[Post-Match Thoughts] A Different League (Jeonbuk 3 Sailors 0)

At the end of the day, the K-League is the K-League. The Singapore Premier League is the Singapore Premier League. I dared to dream the impossible dream and that dream did not materialise. But was flying all the way to Seoul, and then taking a 4h ride to Jeonju to lose 3-0 a waste of time? Not at all. Here are some of my thoughts.

A “Weakened” Jeonbuk Lineup

When the Jeonbuk lineup was released – a flicker of hope lit up in my heart. No Paik Seung-ho, no Boateng, no Gustavo. Park Jae-Yong leading the line. He had just come a few months ago from K League 2. Were our opponents underestimating us? Maybe we had a shot? Let me bring you back to what I said in the preview.

Wish I could’ve spoken to a Korean expert before the trip so that my preview can focus on a few key individuals. I will give you a few to look out for anyway. Paik Seung Ho, Han Kyo Won, Gustavo and Boateng.

– Eddy in the preview article published 1 day before the game. What a genius.

I am like a reverse fortune-teller. I named 4 players to look out for and none of the 4 players started. Wow. Of all the players that could be rested because Dan Petrescu had an eye on the weekend’s clash against Pohang Steelers, he rested the 4 that I told you guys to look out for.

Or if you don’t believe in fortune tellers because they are usually a crock of shit, then maybe I am a fortune teller.

I can’t tell you the future but I’ll tell you what I felt when I saw the lineup though. There was a flicker of hope. I feel like such a fool right now, but I can’t lie. I remember thinking to myself – “don’t jinx the team, Eddy, don’t tell the rest of the Crew that this is a weakened Jeonbuk lineup and that we have a huge chance. They are underestimating us, and they will regret this. “

Well – that’s what being a die-hard fan does to you I think. You see the positives in any situation and you fail to see the bigger picture. Had I taken a step back and looked at the whole team, there’s still the likes of Kim Jin Su – 68 caps for the South Korea national team, at left-back.

Next to him, at centreback, Hong Jeong Ho, with 42 caps. Moon at left-wing, Ahn at right-back, Jun Amano in midfield – also senior internationals (Korea, Korea, Japan). That’s a whole lot of caps, possibly even more than you can find on the shopping streets in Dongdaemun. (OK that might be an exaggeration – there’s like tons of quality caps going for S$6-S$10?!!? That street is magic – but I digress.)

Then there’s the ones who came back from Hangzhou with a gold medal around their necks. Of the 5 from Jeonbuk, 3 were in the starting 11. The other 2 were on the bench.

So it was still a quality lineup – and the difference in class was clear. When you go away from home, and you are playing against a stronger team, you need a lot of things to go your way – you need to get your tactics spot on, you need to be resolute in defence, you need to take your few chances if and when they come, and you absolutely cannot concede an early goal.

We Conceded an Early Goal

The atmosphere was rocking before kick-off. The Crew was small in numbers but we tried our best to make ourselves heard. The Mad Green Boys (Jeonbuk’s biggest fan group) were far, far louder, and it was truly impressive to watch and hear.

In an away game, you need to shut them up. You need the players to do something on the field to test their resolve. Keep it goalless for 20min, 30min, 40min, half-time. Famously, Real Madrid fans sometimes boo their players if they are losing at half-time. The Mad Green Boys themselves, have also stayed silent at times to show their displeasure with the former coach Kim Sang Sik for the club’s patchy form early this season.

But the last thing we wanted, was one of the first things that happened. Jun Amano cut inside from the right, and he zipped a low shot into the back of the net from outside the box.

I’ve seen some blame Zharfan for the goal, but I am not sure he is to blame. It was a shot taken first-time, with minimal backlift, and it was slotted into the far corner, nestling in the side-netting. Sometimes you just have to applaud a quality strike and I think this was one of those occasions.

Early goal achieved, Jeonbuk did not have to commit too many men forward, the fans had the impetus to keep going, and our difficult task got 100x harder. I am pretty sure this was not how the coaching staff and players envisioned the first half when they were in the dressing room.

Anu and Lionel Slander

Anu

Reading Telegram chats in the past week, you’d think that Anu was one or more of the following, 35 years old, one of the worst players in the Sailors team, one of the worst midfielders in Singapore, and ultimately just a crap player.

Am I defending the moment in the game where his reaction to a light push by a Jeonbuk player indirectly led to a goal? No I am not at all defending it. I think he should have played on and not asked for a freekick (more on this later). I think the contact appeared to me to be very soft, and he should perhaps have played on.

But does that mean he is complete crap? Of course not. Let’s not forget that in the ACL, we get 5+1 foreign players quota, so Anu really has to fight for his spot. The Singaporeans he is keeping out of the team include the likes of Hami Syahin, Adam Swandi, Shawal Anuar, and Hafiz Nor.

Reading online comments though, would make you think that Anu is a complete liability. Someone said he was on a “sympathy contract”. Suggested replacements for Anu were shoved at us from all corners. If you believed these comments, Harhys Stewart, Jared Gallagher, and Joshua Pereira are all better players than Anu.

To be fair, someone also clarified that he wasn’t saying that these people are better than Anu right now, but they have a longer runway because Anu is old. You’d think that Anu is 35 reading such a comment. He is 29.

One thing about Anu that I have mentioned previously on this blog – I really think he’s getting better with age. He used to just be a wrecking ball of a midfielder, but perhaps due to necessity with LCS being a team that opponents usually cede possession to, Anu has had to be more inventive in recent times. He is now capable of some good through balls, some effective switches, especially out to Maxime, and is generally making more penetrative passes than he used to.

But did he make a mistake in the lead-up to the goal? In my opinion, yes he did.

Lionel

The other person to play a part in the 2nd goal conceded. He scored the own goal that effectively sealed our fate. 2-0 down against a K-League side, away from home, that’s as bad as it gets.

Was the goal his fault? I mean I think I have mixed feelings about it. Yes, he was credited with the own goal because he diverted the cross in, but that was a deadly ball. Had he not got something on it, it would almost certainly have been a tap-in for the Jeonbuk player at the back post.

I think if we want to hand out blame for goals conceded, we’d have to blame Anu for his part in assuming a foul would be given, you’d also have to blame Mamat for not doing more to stop the cross, and then blame Lionel for not achieving a difficult clearance, given his body position and the fact that he had to move backwards and adapt to the low, hard cross.

I prefer to give credit to Lee DongJun for what was a good piece of wingplay – good footwork, and then a ball played in between keeper and last defender, with pace. Once that cross comes in, it’s almost impossible to defend.

The Positives

Well, this is difficult. I guess one positive is that we were not humiliated?

We didn’t get thrashed

It was interesting (but also kinda expected) to hear from Hafiz Nor when we interviewed him post-game, that when he was subbed on, the instruction was to keep the defence solid, rather than try to gamble, push forward, and get a goal back. Sometimes you have to hold your hand up and admit defeat. We were simply up against a better team that was playing well. Park Jae-Yong had barely played for Jeonbuk, but he used his 1.93m frame to great effect, effortlessly holding up the ball for his teammates, winning his aerial duels. The wingers tore us to shreds time and again. And of course, anytime the ball even got near their defence, their two towering centrebacks mopped it up with ease.

We played with a shit ref

It wasn’t a terrible performance, and I think we were a bit hard-done by the referee. But just a bit, so it doesn’t deserve its own section. In away games, you sometimes wanna rough up the opponents a little – with this referee in the game, it was impossible because he was blowing for every little contact a Sailors player made on Jeonbuk, but swallowed his whistle conveniently when it was the other way round. I don’t think it’s corruption or bias or anything, the referee just failed to deal with the atmosphere and was swayed by the crowd and the reactions of the players in green.

I think the gap in quality and performance on the day meant that even if all the decisions went our way, we would still have lost – so it didn’t impact the result.

We witnessed the Mad Green Boys in action

Standing opposite us in the stands on the other side of the stadium were the Mad Green Boys, and from minute 1 to 90, they were a bundle of energy, a very loud bundle of energy. Flags were moving in unison, their shouts echoed around the stadium, and when they moved, it almost seemed synchronised.

As mesmerising as Jeonbuk were on the field, the Mad Green Boys matched it (and more) off the field. Just as Jeonbuk were better than our Sailors on the day, the Mad Green Boys were many levels above the Crew off the field, as hard as we tried. It will be a while before we can even think of achieving something like that, but in the meantime, it doesn’t mean we do not slowly and incrementally try to build on what we already have.

Next week, we call upon you to clap that bit harder, shout that bit louder, and just scream your head off at everything going on in the game. We need that energy from the crowd, that extra 1% that we hope may help our Sailors overcome a team like Jeonbuk.

The last positive is also for the Mad Green Boys, but I will leave that for the conclusion.

Conclusion

So was it a waste of time to go all that way to watch my favourite team lose 3-0? Heck no. We were so impressed by what we saw in Korea. The way the supporters are organised, how they welcomed us on the night before the game, and brought us around on matchday itself, not just in the stadium, but on a trip around their city, playing tour guides for the day.

Football is about rivalry, but football is also the common language that brings us together. Despite our many differences, we respect each other for our dedication to our respective clubs. I scribbled some rhymes here and there when I was on the plane and in the bus, and here goes my little effort to sum up why I love football so much and why this trip has propelled my love for football to even greater heights, if that was even possible.

It’s The Time

It’s the time you spend with fellow fans putting flags up before the game,

The time you accepted defeat when the final whistle eventually came.

It’s the time you spend walking to the stadium with hope in your heart,

The time you realise that both teams are a class apart.

It’s the time you spend roaring with the crowd, a cacophony of cheers,

The time you lost the league, your friends around you in tears.

It’s the time you spend celebrating a world-class goal,

The time you remember a bad result eating away at your soul.

None of this time is wasted at all,

None of us could do without football.

The ups and downs, the rollercoaster ride,

With every win and loss, our emotions we can’t hide.

The friendships forged across clubs where there should be strife,

Football unites us all, football gives us life.

Through highs and lows we stick by our team,

The Crew is family, and we’re all livin’ a dream.

A big shoutout to the Mad Green Boys for their hospitality. And a big shoutout to all of you reading this, please come down and lend your voices to the Crew next week. We’re gonna need every single voice out there to roar our boys on to victory,

Till we meet again in the preview of the big one next week!

Written by Eddy Hirono 

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