Kashima Antlers vs SAFFC Report [5-0]

SAFFC overwhelmed by five-star Kashima

Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com

SAFFC’s maiden season in the AFC Champions League is set to end at the group stage, after J-League champions Kashima Antlers routed them 5-0 on Wednesday evening.

The result at Kashima Soccer Stadium put the hosts in a commanding position in Group G alongside Korean champions Suwon Samsung Bluewings, who beat Shanghai Shenhua 2-1 in the other group game.

SAFFC, needing a win to delay their elimination from the competition, trailed 0-2 at the interval as Takuya Nozawa and Shinzo Koroki finished off two beautiful moves.

But it was an early blitz in the second half that destroyed the Warriors’ resistance, Mitsuo Ogasawara and Yuya Osako scoring within five minutes of each other before Koroki grabbed his second 16 minutes from time.

Richard Bok’s men were dealt a blow before the start as Therdsak Chaiman’s fractured heel forced him onto the bench, while Shaiful Esah was declared suspended after AFC officials ruled his yellow card from the qualifiers carries over into the group stage.

Kashima meanwhile were missing the suspended Takeshi Aoki, but they responded aggressively by starting a three-pronged attacking line featuring Marquinhos, Koroki and the precocious Osako.

Unsurprisingly, the trio led the way in battering their visitors’ defensive line, although they lacked the sharpness to threaten Shahril Jantan early on.

Ogasawara floated a good corner on 12 minutes that the SAFFC players failed to clear, but none of the Kashima attackers moved into the danger area to take advantage.

The reigning S.League champions showed no fear in the opening minutes though, and John Wilkinson, who had missed the corresponding encounter in Singapore due to injury, was particularly eye-catching.

Assuming the role vacated by Therdsak, the 29-year-old ran on to a long pass by Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin, but the lone figure of Aleksandar Duric was insufficient for support.

Wilkinson was prominent again as he received another long, low play on 24 minutes with the Kashima defenders caught off-guard, but he could not find the pace to burst past Atsuto Uchida, who bundled him off the ball but was not penalized.

The decision left the Warriors wondering what could have been, and that point was highlighted when the hosts went ahead a minute before the half-hour mark.

Leftback Toru Araiba floated a lovely cross, and Zulfadli Zainal Abidin was caught with his eyes on Koroki, who was running towards the near post.

Behind him, though, Nozawa was allowed to charge towards the far post unnoticed, and the midfielder planted a firm header Shahril had no response to.

Until then, the match had seemed potentially close, although the Warriors’ hasty, heavy defensive punts were a sharp contrast to their opponents’ more controlled, refined play.

But then Marquinhos blasted a shot just wide of the post three minutes after the opener, before Koroki showed good instinct to raise his left calf and divert Ogasawara’s rocket home eight minutes before the break.

The 22-year-old could have bagged his second before the half was over, but having done the hard part in turning past Zulfadli, he wasted a clever play from Osako by pulling his shot wide across the face of Shahril’s goal.

Still, the momentum was clearly with the Mighty Herd of Ibaraki, and they were quick off the blocks once again as they doubled their 2-0 lead just minutes into the second half.

Shahril had done well to foil Koroki on 50 minutes, but the defenders were left in a mess as Kashima skipper Ogasawara swept his follow-up shot home.

Osako then ensured there was no way back for the Warriors when he tucked a simple finish past the former Singapore goalkeeper, although there was a suspicion of offside when the teenager had received Nozawa’s deceptively simple through pass.

With the job practically done, Oswaldo de Oliveira decided to rest a few of his stars as Uchida, Nozawa and Marquinhos were substituted one by one.

Koroki was still on the field though, and the Japan international showed good close control on 74 minutes to beat Hafiz Osman in the area before tucking the ball home from a narrow angle before Shahril could hit the turf.

Five goals down and desperately hoping to find a consolation strike, SAFFC were clearly flagging even before the final whistle had come.

Latiff, so often inspirational in the S.League, was visibly spent against classier opposition as he could conjure no more than speculative long shots that were mostly off the mark.

The peroxide-haired man was not the first to be withdrawn, though, as Mustaqim Manzur suffered from cramp in both legs and had to be replaced on 76 minutes.

In his place came defender Razaleigh Khalik, a hint that Bok had admitted defeat even in the small objective of finding a way past the untroubled Hitoshi Sogahata.

Wilkinson’s night turned sour seven minutes later when he picked up his second yellow card of the tournament, a pity for the best outfield player for SAFFC on the evening.

But even his best was not enough for the Warriors to salvage some pride from the game, as they were outclassed by the Japanese kingpins’ remorseless, convincing display.

Kashima Antlers: Hitoshi Sogahata; Atsuto Uchida (Chikashi Masuda 57’), Daiki Iwamasa, Go Oiwa, Toru Araiba; Takuya Nozawa (Masashi Motoyama 57’), Mitsuo Ogasawara, Park Joo Ho; Yuya Osako, Marquinhos (Ryuta Sasaki 68’), Shinzo Koroki.

SAFFC: Shahril Jantan; Hafiz Osman, Daniel Bennett, Kenji Arai, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin; Park Tae Won, Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin (Syed Karim 88’), Masahiro Fukasawa, John Wilkinson, Mustaqim Manzur (Razaleigh Khalik 77’); Aleksandar Duric.