By Guy Hand
March 10th 2010 @ 3:00am
Melbourne’s ACL hopes slump after another defeat
Over-scheduled and undermanned, Melbourne Victory face a difficult task to advance further in the Asian Champions League after slumping to a second defeat in two group matches on Tuesday night.
The Victory fell 2-0 to Korean side Seongnam Ilhwa at Etihad Stadium despite a spirited performance, leaving them a mountain to climb to finish top two in their group and move into the knockout stage.
Just 48 hours after booking a place in the A-League grand final with a taxing extra-time win over Sydney FC, Melbourne left little doubt about their priorities by resting three players including skipper Kevin Muscat, and starting star attackers Archie Thompson and Carlos Hernandez on the bench.
For the second successive ACL match after Socceroo Joel Griffiths scored the winner for Beijing Guoan in a 1-0 loss a fortnight ago, it was an Australian who brought the Victory undone.
This time it was ex-Brisbane and Adelaide defender Sasa Ognenovski who found a first half winner for the 2004 ACL runners-up, before Yoon Young-Sun added a second five minutes from fulltime.
They were rare chances for the Korean side, with Victory controlling much of the play on another sub-standard pitch but unable to capitalise on some promising movement in the front third.
Costa Rican attacker Marvin Angulo had the two best chances for Melbourne.
He shot wide on 53 minutes with a good sight of goal, then screwed a half-volley wide in the 67th minute.
In contrast, Seongnam were deadly from set pieces to secure both goals and are now unbeaten in their opening two ACL matches.
Melbourne next play in the A-League grand final on March 20, before having to back up three days later in Japan for their next ACL match against Kawasaki Frontale.
Victory coach Ernie Merrick felt his side played good football despite the poor state of the pitch, but believed they would need to go unbeaten in their last four ACL matches to have any hope of qualifying for the second stage.
“Good football, didn’t take our opportunities, but no injuries,” Merrick said.
“I won’t take away anything from Seongnam because they played good football, but it came down to two set plays.
“I thought the (Victory) players played terrific football and created some excellent opportunities.”
Seongnam Ilhwa coach Tae Yong Shin was also critical of the pitch, but thrilled his side is effectively just one win away from qualifying for the next ACL stage.
“We are very happy. Just one more game to win and we are there,” Shin said through an interpreter.
“Both teams were very tired because they have played many games and the pitch does not allow both teams to play better.”
Join The Roar's A-League tipping competition and own bragging rights at the office! Join now.
(16)
James said | March 10th 2010 @ 4:09am | Report comment
What is it about Robbie Kruse that turns everyone against him? If he’s not getting decked behind play, cut down in a horrible challenge, he is getting his private parts squeezed by a Korean opponent!
Tom said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:38am | Report comment
Its not hard to figure out. He’s a lightly framed guy trying to play as a target man. He’s always going to get tested out by physically stronger defenders.
AndyRoo said | March 10th 2010 @ 10:30am | Report comment
It’s the head band.
DERBY COUNTY FC said | March 10th 2010 @ 5:45am | Report comment
Because 99% of the time he is not being decked but falling over like a sack of s**t.
Dogz R Barkn said | March 10th 2010 @ 10:26am | Report comment
It did Brosque no harm the other day doing precisely that – in fact, he was rewarded with a free goal.
Rob said | March 10th 2010 @ 2:02pm | Report comment
And thats why even us SFC fans struggle to have much love for the guy. he would score a lot more goals if his first priority wasnt to try and fall over
Australian Football said | March 10th 2010 @ 10:23am | Report comment
Unfortunately I did not get to see the match last night. But, I would like to support Muscat’s comment that the football scheduling done by whoever, this year, was a disgrace and I hope there will be someone at the FFA who will take full responsibility for it––and realise what a shambles of scheduling of a season this was.
I hope Archie Fraser will get it right when SFC enter the ACL next season, and fight for better ACL fixturing in Asia. Why wasn’t last night’s game at least played on Wednesday night?
~~~~~
AF
dasilva said | March 10th 2010 @ 11:47am | Report comment
It’s due to AFC scheduling which is not under FFA control
However perhaps Melbourne vs Sydney should have been played on the Saturday or Friday night instead of Sunday to give Melbourne a bit more time.
Smokygrayson said | March 10th 2010 @ 11:35am | Report comment
Was it just me or did others notice that Seongnam moved the ball around the pitch much better than Melbourne and looked like a better outfit? I mean, yes, neither team could shoot (and that’s another subject) but the one and two touch movement by Seongnam made Melbourne look pretty second rate. Which surprised me because I usually enjoy Melbourne’s football in the A-League.
On other threads there are a few MVFC supporters blaming fixtures etc but while it’s part of the reason Melbourne lost, it wasn’t the full story. I doubt even a full strength Melbourne would have won. Melbourne did fight back, to their credit but seemed lacking in the final third.
It must be crushing for Victory fans to go out of the ACL with such a whimper.
Rellum said | March 10th 2010 @ 4:53pm | Report comment
Seongnam were definitely the better side. Their defense and skill at moving the ball around really showed that the Victory are a level below.
The Victory are quite predictable, couple of passes around the back before launching a long ball for a winger to run onto. Occasionally they try down the middle to Carlos, but that is pretty easy to defend when you know the two plans the Victory have to offer and the skill and intelligence to break down those attacks.
con said | March 10th 2010 @ 9:46pm | Report comment
agreed, it was no disgrace we were simply outclassed.
dasilva said | March 10th 2010 @ 11:43am | Report comment
I’m not too sure the fixture is a really great excuse.
Last couple of ACL. People were complaining about lack of match practice as there were in the off seasons and no games. However the flip side of that was the opposition side had 3 matches in a week. However vidmar said that he would rather be in the position of the opponents to have more games then less games.
this year the ACL has moved earlier. When melbourne play Beijing, i believe Beijing were in their preseasons. So therefore the reverse had happen.
You can’t complain about having not enough match practice in the ACL and then start complaining about congested fixture when the match practice issue is fixed.
It’s either one or the other.
The only issue i see was maybe Melbourne vs Sydney should have been played on a saturday or friday night.
Davstar said | March 10th 2010 @ 2:52pm | Report comment
Melbourne Victory have 1 dimensional play thew the centre directly or long ball once tha fails victory fal apart try shoot from range and the ball ends up in row Z
Axel V said | March 10th 2010 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
If Beijing and Seongnam draw each other twice in a row while Melbourne beat Kawaski twice in a row we’re bac k in it
…Ok I give up
David V. said | March 10th 2010 @ 8:53pm | Report comment
Most remarkable of all was that Melbourne even lost the physical battle to a Korean side, an extremely rare occurrence for any Australian team.
dasilva said | March 10th 2010 @ 10:56pm | Report comment
Adelaide United once again shows how to do it.
2-0