Valiant SAFFC fall to Gamba Osaka in AFC Champions League football

By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

Jalan Besar Stadium, Tuesday, 23 March 2010 – Singapore Armed Forces FC fell 2-4 to Japanese powerhouse Gamba Osaka in a preliminary round AFC Champions League game.

It was a mammoth task for SAFFC to topple the 2008 AFC Champions League winners in their third game of this season’s Champions League campaign, but they refused to buckle as they put on a much more resilient showing compared to the one they put up two weeks ago against Korean powerhouse Suwon Bluewings.

The Warriors had to make a few changes this time round, missing Croatian defender Ivan Lovric through suspension as well as national team players Shaiful Esah, John Wilkinson, Noh Rahman and Uruguayan striker Federico Martinez.

Swedish midfielder Niklas Sandberg has to fill the void Lovric left in central defence. Meanwhile, Ahmad Latiff moved infield to partner Rhysh Roshan Rai in central midfield.

Japanese winger Taisuke Akiyoshi and Mustaqim Manzur lined up on the flanks, while 23-year-old forward Erwan Gurnawan started for the first time in the ACL alongside the experienced Indra Sahdan.

Gamba Osaka took the lead twice early at the start of both halves, with both goals coming from their forward Hirai Shoki, but SAFFC showed spirit worthy of their nickname, the Warriors, to come back twice to draw 2-2, with goals coming from the debutant Erwan and makeshift centre-back Sandberg.

It was the perfect birthday present for Erwan who just turned 23 three days ago.

With Ahmad Latiff stamping his dominance in central midfield, showing grit and determination in retrieving the ball and distributing the ball accurately to his forwards, SAFFC began to believe they could beat the Japanese outfit as they played the ball around confidently.

However, their dream lasted only till the 70th minute when the Japanese retook the lead through Sota Nakazawa and it was duly ended when Hirai Shoki completed his hat-trick on 82 minutes.

“When we scored our second goal, I thought we could hold them to a draw,” said SAFFC head coach Richard Bok at the post-match press conference. “But Gamba is a good side and we ended up conceding two goals.”

However Bok appeared very satisfied with the efforts of his players.

“I thought we played some good football and moved the ball around better than even in the S-League. We gave a really good account of ourselves,” he commented. “Hopefully we can transform this attitude, commitment and urgency when we play in the S-League.”

Bok chose to play down Latiff’s impressive performance, instead electing to give credit to his entire team.

“Latiff has a good game, but I felt the whole team rose to the occasion today,” he explained.

When asked what caused the downfall of his team, he elaborated, “I felt we lacked concentration in certain areas and the four goals could have been prevented as well.”

Meanwhile, his Gamba counterpart Akira Nishino also lavished praise on SAFFC, and singled out Ahmad Latiff as the standout performer. “SAFFC was very aggressive from the beginning, especially their number seven (Latiff). They were also quick and accurate with their vertical forward movement which made it hard for us.”

Despite finishing with no points to show for, SAFFC gave their all and ensured their reputation stayed intact.

They now lie bottom of the table with one point from three games, while Korean powerhouse Suwon Bluewings’ 2-0 away victory over Chinese debutant Henan Jianye means they stay top with seven points. Gamba stayed in second position with five points with Henan behind with two.

Richard Bok and his Warriors have it all to do now if they wants to keep their dream of qualifying for the knockout stages alive as they will play two of their remaining three games on away grounds.

They will have to show more of their fighting spirit as they face an even harder task when they face Gamba away in Osaka next Wednesday, March 31st, for their fourth match of the campaign.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the Warriors can get something out of the game!