They had to rely on canned tuna and frozen meat for four days, and were not able to contact their loved ones back home.
Home United's preparations were far from ideal for their AFC Cup inter-zone semi-final second-leg tie against North Korea's April 25 Sports Club in Pyongyang yesterday, and the final scoreline in part reflected this, as the 10-man Protectors side were walloped 9-1.
South Korean midfielder Song Ui-young scored in the 19th minute to give the Singapore Premier League side a dream start but the North Koreans proved too strong as they piled on the goals.
Home had defender Shakir Hamzah sent off early in the second half after picking up a second booking.
The result is believed to be the heaviest knockout-round defeat in the 15-year history of the second-tier continental competition.
After a 2-0 first-leg win at the Jalan Besar Stadium last week, April 25 progressed to the inter-zone final with an 11-1 aggregate win.
They will meet either Turkmenistan team Altyn Asyr or India's Bengaluru in the final. The winners will then meet the winners of the West Zone final for the chance to be crowned AFC Cup champions.
Home, meanwhile, were left wondering if they could have been more competitive with a smoother lead-up to the game.
The Straits Times understands the club requested halal food - 15 of their 18-man squad are Muslim - but were served non-halal food on more than one occasion.
This meant they had to rely on canned tuna, frozen halal meat, and other food supplies that they had packed from Singapore.
The team also had no access to Wi-Fi, and were unable to contact anyone back home.
Still, Home general manager Badri Ghent was proud of the team's achievement of reaching the final eight of the AFC Cup.
"When the campaign started, our expectations were managed because of the new Singapore Premier League age rulings (to field mandatory Under-23 players) and a reduction in foreign player quota (from three to two)," said Badri, who did not travel with the team to Pyongyang.
"We knew we had an uphill battle to maintain consistency in the AFC Cup, so to go one step further than we did last year is a remarkable feat.
"Credit has to go to the team, and we can be proud we have come this far."
