Home United of Singapore and Chonburi of Thailand may have already secured their places in the last 16 of the AFC Cup but the stakes are still high for their final Group G clash at the Bishan Stadium on Tuesday.
Chonburi hold a one-point lead after their 1-0 home win over Yangon United of Myanmar two weeks ago, however, a victory for the Singapore Cup holders at home would Home United leapfrog the Thai club into top spot, which would mean a home tie in the Round of 16.
Second place in the group would mean a long journey to the Middle East to face the winners of Group E – either Al Shorta of Syria, Al Zawra’a of Iraq or Safa of Lebanon – in a one-off knockout match.
“Tomorrow’s game is crucial as we want to play at home in Singapore in the Round of 16 and not have to travel to the Middle East to play,” said Home United’s Korean coach Lee Lim-saeng
“We know about the quality of the teams from the Middle East and it will not be easy to beat them at their home grounds. That is why it is so important for us to get a win tomorrow.”
Lee will be looking for an improvement by his side over their performance at Chonburi in March, when they lost 1-0.
“When we played away at Chonburi, our players seemed nervous especially playing in front of their fans. But I think that they will play with more confidence tomorrow. We are more familiar with our ground and I feel we can get a good result on our pitch,” he added.
“We were unable to play in our preferred style against Chonburi in the first match because they played better than us but we will try to impose our game tomorrow. It is an important game and we cannot give up.”
While Chonburi are unbeaten in the AFC Cup this year, they have not been at their best on their travels, drawing their matches in Myanmar against Yangon United and in Hong Kong against Citizen.
“We have had problems in our recent away games that we need to improve on,” said coach Withaya Laohakul. “We have not played well in those games but tomorrow we will have to try and play at our best.
“We have a couple of players, Therdsak (Chaiman) and Ludo (Kengne Ludovick) who have played in Singapore before and can provide us with the benefit of their experience. Therdsak is very experienced and I believe he can control tomorrow’s game.
“We will also have (left-back) Anucha Kitpongsri, our best player on the left, available again after his ankle injury.
“We will try our best because we have set a high target for our club. We beat the eventual champions (Nasaf) last year but this year, we aim to reach the final.”
The other Group G game takes place in Myanmar, where Yangon United will entertain Citizen, seeking their first ever win in the competition.
However, Yangon’s preparations for the match have not been helped by the absence of the injured foreign duo of Mladen Ristic and Milan Jovanovich and the suspensions of defenders Nikola Karchev, Aung Thaik and Yaza Win Thein.
“It is going to be very difficult for us tomorrow because we have lost five our first team players for the match,” said coach Eric Williams. “Our reserves will have to give their best but we will try our best to get our first win in the group.
“This is our first year in the AFC Cup and I think that the players have learned a lot from the experience. Now our target is to try to win our national league this year and qualify for the AFC Cup against next year because with a year of experience behind us, I think that we will improve in the competition next year.”
For Citizen coach Chu Kwok Kuen, the main concern will be the heat of Yangon for the afternoon match at the Youth Training Centre.
“We have no suspensions or injuries so we will be able to field a full-strength side tomorrow,” he said.
“However, I am worried about the weather because the conditions are very different from Hong Kong. It is very hot here and the kick-off time of 3.30pm will make it very difficult for our players who are not used to playing in the afternoon.”
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