1999/2000 Asian Club Championship & 1999/2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup

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In the third year of S-league clubs involvement in Asian club competition, Singapore club football took a giant step backward when Tanjong Pagar United as Singapore Pools FA Cup champions rejected the chance to participate in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup citing financial reasons.

The chance then went to the runner-up Sembawang Rangers but a twist will further plunge Singapore football back to the dark pre-S-League days.

During the first Round draw, the Stallions got a bye into the second round and were then drawn against South Korea Anyang LG Cheetahs. Immediately after that, the Yishun-based club made the horrible and unjustified decision to pull out of the competition as they felt it was an impossible task against a North Asian team and they did not want a thrashing.

It was a complete shame as it is a replica of the days when Singapore clubs regularly snubbed Asian club competition due to the one reason or another but now in the professional age Singapore can no longer afford to keep to keep such mindset with the need to develop the sense to participate in Asian club competition for one and the S-league own good needed.

With matter as it is in 1999, the task of bringing glory to Singapore fell entire on the shoulder of the Warriors.

In the Asian Club Championship for the second straight year, the Warriors had an easy task in the first round as they went up against Cambodian champion Royal Dolphins. Even with eight players from the Cambodian national team in the Royal Dolphins, the Royal Dolphins were simply no matched for the Warriors. The match at Jurong stadium in the first leg saw the Warriors running riot against the Royal Dolphins, scoring eight goals in the process. Mirko Grabovac making his Asian debut grabbed five of the eight goals scored showing us why he was S-league top-scorer of the year. Progressing form the first round was now as good as won but another match still await the Warriors and they finished the job off in the second leg in Phnom Penh. The second leg match was much closer but the Warriors still won 3-2 with Fandi Ahmad scoring two goals and the deadly Mirko Grabovac grabbing another against the Cambodian champions.

After that, the Warriors was drawn against Thai Champion Sinthana in the next round and it was a good chance to put things correct for Singapore clubs as in the previous year the Thai Champions had send the disappointing Rams packing in the first round by thrashing the Northern-based club 4-1 in Thailand in the first leg.

But it was not going to be easy as the Royal Dolphins game for Thai Champions Sinthana was packed with National players or eight national players to be exact.

This match certainly present yet another golden chance for the Warriors to write themselves into the history book by being the first local side to reach the quarter-finals of an Asian club competition.

Indeed the Thai Champions Sinthana did a tremendous job in holding the Warriors to a 1-1 draw at the Jurong Stadium and the outcome was still effectively hanging in the balance even if the Thais have an important away goal. It was now up to the Warriors to prove themselves in Bangkok in the second leg and the Warriors came desperately close to winning the match after Mirko Grabovac put the Warriors ahead early in the match but the Thais team proved stronger in the end as they came back to win 2-1 from a penalty and an own goal by defender Hairi Su'ap.

That ended Singapore and the Warriors dream of further progress in Asia.

Another disappointing year after the previous year disappointment and it was not because the Warriors had failed in their task to defeat the Thai Champions Sinthana and progress into the quarter-final but because after three year of professional football, it appeared a case of one step forward and another step back with the action taken by the Jaguars and Stallions.

Anybody hoping to see the Republic football improved will be disappointed with seeing how the two mentioned team backed off and fled once faced with a much stronger opponent rather than engage them.

Certainly not the dream one would be dreaming when the S-league was born back in 1996 as it was meant to progress the Republic football to the next level and not meant to keep things the way it was.

Singapore representatives

1999/2000 Asian Club Championship

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
First Round, First leg	SAFFC	8	1	Royal Dolphins(Cambodia)	-
First Round, Second leg	Royal Dolphins(Cambodia)	2	3	SAFFC	-
Second Round, First leg	SAFFC	1	1	Sinthana (Thailand)	-
Second Round, Second leg	Sinthana (Thailand)	2	1	SAFFC	-

1999/2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
Second Round, First leg	*Anyang LG Cheetahs (South Korea)	-	-	Sembawang Rangers	-
Second Round, Second leg	Sembawang Rangers	-	-	*Anyang LG Cheetahs (South Korea)	-

* Through to quarter-final after Sembawang Rangers withdrew