2008 AFC Cup

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AFC Cup 2008 will be the last edition in it current format under the AFC 5-year roadmap plan as both uniform teams SAFFC and Home United looked to make an impression in Asia before the S-league champion get a shot in the AFC Champions League next season.

S-league have been rewarded for it fine performance in the AFC Cup in the East where the league have seem seven of it previous eight representatives make it to the quarter-final stage and two of them had make it to the semi-final with a promotion to the qualifying round for the revamped 2009 AFC Champions League for the S-league champions.

So there was hope two of the best S-league teams assembled in recent time will make further inroad in Asia and make it to the AFC Cup Final.

But once again it was not to be despite the amazing start to the competition by both uniform teams in the group stage with S-league double winner SAFFC so impressive in their rout of the Hong Kong side Kitchee that they were dispatched in the first half with goals from Jamil Ali, Chaiman and Duric. The second period saw the Kitchee scored an own goal despite the Warriors taking the foot off the petal. For Home United, while the scoreline was nothing like SAFFC they played so impressive, without three of their regulars, against Hong Kong Treble Champions South China at Hong Kong Mongkok stadium that the Hong Kong fans and media were drooling over the performance of Brazilian Peres who scored two while creating the other for Shi Jiayi

Both sides did not let up in the next round one week later with SAFFC routing Perak 6-1 at Perak stadium in Ipoh with Duric netting four goals and nap yet another Warriors record as he overtook Mirko Grabovac as the Warriors top scorer in Asia with ten Asian goals (five goals from last season AFC Cup). Chaiman and Mustaqim scored the other two Warriors goals. As for the Protectors, they were no less impressive in their 5-1 demolition of Malaysia Treble Champions Kedah with Peres getting in the act again with two goals along with Kengne who also hit two goals while Ishak scored in between them.

The next two rounds will see Singapore side faced off against the Maldives sides and few expect any major setback in their quest for the knockout stage, even with the Warriors facing a blip in their form then in the league, but the Warriors nearly flumped as they only notched up a 3-0 win and a surprising 1-1 draw against New Radiant while Home United finished off Victory with a 2-1 in Singapore and a 3-1 win at Maldives.

Home United then got the job done in the next round with a crushing 4-1 win against South China with Ishak scoring twice with Indra getting the other as no team in their group could catch them now. As for the SAFFC, they were also more or less assured of a place regardless of the final round of results as they appear to sew up the best runner-up at worst with a 2-0 win at Hong Kong against Kitchee with goals from Duric and Ashrin.

Therefore it was no surprise when both uniform teams, using their reserves, lost their final round with SAFFC going down 0-2 against Perak but assuring themselves of top spot thank to a better head-to-head result against Perak Home United went down 1-4 to Kedah at Alon Star.

The quarter-final draw saw SAFFC draw Oman side Al Nahda while Home United got the recently crowned Indian champions Dempo.

In the first leg, both uniform teams achieved more than decent results as SAFFC defeated Al Nahda 2-1 with Duric hitting both goals while Home United achieved a 1-1 draw with Dempo thus gaining an advantage with an away and the second leg being held in Singapore.

Unfortunately both results came at a cost with SAFFC hit with two red cards to keeper Shahril Jantan and defender Hafiz Osman; which in the case of the second red card was considered to be more than unfortunate as Hafiz Osman got the ball and before that the defender had not even received a yellow meaning the referee gave a straight for a good tackle. For Home United, they lost their captain and defender S Subramani to injury for the rest of the season.

All this meant SAFFC had to push reserve keeper Toh Guo'An to the front line for the biggest game of career in a Warriors shirt but he could keep out the Oman team as Al Nahda scored three goals with yet another case of biased referring helping the West Asian side as Warriors Richard Bok, not known to lose his temper, hit out at the referee as he gave foul after foul to the opposition while refusing a penalty claim from the Warriors.

Home United felt the lost of S Subramani at the back as they were in six and seven whenever they were defending as no one took charge at the back to organise the defence especially when the Protectors were leading the game 3-2 before half time, although they were one man down with defender Valery Hiek send off, through two goals from Indra and one from Peres. They once again conceded the third goal moments before the half-time whistle dealing a terrible blow to the Protectors as it meant they had to adopt an open game in the second period instead of re-organising to shut the opposition out. They pay the price as late in the game Dempo scored to kill off Home United.

In a sense, it was a disappointing finish as both SAFFC and Home United had shown promise especially in the first leg in the knockout stage where the Warriors became the first local team to achieve their second win over West Asian sides showing the Warriors can match those from the West but a lacked of quality in the reserves shown through along with the help of the referee.

For Home United, it was a case of soft belly they seem to have developed under new coach P.N.Sivaji as not only in Asia did they throw a golden chance to advance, it was the same case in the league and the Singapore Cup where time and time they were thrown chances to grab the league by it throat and time and time again they choked.

They had further cement the ‘soft belly’ theory when like in Asia against Dempo, but in this case in the Singapore Cup, the Protectors show their self-destruct form in the second leg with them leading Tampines Rovers 1-0 from the first leg only to lose 2-0 in the second leg on their own turf at Bishan.

Nevertheless with the Warriors set for the AFC Champions League playoff in 2009, it looked promising for the time ahead as they have shown the New Asian Warriors, now under Richard Bok, are more than capable of taking on Asian sides unlike those earlier Warriors reign where they were chokers like Home United; who themselves are seem in reverse and lacked the steel of their previous reign like the 2004 side who had make it to the semi-final stage despite playing a tough quarter-final against Lebanon Champions Olympic Beirut.

Singapore representatives

AFC Cup 2008 – SAFFC

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
Group	SAFFC	4	0	Kitchee (HK)	11/3/2008
Group	Perak (Malaysia)	1	6	SAFFC	18/3/2008
Group	New Radiant (Maldives)	0	3	SAFFC	2/4/2008
Group	SAFFC	1	1	New Radiant (Maldives)	16/4/2008
Group	Kitchee (HK)	0	2	SAFFC	30/4/2008
Group	SAFFC	0	2	Perak (Malaysia)	14/5/2008
Quarter-final, first leg	SAFFC	2	1	Al Nahda (Oman)	16/9/2008
Quarter-final, second leg	Al Nahda (Oman)	3	0	SAFFC	23/9/2008

SAFFC Scorers

8 goals	Aleksandar Duric
2 goals	Therdsak Chaiman, Jamil Ali, Ashrin Shariff , OG
1 goal	Mustaqim Manzur, John Wilkinson

AFC Cup 2008 – Home United

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
Group	South China (HK)	2	3	Home United	11/3/2008
Group	Home United	5	1	Kedah (Malaysia)	18/3/2008
Group	Home United	2	1	Victory (Maldives)	2/4/2008
Group	Victory (Maldives)	1	3	Home United	16/4/2008
Group	Home United	4	1	South China (HK)	30/4/2008
Group	Kedah (Malaysia)	4	1	Home United	14/5/2008
Quarter-final, first leg	Dempo (India)	1	1	Home United	16/9/2008
Quarter-final, second leg	Home United	3	4	Dempo (India)	23/9/2008

Home United Scorers

7 goals	Peres De Oliveira
4 goals	Shahril Ishak, Indra Sahdan
2 goals	Kengne Ludovick
1 goal	Shi Jiayi, Farhan Farook, Rosman Sulaiman