Re: [AFC Cup Last 16] South China vs Home Utd (23 June)
Hi,guys.Bryan reporting from HK.
I just came back from the game played @ the HK Stadium.A passionate & capacity crowd of about 8K watched the humiliating defeat. Here's the starting lineup (3-5-2): Lionel-Rosman,Mani & Hiek-Dickson,Shadan,Syed Fadhill & Perez-Lodovick & Azhar. Sivaji(as usual left an orthodox leftback,Jumaat on the bench), keeping faith with the oft crticized rotation system.
The pitch was slippery after showers in the afternoon and an hour before the game. Weather was humid.
Here's a min-by-min post:
5th min- FK on the right awarded for foul on Ludovick. Cross comes to the far post where Perez headed in back into the danger area. Hiek connects but his effort was weak to trouble the keeper.
7th min- wild shot from South China (SC) from 35M.
8th min- Slight drizzle which makes conditions bad for both teams.
12th min- A delicious cross from Sharil after a Perez backheel found him unmarked on the right flank. Azhar miskicked about 8M from goal. A wasted opportunity to grab the lead.
16th min- Direct FK from Hiek from 35M. High & wide.
18th min- SC has a 30M shot which flew wide. By then, Home Utd (HU) was controlling the game with their passing game & exploits through Dickson & Sharil on the flanks.
20th min- GOAL! Free header at the far post for SC. Dickson failed to track back & mark his man. Can't really blame him when your coach left the national team lefback on the bench, can you?
22nd min- GOAL! SC takes a 2-0 lead when their player ran through the middle unchallenged & lobbed a ball to the left flank for the unmarked striker to beat Lionel in the penalty box. How cruel football can be as SC turned the tables. Lionel had nothing to do till the 1st goal. Home's reliable defence looks like toufu as of this stage. The SC supporters around me went mad @ this stage. There were boisterous & continuous chorus of "Nan Wah...Nan Wah"- Cantonese rendition of SC's name.
30th min- Shadan's shot flew wide from 30M after a Perez layoff from the right. Perez was pushed off to play as a 2nd striker by then & Azhar & Sharil were pushed into centre midfield. There you go again....twitching with the formation by Sivaji.
31st min- A cross from the left flank was headed by the SC striker onto the crossbar. HU's defence is in sixes & sevens now.
39th min- Ludovick turned & shot from just outside the penalty box after a throw-in. It was saved comfortably.
43rd min- SUBSTITUITION: Suffian for Azhar (the fromer is now deployed as a striker & Perez is pushed back into midfield again).
45th min+INJURY TIME: Perez's 25M FK was punched out by the SC keeper.
HT: 2-0
****
The SC supporters sitting in front of me asked if I was from Singapore. We had a chat & they admitted that HU was a good team but lacked a finisher. Frankly,HU's porous defence made 2 fatal errors which made SC looked gd. they were very impressed with Dickson. By the way, you may have also realised that Jiayi is missing. Has he been transferred to Tampines already???
*****
2nd Half....
Rosman now comes over to the left flank & Dickson is switched to the right coz he can't defend as a wingback.
48th min- YELLOW CARD awarded to Sidraílson for needless foul on Ludovick on the right flank.
52nd min- GOAL! Mani's sliding tackle missed the ball completely & SC's new signing, Caca had all the freedom of HK to put the ball passed Lionel. An absolute blunder by the ex-Lion. A fatal blow. It was game over by then.
53rd min- FK from the right found Ludovick's head but it went wide.
54th min- YELLOW CARD to Ludovick for deliberate handball & to Tales Schütz for shoving him unnecessarily.
55th min- SC's 25M shot went wide. HU's defence was continuously exposed as they pushed forward, There were even times when it was a 4 v 2 @ the back.
61st min- Schütz's shot was saved by Lionel and Caca's follow-up was cleared off the line by Rosman.
65th min- PENALTY! A dubious decision after the ref claimed that Hiek had pushed Caca when they were challenging from the cross from a corner.
66th min- GOAL! SC's capt chipped the ball down the middle & humiliated the diving Lionel. Sigh....
SUBSTITUITION: Tengku for Perez. HU now plays with 2 defensive/holding midfielders in the centre of the park. Tengku plays @ the back & Hiek plays forward.
***********
By then, the SC fans were chanting Dickson's name as they shouted at the HU players to pass the ball to him. Itimi played a gd game down the right flank & caused a lot of problems with his dribbles & runs.
*****
67th min- Dickson's shot from the right was saved as he cut in from the right.
68th min- Dickson's cross was cleared by the SC defence. The crowd is yearning for more from the HU fringe player.
70th min- Ludo's turn & shot was saved.
73rd min- nice move on the right flank ended up with Hiek's shot been saved.
78th min- SUBSTITUITION: Firdau for HU's man-of-the-match, Dickson. He left to a chorus of cheers & standing ovation by the SC fans.
79th min- Mani cleared off the line twice after the HU's defence was caught out on the left flank. It was a matter of how many HU are going to concede now as they looked bereft of ideas & lost.
90th min+injury time- A FK from Hiek outside the penalty box hit the SC wall, which pretty much summed up the impotency of the HU attack & the paper defence.
So what excuse is Sivaji going to use this time? Too much rest???
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