Without having to kick a ball, BG Tampines Rovers progressed to the knockout stages of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Champions League Two on Thursday (Nov 27) night.
BG Pathum’s 2-0 defeat to Pohang Steelers earlier in the evening consigned the Thai side to elimination, while guaranteeing the Stags a knockout berth.
“Happy for the club, the team, and the players, especially because it’s an objective that we set out for the club,” head coach Noh Rahman said.
Noh took extra care to warn his boys of complacency before the match, with some of the players already well-aware of their progression to the next stage.
“That was the message going into this game… playing against a team that had nothing to lose. It was a test of our character to try and be 100 per cent throughout the game.”
The night was made even better for the Singaporean side as they secured group winner status after an eight-goal thriller with basement side Kaya FC-Iloilo ended 5-3 in their favour.
Tampines’ superior head-to-head record compared to group runner-up Pohang Steelers means that they will remain on top regardless of the result of the final pool match.
The Stags will compete in the knockout stage of the second-tier club competition for the first time since 2016, when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by India’s Bengaluru in the AFC Cup — the earlier iteration of the ACL2.
Noh heaped extra praise on the players who were part of last season’s campaign for their contributions.
“They had those experiences (from missing out narrowly last season), and it was quite important that they brought over those experiences for this season’s campaign and… showed teamwork against quality opponents like Pohang and BG.”
With qualification pressure off their back, Tampines were able to display some free-flowing football and raced to a 2-0 first-half lead.
In the seventh minute, Trent Buhagiar capitalised on a casual back pass, bolting onto the right and teeing up Hide Higashikawa, who had the easiest of finishes.
Then came a bit of individual brilliance from fullback Takeshi Yoshimoto, who zigzagged past a maze of defenders on the left flank before unleashing a drive into the bottom corner.
Buhagiar got his side’s third after a quick breakaway in the 47th minute before Higashikawa wrapped up his brace with a brilliant header nine minutes later, to take his ACL2 tally up to four goals.
“In Japan, I didn’t have the opportunity to play in such a huge tournament like ACL2. These goals are only possible with my teammates’ help… And this is why I am enjoying my football now,” Hide said, after a third successive player of the match award on home ground.
The visitors almost mounted a comeback with goals from Mike Ott, substitute Paolo Bugas and an Amirul Adli own goal, making it 4-3, but Faris Ramli netted Tampines’ fifth to put the tie to bed.
It was back to the drawing board for Kaya head coach Yu Hoshide, who “appreciated the players’ effort” after going 4-0 down but was disappointed after five losses on the trot.
“We were better in the second half, but we started really slow. We have to fix this player in the next game,” Hoshide said.
