Tampines Rovers book ACL2 q-final berth after 3-1 second-leg win over Cong An Ha Noi

SINGAPORE – Just last week, BG Tampines Rovers’ AFC Champions League Two (ACL2) campaign was as good as over after being outclassed 4-0 by Cong An Ha Noi at the Hang Day Stadium in Hanoi.

But on Feb 18, the Singapore side’s players embraced one another in joy at the final whistle after a 3-1 last-16, second-leg win over their 10-man opponents at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

With the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) overturning the first-leg result and awarding a 3-0 win to Tampines instead, after ruling on Feb 17 that the Vietnamese side had fielded two ineligible players, the Stags progressed to the quarter-finals 6-1 on aggregate.

The ineligible duo were Australian midfielder Stefan Mauk and Brazilian winger Rogerio Santos, both of whom should have been suspended after collecting three yellow cards in the group stage.

Tampines’ interim coach Robert Eziakor, who described it as a “very intense” match, credited his charges for sticking to the game plan.

He added that they had learnt their lessons from previous encounters against Cong An. Besides the 4-0 result which was annulled, the Singapore side were also trounced 6-1 by the same opponents in the Asean Club Championship group stage on Feb 4.

“We have played these guys twice and we conceded 10 goals,” said Eziakor. “So we had to minimise the goals conceded. We made it difficult for them and made it count when it mattered.”

On how he got his team to focus on the task after the brouhaha in the last few days over the validity of the first-leg result, Eziakor said: “We told the players not to think about it. We said that what we needed to do was to improve from the past games. We learnt from our mistakes and the home game also helped us a lot.”

The Stags will face Thailand’s Bangkok United or Australia’s Macarthur FC in the two-legged quarter-finals on March 5 and 12. The Thai side lead 2-0 after the first leg, with the return leg in Sydney on Feb 19.

The last time that the Stags made the last eight of a continental competition was in 2016, when they exited the AFC Cup, the previous iteration of the ACL2, in the quarter-finals.

While Tampines had a 3-0 head start, it did not look like it would be a straightforward night.

The Stags had to hand 16-year-old American goalkeeper Kasey Rogers his senior debut, after No. 1 custodian Syazwan Buhari was ruled out due to a head injury.

The Singapore American School student was barely troubled but kept his composure when needed.

While Cong An started the game controlling much of the possession, it was the hosts who took a shock lead in front of 1,701 fans.

On 36 minutes, Shah Shahiran’s cross was met by Japanese forward Hide Higashikawa, whose header found the back of the net.

The visitors’ task became near impossible in the 55th minute when Brazilian winger Leo Artur received his marching orders for violent conduct.

South Korean referee Kim Yu-jeong, who initially showed him a yellow card, later dished out the red card instead after she was referred to the pitch-side monitor by the video assistant referee (VAR).

It got worse for Cong An on the hour mark when Higashikawa doubled the Stags’ lead.

After a Cong An goal was disallowed due to a foul on Jacob Mahler in the build-up, Higashikawa ran at goal and unleashed a peach of a strike from outside the box for his sixth goal of the competition.

The Vietnamese side pulled one back from the spot in the 77th minute when Brazilian forward Alan tucked away a penalty kick after Mahler had fouled him in the box.

But Maltese international Trent Buhagiar put the result beyond doubt two minutes later when he latched on to a through ball from Shuya Yamashita and finished with aplomb.

Cong An coach Mano Polking admitted that it was an uphill task to overcome a 3-0 first-leg deficit, which meant having to break down a defensive side.

The Brazilian said: “We knew it would be difficult but, of course, we were hoping we would come back. Congratulations to them (Tampines) because their approach was good and smart.”

On the player ineligibility saga, he said: “I can guarantee you, that with us, this will not happen again.

“I hope that all the teams will get a little bit more alert. It should not happen again.

“There was a very clear document (from AFC) saying that the players could play. But still it is our mistake. I’m just saying that the paper didn’t help someone that is already making a mistake.”

Tampines have now got the better of some of the region and continent’s elite. They notched five wins and a draw, to emerge as winners of Group H, which featured former Asian champions Pohang Steelers of South Korea, Thai side BG Pathum United and the Philippines’ Kaya-Iloilo, before they got the better of Cong An.

For now – with the mix of fortune off the pitch and grit on it – Tampines’ journey in the ACL2 will go on as they look to claim more scalps.