Lion City Sailors no match for South Korea’s Jeonbuk in Asian Champions League

SINGAPORE – It was just an Asian Champions League (ACL) match but Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors gave the Singapore national team a taste of what to expect when the Lions travel to face South Korea in a World Cup football qualifier on Nov 16.

At the Jeonju World Cup Stadium on Wednesday, Singapore’s Lion City Sailors, with five national players in their line-up, were outclassed 3-0 by K-League 1 giants Jeonbuk in their Group F clash.

Jeonbuk started the game with only one foreigner – Japanese midfielder Jun Amano – along with South Korean internationals Kim Jin-su and Moon Seon-min, who were in Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad that thrashed Tunisia 4-0 and Vietnam 6-0 during October’s international friendlies.

The Sailors fielded six Singaporeans, including five who started in the Lions’ 1-0 win over Guam on Oct 17, and five foreigners – forward Richairo Zivkovic, winger Maxime Lestienne, centre-back Manuel Herrera Lopez, playmaker Diego Lopes and midfielder Rui Pires.

And yet the difference in quality between the South Korean side – who finished fourth in the K-League 1 regular season recently – and Singapore Premier League (SPL) side Sailors was stark.

While Jeonbuk created attacks with their neat passing, the Sailors struggled to cope with the tempo and barely strung together any notable attacking moves.

Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic admitted his team can only get better.

He said: “We played against a team with a lot of quality, a team that have won the ACL twice.

“I told the players, you learn a lot from this kind of games that help you become better.

“We can learn a lot about intensity, you can see Jeonbuk are used to it more than us. The positive thing is that we did not get any injuries and there were no red cards.”

Jeonbuk took the lead in the fifth minute when Amano unleashed a left-footed shot from outside the box into the far corner of the net.

In the 33rd minute, Lee Dong-jun’s cross was turned into his own net by Sailors defender Lionel Tan.

Jeonbuk added a third in the 57th minute through a tap-in by Moon after goalkeeper Zharfan Rohaizad parried a cross into his path.

Rankovic said: “When you concede two easy goals, you know it is going to be a very long evening.”

In April 2022, the Sailors pulled off a shock 3-0 win against South Korean side Daegu FC during an ACL group-stage encounter, but there was no hint of any surprise upset on Wednesday, with the rest of the match controlled by Jeonbuk.

The Sailors are third in Group F, with three points from as many matches, while Jeonbuk have six.

Thai side Bangkok United lead the way with three wins in three matches, with their latest victory coming on Wednesday when they beat Hong Kong side Kitchee 2-1.

The Sailors will host Jeonbuk at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Nov 8.

Meanwhile, in Wednesday’s AFC Cup match, SPL side Hougang United were beaten 3-1 by Indonesia’s PSM Makassar at the Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium in Bali.

Makassar scored through Safrudin Tahar, Yuran Fernandes and Adilson Silva before Hougang replied in the 78th minute through Djordje Maksimovic’s penalty. The Cheetahs are bottom of Group H with three points in three matches.