Previous wins count for nothing says Sivaji

HONG KONG - Home United coach PN Sivaji insisted his men will face a very different challenge in Tuesday’s last 16 clash with South China to the one they encountered when the two sides clashed in the 2008 AFC Cup.

The Singaporeans go into the game at Hong Kong Stadium as slight underdogs, a stark contrast to last season's group stages when they picked up two victories against the same opponents.

But South China have a new man at the helm in the form of Kim Pan-gon and he guided the Hong Kong outfit to top spot in Group F with an undefeated record.

“We managed to win both of our matches against them during the group stage last season but those results count for nothing now as they have a different set of foreign players,” Sivaji said.

“We’ve watched some of their games on video and what we can see is that they are direct side who play a compact game and work very hard as a unit. Some of those things were not evident when they played last season, at least not when they played against us.”

Defender Shahril Alias is suspended but skipper S. Subramani has recovered from a groin injury and is set to play.

However, Sivaji is conscious of the fact that his side has not had too much joy on their travels to date.

“We have not been good travellers this season as our only away win was against Valencia in the Maldives while we lost in Bangkok against PEA (Provincial Electricity Authority) and in Vietnam against Binh Duong, although both of them were quality sides of Champions League calibre,” he added.

“It will not be easy as this is a one-off game and they will have the home advantage. They have a perfect home record so far in this year’s AFC Cup and they will want to maintain that.”

South China coach Kim, on the other hand, believes Home remain dangerous opponents regardless of their away-day blues after they finished second in Group H, one point behind Binh Duong.

“Home United are a very good team, they have plenty of experience in AFC competitions over the last few years,” he said.

“I respect Home United, they don't concede many goals and they're strong on the counter attack. However, we found out their strengths and weaknesses in the group stages, so we will produce a good performance.”

Apart from the suspended Cha Siu Ki, Kim has a full squad to choose from and played down the forward's absence.

“It's not really a problem because we play as a team and we also have good cover, so we'll be fine.”