Valiant Warriors run Suwon close

Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com

SAFFC closed out their maiden AFC Champions League campaign with their pride intact as they made Suwon Samsung Bluewings sweat for their 3-1 win on Tuesday evening.

The result was enough to put the Koreans through into the Round of 16 as Group G runners-up – but it was a victory that almost never happened.

Aleksandar Duric scored late in the first half to cancel out Bae Ki Jong’s fifth-minute header, and even though Lee Sang Ho made it 2-1 just before the interval, the Warriors ran their hosts close to keep the match on a knife’s edge.

Only a late ejection for Shahril Jantan’s professional foul allowed Suwon to seal the match with a penalty conversion – but Singapore’s most successful side had already left a deep impression among spectators for their never-say-die attitude.

Former Korean legend Cha Bum-kun rolled out several of the big guns who had not travelled to Singapore in March, as the likes of Lee Woon Jae, Song Chong Gug and Li Weifeng all took to the field.

They faced an SAFFC side missing Thai midfield maestro Therdsak Chaiman, but Park Tae Won was pushed up to partner Duric in attack as Richard Bok made clear his men were not just there to make up the numbers.

Shaiful Esah and Hafiz Osman were also brought back into the starting eleven after getting substitute roles against Shanghai Shenhua two weeks ago, but the latter took a while to get into the swing of things.

It was his defensive lapse just five minutes in that allowed Suwon to seize the advantage, as he committed too early against Hong Soon Hak and gave the latter space for a cross.

Once Hong was let through, the centre was under pressure, and Bae, covering for the injured Edu, was able to break through and nod the ball emphatically past Shahril.

Conceding an early goal was by no means the best of starts for SAFFC, but it helped them focus and settle down quickly for what was expected to be an arduous task ahead.

As anticipated, the Koreans moved quickly to get the ball forward, hoping to get their attacking players into dangerous positions as swiftly as possible.

But the manner in which Cha’s men were rushing themselves hinted at desperation rather than self-assuredness, and the man due to turn 56 on Friday was a tense figure on the Suwon bench.

Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin’s shot on 15 minutes and a close call for Park Tae Won on 24 left Cha even more nervous, and he felt compelled to make his first change after 31 minutes, bringing winger Kim Dae Eui on for the more defensive-minded Park Tae Min.

That did not deter the Warriors as they pressed in search of the equalizer, and they got it three minutes before the interval.

Shaiful was the architect as he delivered a sweet free kick with his cultured left foot, and Duric, amazingly left unmarked, rose well to head the ball past Korea’s top custodian.

It was the 38-year-old’s first goal in Asia’s premier club competition, and the combination of joy and relief on his face was obvious as he raced back to the centre circle.

SAFFC’s celebrations were short-lived, though, as Kim floated in a free kick on the stroke of half-time that Lee Sang Ho did well to nod past Shahril.

But if the Bluewings were looking for reassurance in the second half, they did not look like they were about to get it, as they kept on rushing their shots when cooler heads would have fared much better.

Bae blasted high from just inside the six yard box less than 60 seconds into the second half, and he was almost made to pay for that miss when John Wilkinson fired a left-footer wide from the edge of the area following a poorly-headed clearance.

It was then left to the Warriors backline to live up to their part of the bargain, as they stood resolutely to thwart their hosts time and time again from free kick situations.

Shaiful then forced Lee Woon Jae into a near-post save on 68 minutes with a direct free kick, before sending the resulting corner onto the crossbar with Lee left scrambling.

Increasingly unnerved by his opponents’ lionhearted display, Cha, who had already mobilized Baek Ji Hoon in Song’s place, decided to go for broke and send Seo Dong Hyeon on for a tiring Choi Song Hyeon with 15 minutes to go.

Seo almost made an immediate impact when he stormed into the Warriors’ penalty area and looked set to turn the two defenders facing him, but he took far too long and eventually lost sight of the goal as he blasted high.

But he was given a golden chance in injury time, when Shahril was adjudged to have brought Bae down in the box and conceded the penalty and a red card.

On came Toh Guo’an to take over the goalkeeper’s duties for the first time in the tournament, and he read Seo’s run the wrong way as the 23-year-old tucked the penalty away to settle the Bluewings’ nerves.

Yet having to wait until injury time to truly seal the match underlined just how hard Suwon had it against the group’s supposed whipping boys – a label that proved far from fitting for SAFFC as they bowed out of the Champions League with their heads held high.

Suwon Samsung Bluewings: Lee Woon Jae; Song Chong Gug (Baek Ji Hoon 61’), Lee Jae Sung, Li Weifeng, Yang Sang Min; Park Tae Min (Kim Dae Eui 31’), Park Hyun Bem, Choi Sung Hyeon (Seo Dong Hyeon 75’), Hong Soon Hak; Lee Sang Ho, Bae Ki Jong.

SAFFC: Shahril Jantan; Hafiz Osman, Daniel Bennett, Kenji Arai, Shaiful Esah; Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin (Toh Guo’an 90’), Masahiro Fukasawa, John Wilkinson, Mustaqim Manzur; Park Tae Won (Zulfadli Zainal Abidin 77’), Aleksandar Duric.