Group H: What the coaches said...

AFC CUP 2009

MALE: Home United coach PN Sivaji is refusing to look too far ahead despite seeing his side take an important step towards qualification to AFC Cup knockout stages with a 1-0 win at Valencia on Tuesday.

Peres de Oliveria struck in the 68th minute to earn the Singaporean side a crucial three points that keeps them on track to progress from Group H.

Home have six points, level with Binh Duong and Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) and Sivaji believes it’s too early to say who will progress to the next stage.

“The teams in the group are very competitive,” he said.

“I must say Binh Duong is the strongest and PEA are also very competitive while Valencia could upset any team.

“We can’t be sure at this stage. We must take each game at a time.”

Valencia coach Jozsef Dzurjak declared himself proud of his players despite the defeat.

“I don’t think we deserved to lose today,” he said.

“We could have surprised the opponents and grabbed something from the game.

“My boys tried very hard and I am proud of them. I think today, the team performed close to their maximum level.

“We should understand that today’s opponent was really strong. They outplayed us in some periods of the game, but the team performed really well to stop it.”

Binh Duong coach Francisco Vital was pleased to see his side register their first win away as the Vietnam side defeat PEA 3-1 in Thailand.

"This game was against a big team, the players are very good,” he said.

"It was tough in the second half.

“We weren’t good but they were strong right from the start of the half. It proved that our players are good, we're doing well in the competition, with more games to come.

"I'm happy of course, when you win it's very good, I'm happy for the club and the players because it's our first away win in the AFC Cup.”

PEA coach Thongsuk Samphangsit admitted his side missed the contribution of Narongchai Vachiraban, who was suffering the affects of an illness.

“Our top player, Narongchai Vachiraban, has been unwell so he didn't play in the first half,” he said.

“We needed him and we were struggling to control the match.

“We conceded the first goal too fast. The pitch was bad and it halted our progress. We were trying hard to get the equaliser and trying really hard to counter attack, but the goals didn't come.

"We have to give credit to Binh Duong for their win."