2003 ASEAN Club Championship
2003 can be considered a one-off season.
An entire AFC Champions League season was postponed as a new disease SARS
struck the East Asian region.
With the second
edition of the AFC Champions League postponed, that was only the 2003 inaugural
ASEAN Club Championship to look forward to for Singapore sloe representative,
SAFFC.
It was to prove
a big disappointment for
Therefore all
hope in Asia rest on SAFFC for 2003 and considering their track record thus far,
it is a worry for
The Warriors
have proven to be more than a disappointment in
Adding to the
worry were the Warriors form for 2003; with them having failed to get their
domestic season off the road. They had to make a number of changes to their squad
during the mid-season transfer window but as a result of that they could not
use the newly-recruited players for the ASEAN Club championship as it was after
the AFF deadline for player registration.
With a weaken
team, the Warriors were cruelly exposed in Indonesia when in the opening match
they crashed to a 0-2 defeat against M-league champions Perak but worse was to
follow in the next match against Brunei league champion DPMM. The Brunei
champion had been easily dispatched 7-0 over two-leg by the Eagles in the AFC
Champions League, a mere eight months ago, but yet the Warriors found
themselves 0-2 down against the same club with time ticking away. Then came the
most incredible last few moments as an own goal first gave the Warriors hope
with two minute left before Warriors captain Nenad Bacina equalised deep into injury
time. It meant the Warriors were through to the quarter-final as they had the
better goal difference when compared against DPMM, who lost to Perak 0-3.
Considering
what other S-league clubs could achieve against DPMM, it was a terrible result
for SAFFC and an embarrassing way to get into the quarter-final.
If that
not bad enough, after the final whistle Warriors midfielder Ahmad Latiff
foolishly got himself send off for retaliating to a DPMM player action. It was
unforgivable act for an experienced player like Ahmad Latiff and not to have
put his team interest first when taking his course of action.
The
Warriors was now further weaken for an important quarter-final meeting against
It was
therefore impressive that the Warriors went two goals up against Petrokimia
Putra with Jeyakanth Jeyapal grabbing both. What was to follow though was to
destroy the Warriors rhythm with crowd trouble erupting in the stands. The
match was stopped with the
No
doubt, the Warriors could cursed the crowd trouble for destroying their
momentum in a match they were running away with but it does not disguised the
fact they were a disappointment yet again.
Despite
reaching the quarter-final for the first time in their history, they had failed
to win a single match throughout the tournament despite among the opposition
was a side trounced by Eagles eight months ago. All the ASEAN Club Championship showcase was the
Warriors continued failure in Asia
After yet
another failed campaign, this time in ASEAN, it lead to question marks over
SAFFC desires and if they should be barred from Asia so that the slot would be
given to one more willing to fight for the cause.
2003 ASEAN Club Championship (
|
Stage |
Team |
|
|
Team |
Date |
|
Group |
SAFFC |
0 |
2 |
Perak
( |
13/7/2002 |
|
Group |
SAFFC |
2 |
2 |
DPMM
( |
17/7/2002 |
|
* Quarter-final |
SAFFC |
2 |
3 |
Petrokimia Putra ( |
20/7/2002 |
* After
extra time, Full-time score 2-2