KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 – It rained at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok that left the pitch soggy but the story of the night belonged to South Korean club Pohang Steelers who scored from three penalties for a massive 4-1 win in a Group G match of the AFC Champions League on Monday night.
The defeat was a painful one for the Southern Tigers, Malaysia’s lone flag bearer in the AFC Champions League.
JDT ended the first-round matches with only one win and will play Pohang Steelers in the return match at the same venue on Thursday.
It was another miserable night for JDT’s Brazilian hitman Bergson Da Silva, who once again muffed chances.
Argentine striker Leandro Velazquez gave JDT a 17th-minute lead when his attempt deflected off a Pohang defender and rolled into the net to give JDT a 1-0 lead.
However, JDT failed to ride on the momentum and 10 minutes later Velazquez went zero when he gave away a penalty.
Velazquez fouled Goh Young-Joon and Ukraine striker Boris Tashchy made no mistake from the spot to put Pohang back into the picture.
It was just what the Korean club needed and went into the break with a 2-1 lead after Mauricio conceded another penalty after 35 minutes. Skipper Kang Sang Woo converted a twice-taken penalty.
JDT was still very much into the game in the second half but conceded two late goals and it was game over.
Pohang scored through Kwon Gi-Pyo (82nd) and Im San-yeob, who hit home from another penalty in the first minute of added time for a 4-1 win to make up for their 3-0 defeat to group leaders Nagoya Grampus.
It was also a night when five JDT players – Matthew Davies, Afiq Fazail, Shane Lowry, Azril Nasrulhaq Badrul Hisham and Mauricio – picked up bookings.
“This is a great result from an important match after the defeat to Nagoya,” said Pohang head coach Kim Gi-Dong said after the match.
His counterpart Benjamin Mora had this to say: “We had the chances to score but we didn’t. The most important point is the effort of the players…they continued fighting.”
*(Pic credit to JST)
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