Kedah advance to second round despite defeat by Chonburi

The Star,Wednesday May 20, 2009
By LOGANATH VELLOO

GEORGE TOWN: Kedah are through to the second round of the AFC Cup competition despite going down 1-3 to Group G leaders Chonburi FC in Bangkok last night.

The Malaysian treble champions have to thank Hanoi ACB for their spot in the knockout phase of the competition after the Vietnamese outfit notched a 3-0 home victory over Hong Kong’s Eastern Athletic.Prior to yesterday’s final round of group matches, Kedah and Eastern were tied on seven points and were vying for the second qualification berth from the group.

But Kedah squeezed through on the strength of their better goal difference and head-to-head results against Eastern.

Hanoi were already out of contention following their under-strength team’s 0-7 thrashing by Kedah in Alor Setar a fortnight ago.

But Hanoi coach Nguyen Cong Vinh kept his promise made in Alor Setar to field his strongest side and not take it easy against Eastern.

The Hong Kong side, who needed to better Kedah’s result to go through, found themselves in trouble after just 10 minutes of play at the Hang Day Stadium in Hanoi.

The visitors’ plan to seek an early goal backfired when they went behind to a Nguyen Hai Nam penalty. Hanoi’s Croatian striker Goran Gajic extinguished Eastern’s qualification hopes by scoring a brace in the 43rd and 71st minutes.

At the Supachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok, Kedah were oblivious to what was transpiring in Hanoi and took the game to their opponents.

Chonburi, who are currently second in the Thai Premier League, shot ahead through Pipob On-mo in the 14th minute.


National midfielder Mohd Kyril Muhymeen equalised for Kedah in the 35th minute but Pipob restored Chonburi’s lead five minutes later.

Brazilian Douglas ended Kedah’s resistance with the third goal for the Thai side five minutes from the end.

Kedah will be playing in the second stage of the competition for the second consecutive season. Last year, the Canaries reached the quarter-finals before bowing out 1-7 on aggregate to eventual champions Muharraq of Bahrain.

It was a commendable effort from Mohd Azraai Khor’s team to advance to the knockout stage, considering the absence of foreign players in their ranks.

Kedah’s opponents in the second round are Group H champions Becamex Binh Duong FC of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Johor FC ended their maiden campaign in the regional competition without a win after going down 0-1 to PSMS Medan in their final Group F match at the JCorp Stadium in Pasir Gudang. They have only a point to show from six matches.

Leonardo Mitchell’s 67th minute strike proved enough for Medan to collect full points. Medan will take on Chonburi in the round of 16.