Edu on the double as SAFFC pay penalty price

W.Ng
info@sleague.com

Brazilian Edu notched a brace, the first a game-turning penalty, to hand Suwon Samsung Bluewings a 2-0 win over SAFFC and send his side top of Group G of the AFC Champions League.

Coupled with Japanese champions Kashima Antlers’ 2-0 defeat of Shanghai Shenhua, the Koreans now lead the group with maximum points, with the Warriors still looking for their first points of the competition.

Credit must go to the S.League champions, who were harshly undone by a dubious penalty on 65 minutes after proving beyond doubt their tacit refusal to be over-awed by their opponents in the first ever ACL game on Singaporean turf.

Keeper Shahril Jantan, in particular, was outstanding between the sticks, and the scoreline could certainly have been wider if not for a string of fine saves by the custodian.

Lee Woon Jae, Song Chong Gug and Kim Dae Eui, all first-team regulars and members of the South Korea squad that progressed to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup, had been left in Korea together with new Chinese signing Li Weifeng as coach Cha Bum-Kun stated his intent to challenge on both the domestic and regional fronts, and the former Bayer Leverkusen player was almost made to rue that decision.

Admirably, the Warriors more than held their own for the first 45 minutes against a side widely expected to make light work of them, given the way they dispatched of Japanese giants Kashima Antlers in their opening ACL fixture.

That the hosts were not behind by the half-time whistle could be attributed as much to their own industry as to the visitors’ putting in a performance that did little justice to their own lofty standards.

Gone was the flair. Decidedly absent was the usual attacking verve. Edu was understandably one of the men tipped to shine, but the Brazilian and left wing-back Yang Sang Min, among others, slipped and slid as they struggled to come to terms with the artificial Jalan Besar turf in a tepid start to the encounter.

The early chances predictably fell the way of the Koreans, with Edu and Yang foremost among their creators – and only some horrific finishing by Seo Dong Hyeon prevented their side from taking the lead on 10 minutes.

Picking up the ball on the left, Edu whipped in a cross that Japanese centre-back Kenji Arai made a hopeless attempt to connect to with his outstretched foot. Seo had all the time in the world to bring the ball under control – and inexplicably fire wide from five metres out with Shahril left completely stranded by his defence.

In departure from custom, the Brazilian played provider again on numerous occasions, outmuscling Shaiful before supplying a cross that Yang spins wide on 12 minutes, while Lee Sang Ho’s header went harmlessly over after Edu had been granted too much space by Arai and Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin to cross from the left.

The powerful forward did manage to get into the box to connect with a cross some time later, but his header went wide of the post under close attention from Daniel Bennett and Razaleigh Khalik, who had been given the nod at right-back in place of the suspended Hafiz Osman.

So tame was SAFFC’s approach to the opening stages of the game that their first foray into the box was denied by an errant Aleksandar Duric, who had strayed offside, but the seven-time S.League champions, emboldened by a home crowd growing in volume, grew in confidence as the game wore on.

Receiving a short pass inside the centre circle from Park Tae Won on 31 minutes, Latiff drove a long cross-field pass into the path of Therdsak Chaiman on the right wing.

The Thai midfielder’s cross into the box hardly troubled reserve keeper Park Ho Jin, but it gave hope to the noisy local crowd and the Warriors kept up the tactic, with a variety of players sending long, searching passes in search of SAFFC’s in-house Korean on the right.

Park’s relative lack of pace, however, saw his younger countryman Yang steal a march on him nearly every time, and it was from a different source that SAFFC’s next opportunity to break the deadlock came.

The bounce on Arai’s long lob upfield was misjudged by centre-back Jorge Luiz Alves Justino, and the prowling Therdsak burst forward, urged on by the Warriors fans. The threat, however, was easily extinguished by the combined efforts of Alves and Yang.

Warriors captain Duric, whose most apparent contributions to the game up to that point had come from a stream of offside calls, saw his first effort of the night go straight into the stomach of custodian Park, while on the other end, Shahril did well to parry Seo’s shot over two minutes later after the forward had found enough space on the left side of the box to rifle in a shot.

With 59 minutes gone, Duric’s through-ball into the path of the surging Latiff was swung into the centre of the box in an attempt to locate John Wilkinson, but the pass was well cut out by visiting captain Kwak Hee Ju.

Almost immediately, substitute Cho Yong Tae latched on to a long ball and fired in a shot from inside the penalty area, but Shahril reacted well to get down and palm his shot away and three minutes later, the keeper distinguished himself again, brilliantly parrying over the crossbar to deny half-time sub Baek Ji Hoon’s fierce drive.

And then came the spot-kick decision that the home side would have justifiably felt hard done by.

Bennett was adjudged to have handled in the box, and despite what looked like an initial decision for play to continue, Saudi referee Khalil Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi eventually succumbed to the linesman’s flagging.

Confusion reigned in the box momentarily as the men in blue contested the decision, but Edu, whose arm-flailing moments ago has been matched in intensity only by the frantic waving of the linesman’s flag, eventually stepped up to send Shahril the wrong way from the spot.

It was a cruel turn of events for SAFFC, who surely deserved more for their resolute defending.

The goal seemed to take the wind out of the hosts’ sails, and final substitute Lee Gil Hoon’s drive came crashing back off the upright with 20 minutes remaining – but the Bluewings had to wait just one more minute to double their lead.

Latching on to a pass into the box, former VfL Bochum striker Edu shifted his weight to leave Arai for dead before firing in a shot into the roof of the net, leaving Shahril with no chance.

Shahril had to be alert to turn Lee’s stab at goal on 78 minutes round the post, and then again a minute into extra-time when his point-blank save from Baek kept the scoreline respectable.

Post-match, the penalty decision was one that polarised the two camps.

“I thought we were doing well defensively until what looked like a harsh penalty to me,” said a visibly displeased Richard Bok.

“It certainly changed the game and broke our spirits a bit, but I thought we gave a good account of ourselves, and I want to congratulate the team for playing to instructions and giving 100%.

“The referee thought play should go on, but the linesman flagged for it, which I felt was very, very harsh. We were in control of the ball, and suddenly the flag was up for a penalty, which definitely changed the game.

“Up to that penalty, I thought we could have held out for a draw.

“Our plan was to soak and counter-attack, which we did well until the harsh penalty, which broke the team down.”

Bok also highlighted that he felt the gulf between the two sides lay not in terms of quality.

“Their squad has 36 players, mine has 22, of which 17 are registered for the S.League.

“So you can see the difference in terms of things like budget. But we will give our best in the remaining four matches.”

Cha, meanwhile, struck a discordant note about the spot-kick.

“I would question why the referee did not call for the penalty more quickly; it was definite.”

The Korean also repeatedly cited the weather and the artificial turf as factors that had hampered his side throughout the game, but pointed out that he was satisfied by the scale of his side’s victory.

“Today we are very happy to have won by two goals as planned. We are very satisfied with that.

“As a person watching the game, I felt it was very hot, and for the players it was much worse.

“In the first half we were getting used to it, so we found it difficult to score, but we were satisfied to have done as planned in the second half, when we brought on players to add some strength and power to the team.

“We couldn’t score more perhaps because of the weather ad the turf, and I’m glad we didn’t bring some of the older members of the team, who would have been exhausted. We brought the younger ones, who could adapt faster.

“Given the weather and the turf, 2-0 was good enough for us.

“The younger players may have trained on an artificial field before, but they have never played a real match on it, and it is very different when you play matches on it week in and week out.”