An underdone Newcastle crashed out of the Asian Champions League after a 6-0 thrashing by the Pohang Steelers in their round of 16 knockout clash in South Korea on Wednesday night.
Sloppy early defending saw the Jets concede two goals inside the first 16 minutes and the hosts poured on four more in the second half.
Without a competitive game since their last ACL group match five weeks ago, Newcastle looked off the pace against a team in the middle of its domestic campaign.
With defenders Ljubo Milicevic and Nikolai-Topor Stanley unavailable, Newcastle’s re-jigged defence couldn’t subdue the speedy, skilful and more match-hardened Koreans.
Choi Hyo Jin scored a hat-trick and Brazilian striker Denilson tormented the Jets, scoring one and setting up two others.
The Jets played with more confidence and started to created some decent chances as the match progressed as they found their match legs.
Striker Sasho Petrovski went close twice in the last 20 minutes, Jason Hoffman volleyed over once in each half and skipper Matt Thompson curled the ball wide from eight metres out.
But they fell away again defensively in the final half hour in a disappointing end an otherwise-encouraging maiden ACL campaign.
Denilson opened the scoring when he sent Newcastle goalkeeper Ben Kennedy the wrong way with a ninth minute penalty he won after his shirt was tugged by Hoffman.
The second goal seven minutes later was also a result of poor defending.
Jobe Wheelhouse was dispossessed near the halfway line by Hyo Jin, who sprinted away and rounded Kennedy before slotting the ball home.
Pohang could have had two more before the break, but had a good penalty shout turned down after Kennedy appeared to bring down Denilson in the box and the Brazilian then had a goal from a free-kick disallowed by a harsh-looking offside decision.
Jets coach Gary van Egmond brought on young striker Sean Rooney after halftime and Newcastle started brightly, with Hoffman having his second volleyed opportunity two minutes after the break.
But hopes of a comeback were snuffed out by a spectacular 56th minute strike by Jae Sung Kim, who was set up by the ubiquitous Denilson.
Hyo Jin added a fourth goal seven minute later, when he wriggled his way into a shooting position and fired home after collecting another Denilson pass.
He completed his hat-trick with a 65th minute header which looped over Kennedy.
Macedonian striker Stevica Ristik came off the bench to blast a sixth goal inside the last five minutes.
“It was very disappointing obviously, we copped two goals in the first half which were from our own bad defensive mistakes,” van Egmond said in his post match press conference.
“The first one is a penalty and the second one is a mistake at the back which allowed Pohang to score.
“From there you are looking to try and press.
“In the second half we played with two up front and you are trying to force the game a bit.
“Pohang played it very smart they’ve got some very good players to play on the counter and exposed us defensively.
“It’s a shame in regards to the result, because of a lot of good work that we have done in the group stage, for us to go out this way.
“But again I want to give Pohang full credit.”
Van Egmond conceded Newcastle had not had a smooth buildup to the one-off tie.
“We’ve not had the best of preparation because of the fact our domestic season was not on,” van Egmond said.
“We’ve got a number of injuries to key players which obviously doesn’t help our cause as well.
“But at the end of the day, we were naive in our defending and, where in prior games two or three of our players really stepped up and played outstanding, unfortunately today it was probably the opposite.”
He said the Jets players would have a brief break before resuming pre-season training on July 6.
Art Sapphire
Guest
This is a cautionary lesson. A friend of mine advised me that some bookies were offering odds of up to $1.85 for a Pohang to win last night. This was going to be a sure thing considering the Jets were out of season, depleted, playing away and basically crap. I forgot to get on, but my mate did. However, my mate messed it all up by adding a second leg to his bet. Spain to beat the Yanks at $1.30. Ouch!
Towser
Guest
Given the problems involving A-League clubs participation in the ACL ie primarily that the best team currently may not be there & two the problem(even if the best team is there) of keeping them match fit(5 week gap for Newcastle between matches) when coming up against teams that are(Pohang). These are major problems that need to be looked at & rectified. I cant see the A-League/ACL calendar changing therefore our teams will always be a year late. So the question I ask is why did Newcastle end up with the wooden spoon the following season if they knew they would be in the ACL after winning the grand final. Seems a lack of forethought planning on their behalf surely. In other words a lack of football professionalism. Seems crazy to me that a club starts hiring players this year to participate in the ACL. That should have happened last year before the 2008/09 A-League season giving them a full season to gel. in other words our clubs that qualify for the ACL have to have squads in place prior to the upcoming A-League season,with a view to competing in next yearsc ACL. Both CCM & NUJ were guilty of not doing this. CCM paid the full price & NUJ half the price because at least they added to the squad this year. To late however as we see. Still doesnt solve the problem of match fitness though. The only decent Australian leagues in play at the end of the A-League season are the State Leagues(not ideal ,a cut below Pohang etc but thats all we've got). I cant think of a practical way of an A-League club being placed in their respective state league,because they could be knocked out early like CCM. Makes Adelaides run all the more remarkable last year(lack of match fitness) although they had it later in the year.
GeneralAshnak
Roar Pro
People have to get over when the teams from Australia qualify for the ACL. The problem is that AUFC & MV were amongst the first teams to qualify for the 2010 ACL. The last team who will qualify is the winner of the Emporers Cup in Japan. Get over it. The AFC are not going to change the cut off date for qualification to the ACL, you have to qualify in 2008 for the 2009 comp, in 2009 for th 2010 comp etc etc.
GeneralAshnak
Roar Pro
Pips, AUFC was not 'humiliated' by getting to the final of the ACL and facing clearly the best side in the comp. As far as MV winning the ACL, I think we will always have a difference of opinion on that one. Something to be noted though - Ange was a primary reason for the goals that Gamba Osaka was able to score against AUFC, and it loks like he was able to do the same thing for NJ. Looking forward to AUFC again adequately representing Australia in the ACL final next year, with MV again missing out on getting to the second round... :P
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Lazza good luck to Adelaide next year - they did show plenty of what you've described above last time around - but it's unlikey that lightning will strike twice.
Lazza
Guest
Pippinu, Let's hope your 'Victory' can get past the 1st round next time. It's men against boys out there with the enormous gulf in budgets and resources that these big Asian teams enjoy. Any Aussie club hoping to reach the Final must have extraordinary reserves of mental strength, toughness, pride and bucket loads of character. Luckily, Adelaide will be representing the nation again next season.
Brian
Guest
Isnt there supposed to be an International calender? Why on earth are there ACL games now in the middle of the Confed Cup? Do they intend to play during the WC next year? Obviously not the main reason Newcastle were thumped but watching TV last night I just found it curious this game was on. Also has the FFA done anything to try and get the current champion of the HAL to go to the ACL?
Simone`
Guest
This issue needs to be fixed. Either allow our current top teams into the competetion, by delaying the cut-off, should have been Melb and Adelaide last year. Or otherwise we need to have a look at changing the a-league calender. Or we will keep struggling. Unless a team can hold out and be dominant over a two year period, which is tough in this league with all its restrictions on salary etc... any team would find it hard to sustain dominance over a long period time.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Fans of other A-League clubs can at least take comfort in the fact that it will be a very long time before any other team suffers the humiliations that both AU and the Jets have suffered in the ACL in the past 9 months or so. In terms of the reputation of the A-League, we can all take some comfort in the fact that the Victory is in the comp, gives it real credibility, and will be there representing the A-League and all Austalians in about 9 months time - hopefully with a stronger squad than it has at present (a strong possibility). Only one Australian team was ever going to manage to win the ACL, we all know it, we all want it, let's not kid ourselves any further, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Australia's first ever super club: the Melbourne Victory.
Realfootball
Guest
What a shame that arguably the two weakest teams in the A League ended up representing us in the ACL this competition. Their performance does not reflect on the League at all (remember, for example how the Roar outclassed the Mariners in both legs of the semi final) but it will give the knockers wonderful ammunition to denigrate the A League. The Jets were a shambles last night. Yes, the squad is short of quality but they didn't even look like a team. Where was the pride? The fight? Big questionmark over Van Egmont.