks to their better head-to-head record, finished top of Group F with 13 points, the same as Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds, who hammered Shandong Taishan 5-0 in the other game.
Kim said: “It’s a very proud moment as a coach, it’s a very emotional night but what I can say is, we are going to move on and continue to play football and we’re going to get better.”
His side had bounced back from an opening 4-1 defeat by Urawa to beat Daegu 3-0 before picking up four points in a goalless draw and 3-2 win over China’s Shandong.
Their tally of seven points is the best showing by a Singapore side at the ACL.
SAFFC claimed one and four points in 2009 and 2010 respectively, while Tampines Rovers finished their campaign last year with six straight defeats.
Last night, Kim stuck mainly with the team that had shocked Daegu previously, with the only change being left-back Nur Adam Abdullah, who replaced Tajeli Salamat, while Daegu coach Alexandre Gama made six changes to his side.
After a relatively quiet start, the Sailors took the lead in the 26th minute when Song Ui-young controlled the ball on his chest from Daegu defender Kim Jin-hyuk’s clearance, before unleashing a shot with his right foot from 25 metres.
But in 54th minute, Daegu drew level after defender Hong Chul pinged a cross in from the left for Lee Keun-ho to bundle home from close range.
With 14 minutes to go, play was suspended at the Buriram Stadium in Thailand for about an hour due to inclement weather that left parts of the pitch waterlogged.
Five minutes after play resumed, Daegu were awarded a penalty after Amirul Adli brought Kim down in the box. Brazil forward Zeca placed the ball into the bottom right corner to put Daegu 2-1 up and seal their place in the next round.
Sailors skipper Hariss Harun said: “At the beginning, our target was to show that we are competitive. We have to acknowledge the gulf in quality and class in some of the games, but generally I think we were very competitive.
“You could see how the teams we played set up against us and it shows that they respect us.
“We have achieved our minimum target to be competitive at this level and we have to push on from here.”
