2007 AFC Cup

The 2007 edition of the AFC Cup saw SAFFC making it first entry in the competition as since it inception in 2004, the Warriors have not make it into Asia.

Now after a four-year absence, the five-time S-league champions are confident of whitewashing their past Asian failures as one has to go back to 1999 to find their last victory in Asia and it was against Cambodian Champions Royal Dolphins.

And not surprising for the Warriors had displaced an attractive brand of attacking football for the past two seasons and added steel into the ranks last season to win the championship although among the biggest factor is the Warriors have kept the core of the team intact coming into 2007.

However on opening day, the Warriors extended their winless streak to 10 games – 3 draw and 7 losses – going down 0-2 to India Champions Mahindra United at their Choa Chu Kang Fortress and now the fear the Warriors may yet fail once again start to surface.

Over at India, Tampines Rovers held Indian Federation Cup Champions Mohun Bagan to a creditable 0-0 draw.

The Stags, who had lost their hold of the S-league crown last season, had strengthen themselves over the close season bringing in Shariff Abdul Samat, Ridhuan Muhammad and Sutee Suksomkit; helping to lower their squad average age slightly as well.

With their core side having played in the last two editions of the AFC Cup, the Stags looked too strong for any sides from the Eastern region and it will be a case of when they can reach the knockout stage and not if .

The Stags proved that quickly enough dispatching their opponents in their group in the next four games – Thai side Osotspa M-150 2-1 at home, Pahang 4-0 away and 2-0 at home and finally Mohun Bagan 2-0 – to top their group with a game to spare which they will dispatch a youth team to play to gain experience.

The Warriors, taking the cue from the Stags, staged their comeback as they won their next five matches – Happy Valley 4-1 away and 2-1 at home, New Radiant 3-1 at home and 3-2 away and Mahindra United 1-0 away – to reach the knockout stage.

Now then was the test as the West Asian teams will be awaiting the S-league teams in the draw and both the Warriors and the Stags drew Jordanian sides – the strongest West Asian teams in the AFC Cup competition.

And what await was a similar storyline as in the first leg the Warriors was destroyed 0-5 by Shabab Al Ordun away while the Stags fell 1-2 to Al Faisaly at home.

It looked over for the Warriors while for the Stags it is an uphill battle as they will have to overcome a first leg deficit in their opponents home ground and it is no mean feat as the Stags was still battling on all three fronts – S-league, AFC Cup and Singapore Cup.

Still the second leg was slightly sweeter, even if still bitter, with both teams knock out of the competition, as the Warriors achieved a first ever win over a Jordanian team winning 3-0 and the scoreline would have been even closer if Duric had not missed a penalty kick in the first half while the Stags had taken a 2-0 lead before giving it up to lose 2-5 at Al Faisaly home ground.

At this point, it is clear S-league teams have no rivals in the East among the second tier leagues but the West second tier league are no pushovers and they will be a stumbling block the S-league teams will have to clear to reach the next level and the S-league teams must find a solution to it as they aim to get further ahead.

Singapore representatives

AFC Cup 2007 – SAFFC

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
Group	SAFFC	0	2	Mahindra United (India)	6/3/2007
Group	Happy Valley (HK)	1	4	SAFFC	20/3/2007
Group	SAFFC	3	1	New Radiant (Maldives)	10/4/2007
Group	New Radiant (Maldives)	2	3	SAFFC	24/4/2007
Group	Mahindra United (India)	0	1	SAFFC	8/5/2007
Group	SAFFC	2	1	Happy Valley (HK)	22/5/2007
Quarter-final, first leg	Shabab Al Ordun (Jordan)	5	0	SAFFC	18/9/2007
Quarter-final, second leg	SAFFC	3	0	Shabab Al Ordun (Jordan)	25/9/2007

SAFFC Scorers

5 goals	Aleksandar Duric
4 goals	Ashrin Shariff
2 goals	Therdsak Chaiman, Noor Ali
1 goal	Jamil Ali, Kenji Arai, Mustaqim Manzur

AFC Cup 2007 – Tampines Rovers

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
Group	Mohun Bagan (India)	0	0	Tampines Rovers	6/3/2007
Group	Tampines Rovers	2	1	Osotspa M-150 (Thailand)	20/3/2007
Group	Pahang (Malaysia)	1	4	Tampines Rovers	10/4/2007
Group	Tampines Rovers	2	0	Pahang (Malaysia)	24/4/2007
Group	Tampines Rovers	2	0	Mohun Bagan (India)	8/5/2007
Group	Osotspa M-150 (Thailand)	3	0	Tampines Rovers	22/5/2007
Quarter-final, first leg	Tampines Rovers	1	2	Al Faisaly (Jordan)	18/9/2007
Quarter-final, second leg	Al Faisaly (Jordan)	5	2	Tampines Rovers	25/9/2007

Tampines Rovers Scorers

3 goals	Noh Alam Shah
2 goals	Ridhuan Muhamad, Peres De Oliveria, Sutee Sukomkit
1 goal	Rafi Ali, Aliff Shafaein, Sead Muratovic, Mirko Grabaovc