Just A Report: Gyeongnam Vs. JDT

Credit: AFC Champions League

Johor Darul Takzim’s (JDT) Asian Champions League adventure has come to an end after succumbing to a 2-0 defeat away at Gyeongnam.

Both sides were missing key players. JDT missed Safawi Rasid through suspension for accumulated yellows while ex-Cardiff City midfielder Jordon Mutch is out for Gyeongnam thanks to injury. Though Safawi’s absence was more felt, especially when the Southern Tigers were taking set-pieces.

On nine minutes, all the JDT camp had their hearts stopped for a moment. Farizal Marlias though pulled off an astounding double save. First, he was on hand to block Yeo Sung-Hae’s half-volley. With no offside call, Luc Castaignos pounced on the rebound by the goalmouth, but Farizal also astonishingly stopped it with his leg.

It was only minutes later news broke out that China’s Shandong Luneng took the lead against Japan’s Kashima Antlers thanks to Marouane Fellaini’s header that just crossed the line. Despite that, neither side were buoyed by the news.

JDT had trouble to get chances and give Gyeongnam keeper, Song Jeong-Hyeon something to think about while Gyeongnam severely lacked quality in the final third. Negueba thought to have finally provided it by dribbling his way towards JDT’s box, only to drag his shot wide.

Only just two minutes later, JDT thought they have the lead a loose ball went to Syafiq Ahmad just outside the box and the forward brilliantly got the shot away, but the ball went agonizingly wide while Jeong-Hyeon was well beaten as it was the last notable chance of the half.

Once the second half started, the tempo of the match was much higher as Gyeongnam set off the block with newfound energy while JDT’s discipline was wavering and resulted in three of their players being booked in a space of seven minutes. It got worse for JDT when Mauricio had to go off because of an injury on 50 minutes.

Gyeongnam got more threatening when veteran forward, Bae Ki-Jong came on, and his runs looked menacing. And he really should’ve scored on 61 minutes. The home side played a free-kick early and Ki-Jong timed his run well to avoid being offside. In the ensuing one-on-one battle though, it was Farizal who emerged victorious by closing down space and saved Ki-Jong’s effort much to Gyeongnam’s disbelief.

However, they didn’t have to wait long to break the deadlock. JDT failed to deal with a deep free-kick and Castaignos took advantage of the chaos to bundle the ball in from close range to give the home side the lead.

Though JDT never gave up and tried to find the equalizer with Akhyar Rashid and Diogo having chances saved by Jeong-Hyeon. But it was within the final ten minutes that they really should’ve scored. First, Gonzalo Cabrera picked up the ball on the right by the near post, and once again Jeong-Hyeon was there to stop it. On 88 minutes, Nazmi Faiz swung a cross in and Aidil Zafuan’s pinpointed header beats Jeong-Hyeon. Unfortunately, it also painfully beat the goal by just the narrowest of margins.

To add insult to injury for JDT, Gyeongnam was able to score a second with the final action of the match. Kim Seung-Jun teed up Takahiro Kunimoto for an easy tap-in following a counter-attack for a much more respectable scoreline from the home side’s perspective.

Their continental escapades may have ended, but JDT can be proud that they did well to face a few of Asia’s best in their maiden AFC Champions League campaign. As for Gyeongnam, even though they emerged the winners, they were still eliminated after Kashima came back to win 2-1 over Shandong thanks to Sho Ito’s quickfire brace.

Gyeongnam XI:

31 Song Jeong-Hyeon

4 Ha Sung-Min

8 Ahn Sung-Nam

9 Luc Castaignos (19 Ko Kyung-Min, ’77)

10 Kim Seung-Jun

15 Woo Ju-Sung

17 Yeo Sung-Hae

22 Takahiro Kunimoto

23 Lee Kwang-Seon

32 Lee Yeong-Jae (7 Bae Ki-Jong, ’55)

77 Negueba

Subs:

25 Lee Bum-Soo

12 Lee Jae-Myung

13 Kim Jun-Beom

16 Lee Kwang-Jin

90 Song Ju-Hun

Bookings: Ha Sung-Min (’66), Luc Castaignos (’73)

JDT XI:

1 Farizal Marlias

4 Afiq Fazail

7 Aidil Zafuan

8 Diogo Luis Santo

11 Gonzalo Cabrera

12 S. Kunanlan

14 Hariss Harun

19 Akhyar Rashid (21 Nazmi Faiz, ’71)

22 La’vere Corbin-Ong

28 Syafiq Ahmad (9 Hazwan Bakri , ’84)

33 Mauricio (3 Adam Nor Azlin, ’50)

Subs:

24 Izham Tarmizi

16 Syamer Kutty Abba

20 Azrif Nasrulhaq

27 Fadhli Shas

Bookings: Syafiq Ahmad (’47), Mauricio (’48), Afiq Fazail (’54)