Injury-hit Melbourne Victory have been eliminated from the Asian Champions League after a scoreless draw with Jeonbuk Motors in South Korea.
Victory were patched-up to start their final group match on Tuesday, and finished banged up abroad with more injury concerns.
Melbourne lost two players, Jesse Makarounas and Scott Galloway, before halftime at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
And defender Adrian Leijer was forced from the field in the second half as goal difference tipped the Victory out of the ACL.
Melbourne finished third in their group, pipped for second-place by Jeonbuk, who advanced because they scored one more goal than them in the six group games.
The Victory were gallant against the K-League powerhouse – sturdy in defence but crafting few clear-cut scoring chances, though controversially denied a stoppage-time penalty.
Melbourne’s injury woes hit hard: Makarounas limped off in the 36th minute after injuring his right hip and Galloway followed just three minutes later with what appeared a hamstring complaint.
And Leijer departed in the 66th minute with right foot injury, leaving Melbourne coach Kevin Muscat without any tactical substitutions.
The injuries compounded the absences of frontliners including suspended captain Mark Milligan, in-form striker James Troisi and evergreen defender Pablo Contreras.
Jeonbuk, who won the lucrative Asian club competition in 2006, were the more threatening and took the attacking impetus after Victory opened strongly.
Melbourne had the better of the initial 15 minutes before the home side rallied and created a succession of first-half scoring opportunities but were unable to breakthrough Victory’s resolute defence.
Against the tide, Melbourne orchestrated a gilt-edged chance in the 41st minute when James Jeggo, finding rare space in attack, struck a free header over the cross bar.
The visitors also were also unlucky not to be awarded a penalty in the 92nd minute when substitute Costa Barbarouses was brought down in the box after tangling with Jeonbuk’s Jae-Moung Lee, who appeared to drag down the Melbourne attacker.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I'm almost certain Ange was the coach for 5 Group games & achieved W:0 D:2 L:3 And, this was coaching allegedly the best team in the world after Barcelona.
tickbites
Guest
It didn't help that he left Brisbane half way through the acl (from memory). Had already lost two games though to be fair.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Congrats on the performance Fuss tough that MVFC miss out on the Top 16 , I'm sure though that this will galvanise them to make things tough for Brisbane on Sunday -any way you slice it this next 3 quarters of the year is chock-full of excitement , drama and interest for even the most casual of football fans
pete4
Guest
Very good performance from MV. Will give them plenty of confidence heading down to Brisbane this weekend Leapt off my lounge when Archie had the chance to pinch it at the death
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I think he's done a fantastic job, under difficult circumstances - taking over the senior job after 3 matches this season. We've played some of the best football I've seen in 9 years watching MVFC... and, we've also played some of the worst. My one major issue with Muscat (& I had the same issue with Ange) is the problem MVFC continues to have with our defensive structure, defensive tactics, defensive techniques. Sitting in the stands - and, having spent my whole grassroots football career as a full back - I'm continuously frustrated by what I perceive to be poor positioning by our full backs and our DMs when the ball is in our defensive 1/3. It seems the strategy is to get 6 players (back 4 & 2 DMs) to block the front of the goal, rather than close down the opponent who is likely to take the shot on goal. This leads to chaos in the box & our shocking number of goals conceded indicates the strategy isn't working. Having said all that, Muscat has taken MVFC to the same level (Semi-Finals of ALeague) as Ange did last season; and he has performed better with MVFC in the ACL, than Ange did in the ACL with Brisbane.
Towser
Guest
So Fuss where does Keven Muscat sit in the minds of Victory fans. As an outsider looks to be doing OK.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
A terrific ACL campaign by MVFC. I still recall the night the Groups were drawn. It was around the same time as MVFC's consecutive 5-0 losses in the A-League and there were universal guffaws about how MVFC would be thrashed 6 times (with cricket score results) and embarrass the ALeague, since we were drawn in The Group of Death, with the current Champions of Asia. Yet, MVFC were brilliant. We scored 1st in every match apart from the final 0-0 draw. We only lost 2 games - the same number of losses as the Group winner & missed qualification by 1 solitary goal difference. Last night's starting XI had an average age of 23.7 years. Seven players were 24 or younger; only 1 player over 30 and they held their own, whilst playing away from home, against the team 2nd in the K-League. After attending 4 ACL campaigns with MVFC, this was the most enjoyable ride. Hope the lads can win the Championship, so we can do it again in 12 months.