Ho Chi Minh: Vietnam’s Sai Gon Xuan Thanh and India’s East Bengal
remained three points clear at the top of AFC Cup Group H after sharing a
goalless draw at Thong Nhat Stadium on Wednesday.
Sai Gon dominated a tight contest as Tran Tien Dai’s side looked to
follow up last week’s 3-2 win over Singapore’s Tampines Rovers, but the
home side failed to find a breakthrough as Nigerian striker Emeka
Oguwike and Cameroonian frontman Christian Amougou wasted the best
chances the Vietnamese Cup winners.
Federation Cup winners East Bengal, meanwhile, built on ending their 21
games winless streak in the AFC Cup against Malaysia's Selangor at the
end of February with a hard-fought away point to remain alongside Sai
Gong at the top of the table after Selangor and Tampines shared a 3-3
draw in Malaysia.
“East Bengal are very physical and very quick and they also have a good
defensive line. They played with counterattacks quite a lot so that
made it very difficult for us to score,” said Sai Gon coach Tran Tien
Dai.
“We also had many young players which also made it difficult as this
was only the second official game they have played together.”
Sai Gon started brightly and tested East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet
Singh Sandhu after just three minutes as Nguyen Trong Phi tried his luck
from 25 yards.
With chances at a premium in a tight first half as Sai Gon comfortably
dealt with East Bengal’s counterattacks, Sandhu was again called into
action after 18 minutes to turn away a free-kick from Amougou – who
scored twice against S.League champions Tampines last week.
East Bengal’s first real chance arrived three minutes later as Sai Gon
goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong comfortably dealt with a shot from Nigerian
midfielder Orji.
Sai Gon continued to control the game in the second half and again came
close to a breakthrough five minutes before the hour mark through
Oguwike only for Sandhu to again come to the rescue for the visitors.
But despite Sai Gon’s dominance, East Bengal came close to snatching
all three points with 13 minutes remaining only for Australian striker
Andrew Barisic to head over the crossbar from a promising position.
“It’s a pity because we did not win the game,” said East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan.
“We played well in the first half, but we then struggled to keep possession of the ball.
“But the result is not bad and I am satisfied with four points after two games.”
Just reach the knock round that itself is like an achievement.Yeah topping the group would be a bonus though.
Not actualy. After watching the salengor vs tempenis game to i feel we ar better than both of them and can beat them home & away. So we will go through easily. Can't say anything about saigon. But we have already got a draw against them today and at the home match against then anything can happen.
If we can't go through this group that whould be a shame, and after todays results our aim should be to top the group.
With arnab in the team and khabra at right back any team of the group whould have hard time scoring against us.
Comments
Then we need to top the group to get the huge home advanteg.
> Joyptan said:
> Then we need to top the group to get the huge home advanteg.
Just reach the knock round that itself is like an achievement.Yeah topping the group would be a bonus though.
> shankar said:
> > Joyptan said:
> > Is the round of 16 gets played in 2 leg(Home & Away) or 1 leg?
>
>
Even this year its the same,in future they are considering to change maybe from 2014 edition.We'll know that today I guess.
Sai Gon Xuan Thanh 0-0 East Bengal
Ho Chi Minh: Vietnam’s Sai Gon Xuan Thanh and India’s East Bengal
remained three points clear at the top of AFC Cup Group H after sharing a
goalless draw at Thong Nhat Stadium on Wednesday.
Sai Gon dominated a tight contest as Tran Tien Dai’s side looked to follow up last week’s 3-2 win over Singapore’s Tampines Rovers, but the home side failed to find a breakthrough as Nigerian striker Emeka Oguwike and Cameroonian frontman Christian Amougou wasted the best chances the Vietnamese Cup winners.
Federation Cup winners East Bengal, meanwhile, built on ending their 21 games winless streak in the AFC Cup against Malaysia's Selangor at the end of February with a hard-fought away point to remain alongside Sai Gong at the top of the table after Selangor and Tampines shared a 3-3 draw in Malaysia.
“East Bengal are very physical and very quick and they also have a good defensive line. They played with counterattacks quite a lot so that made it very difficult for us to score,” said Sai Gon coach Tran Tien Dai.
“We also had many young players which also made it difficult as this was only the second official game they have played together.”
Sai Gon started brightly and tested East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu after just three minutes as Nguyen Trong Phi tried his luck from 25 yards.
With chances at a premium in a tight first half as Sai Gon comfortably dealt with East Bengal’s counterattacks, Sandhu was again called into action after 18 minutes to turn away a free-kick from Amougou – who scored twice against S.League champions Tampines last week.
East Bengal’s first real chance arrived three minutes later as Sai Gon goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong comfortably dealt with a shot from Nigerian midfielder Orji.
Sai Gon continued to control the game in the second half and again came close to a breakthrough five minutes before the hour mark through Oguwike only for Sandhu to again come to the rescue for the visitors.
But despite Sai Gon’s dominance, East Bengal came close to snatching all three points with 13 minutes remaining only for Australian striker Andrew Barisic to head over the crossbar from a promising position.
“It’s a pity because we did not win the game,” said East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan.
“We played well in the first half, but we then struggled to keep possession of the ball.
“But the result is not bad and I am satisfied with four points after two games.”
GK Sandhu MOM for EB !
>-
Just reach the knock round that itself is like an achievement.Yeah topping the group would be a bonus though.
Not actualy. After watching the salengor vs tempenis game to i feel we ar better than both of them and can beat them home & away. So we will go through easily. Can't say anything about saigon. But we have already got a draw against them today and at the home match against then anything can happen.
If we can't go through this group that whould be a shame, and after todays results our aim should be to top the group.
With arnab in the team and khabra at right back any team of the group whould have hard time scoring against us.
Did he play? I thought it was Mondal.
@Arsenalkid700 According to AFC match report Gurpreet played.
OMG we are actually doing good
\m/
> Joyptan said:
> @Arsenalkid700 According to AFC match report Gurpreet played.