Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors recorded their biggest AFC Champions League win in history on Thursday after they made mincemeat out of Tampines Rovers with a resounding 9-0 win at Tashkent’s Lokomotiv Stadium. The huge win cemented Jeonbuk’s position on top of Group H, with 2nd placed Gamba Osaka being forced to a 1-1 draw by Singha Chiangrai United at the Bunyodkor Stadium.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (South Korea) 9-0 Tampines Rovers (Singapore)
It’s always going to be a huge mismatch as 2-time ACL winners Jeonbuk took on debutants Tampines at the Lokomotiv Stadium and the huge gulf in quality between the two sides became apparent after the Green Warriors took the lead as early as the sixth minute.
After managing to wrestle the ball off Tampines’ midfield, Jeonbuk went forward with both Gustavo and Modou Barrow penetrating the Stags’ defense. Former Reading FC man Barrow managed to slot home from close-range past Syazwan Buhari, giving Jeonbuk the early lead.
Having created Barrow’s opener, Gustavo assumed the role of scorer himself in the 14th minute, taking advantage of an excellent Ryu Jae-moon pass to blast home excellently past Syazwan underneath the pressure of the Tampines defenders.
Gustavo then scored his brace one minute later, rifling one into the top corner beyond Syazwan’s reaches to make it 3-0 Jeonbuk.
The Brazilian then reassumed his role as creator in the 35th minute, allowing Kim Seung-dae to dance his way into the Tampines defense with a decisive pass. Seung-dae launched a shot that took a deflection into Syazwan’s goal, the fourth one of the match for Jeonbuk.
With Jeonbuk assuming a commanding 4-0 lead coming into the break, many would assume that the South Koreans would gladly sit back considering the sizable advantage that they had.
But the men in green weren’t finished there just yet.
Barrow made it 5-0 after 55 minutes, tapping in a cross from Kim Bo-kyung, before Jeonbuk were handed another advantage in the 57th minute after Gustavo was fouled in the area by Irfan Najeeb. The Brazilian took it upon himself to take the ensuing penalty and he made no mistake whatsoever with his assignment, completing his hat-trick and increasing Jeonbuk’s lead by six goals.
Not content in just scoring a hat-trick, Gustavo upgraded his tally into a quart-trick in the 60th minute, latching onto a Barrow pass before firing it home past Syazwan to make it 7-0 Jeonbuk.
The South Koreans then matched their biggest ACL win in the 72nd minute, with substitute Stanislav Iljutcenko heading in a cross from fellow substitute Takahiro Kunimoto past Syazwan. 8-0 Jeonbuk and the scoreline equalled their previous biggest win in the ACL, an 8-0 demolition job of Indonesia’s Persipura Jayapura in 2010.
History was then set in the 75th minute as Barrow completed his hat-trick to make it 9-0 Jeonbuk, tapping a Stanislav cross into Syazwan’s goal to round off a miserable evening for the Singaporeans.
The 9-0 win meant that Jeonbuk were able to etch their biggest win in the ACL and indeed Asian competitions, while Tampines had to succumb to their biggest defeat in the continental stage yet.
Singha Chiangrai United (Thailand) 1-1 Gamba Osaka (Japan)
It’s 2nd vs 3rd at the Bunyodkor as Gamba seek to keep pressure on the almighty Jeonbuk, while Chiangrai are also fancying their chances of getting out of Group H as one of the three best runners-up.
Chiangrai were given a boost prior to the match as Gamba head coach Masanobu Matsunami decided to rest his heavy hitters in Genta Miura, Masaaki Higashiguchi, Takashi Usami, Kosuke Onose, Yosuke Ideguchi, and Patric.
Despite deploying the second-stringers, Gamba managed to dominate possession and keep Kei Ishikawa in their goal safe, however they soon found out about Chiangrai’s notoriously stubborn defense.
Deploying a 5-man defensive unit, Chiangrai had both Brazilian defender Brinner and goalkeeper Apirak Worawong to thank, as the duo worked superbly in denying Gamba from getting a sniff at the Beetles’ goal. The likes of Yuji Ono and Shu Kurata had to watch in dismay as both Brinner and Apirak did well to break down everything that Gamba threw at them.
However, Brinner and Apirak’s hard work were undone in the 47th minute. Leandro Pereira managed to get the better of Apirak with an effort from a Yota Sato cross that wrong-footed everyone in the Chiangrai defense, the goalkeeper included.
Leandro’s goal sparked something within Chiangrai and the Beetles started pushing forward, earning their first sniff at Ishikawa’s goal in the 56th minute with Ekanit Panya firing wide from outside the penalty area.
Ten minutes afterwards Chiangrai had another go at the Gamba goal, this time it was Sivakorn Tiatrakul who had his shot blocked after working together excellently to open up the Gamba defense with Ekanit and Bill.
Chiangrai’s persistence paid off with literally the last kick of the game, as big Brazilian striker Bill managed to poke home past Ishikawa from close-range, salvaging a valuable point for Chiangrai as Gamba were left frustrated with the loss of two points.
Chiangrai will once again face Gamba for Matchweek 4 on July 4th at the Lokomotiv, while Tampines travel to the Bunyodkor on the same day with hopes that Jeonbuk will not inflict another heavy defeat on them.