SAFFC 0-2 Suwon: Edu double shoots down Warriors

Singapore Armed Forces' Thai midfielder Therdsak Chaiman battles with Kwak Hee-ju in the Warriors' ACL clash with Suwon. (AFP)

SINGAPORE – Brazilian forward Edu scored twice in the second-half as Suwon Bluewings broke the resistance of Singapore Armed Forces to secure their second consecutive victory in Group G on Wednesday.

Edu broke the deadlock at the Jalan Besar Stadium with a 65th minute penalty and fired home his second six minutes later as the under-strength K-League champions finally made their superiority count against the battling but outclassed Warriors.

Despite making five changes from the team that trounced Kashima Antlers 4-1 last week, Suwon dominated possession and should have opened the scoring after 10 minutes when Kenji Arai failed to cut out Edu’s diagonal ball into the box, leaving Seo Dong-hyeon alone in front of goal.

The Suwon forward hurried his attempt though, sending his shot wide of Shahril Jantan’s right post.

Two minutes later, the ball was cut back from the right byline by Edu to Seo, who let the ball roll past him to an unattended Yang Sang-min and he shot wide from the edge of the box.

Edu headed wide off Lee Sang-ho’s cross in the 31st minute while Seo drove his effort from a narrow angle against the legs of Shahril eight minutes later.

SAF’s only real effort of the half fell to Aleksandar Duric who fired straight at goalkeeper Park Ho-jin from the left of the Suwon area in the 37th minute.

The Korean side continued to labour to break down the massed SAF defence in the second-half but just before the hour mark, Cho Yong-tae was sent clear by Lee Sang-ho only to see his shot superbly stopped by a diving Shahril.

Shahril made another superb stop to tip over Baek Ji-hoon’s free-kick shortly afterwards but the home side’s luck finally ran out when Suwon were awarded a penalty after Daniel Bennett appeared to handle the ball.

Edu coolly sent Shahril the wrong way from the spot to break the deadlock.

The goal eased the nerves of the Korean side and they nearly extended their lead in the 70th minute when Lee Gil-hoon’s shot from 20 yards came back off the left upright.

But a second would arrive just a minute later as Edu gathered the ball on the right of the SAF box and rifled an unstoppable effort past Shahril into the roof of the net.