Adelaide United stay grounded despite ACL red-letter night in South Korea
Adelaide United coach Guillermo Amor has refused to get carried away after the Reds’ stunning 3-1 Asian Champions League win over Jeju United. Tuesday night’s victory in South Korea, coupled with Gamba Osaka’s 3-0 loss to undefeated Group H leader Jiangsu Suning, saw the Reds climb off the bottom of the table and move into second place with four points.
Liverpool to visit Australia again with Sydney FC friendly confirmed for May
Read more
Jeju have the same tally but Adelaide boast the upper hand with a win and draw from their two meetings, while Gamba prop up the table with three points. The Reds had to avoid defeat to hold any chance of advancing beyond the group stage and now Amor acknowledges there is a possibility his side can progress.
But, with two matches remaining, the Barcelona great said it wouldn’t be easy and urged his side to stay focused ahead of their next ACL clash against Gamba in Japan in a fortnight.
“I prefer to enjoy today the result and after we’ll prepare for the next game,” Amor said. “It’s true that it’s a big opportunity. But we know that in Osaka the game will be difficult, similar to today.”
United stunned the hosts with a goal in the seventh minute courtesy of a wonder strike from former Jeju midfielder Kim Jae-sung, only to concede an equaliser a minute later. After absorbing significant pressure, the Reds struck twice in the second half with goals from Dylan McGowan and Riley McGree.
Amor was delighted with the win and United’s performance, which was made more significant given it was on Korean soil. “I feel very well,” Amor said. “It’s difficult to win these kinds of games, in the Champions [League], away [from home]. For us it’s a good result and we must enjoy in this moment the result.”
The Reds arrive back in Adelaide on Thursday ahead of their final A-League match for the season on Saturday against Western Sydney, whose Champions League hopes were effectively ended on Tuesday night with their third loss in four outings – a 3-2 home loss to FC Seoul – that sent them bottom of their group with two games remaining..
But Wanderers coach Tony Popovic is pulling the positives from his side’s underwhelming campaign, viewing it as a vehicle that has fast-tracked the development of his youngest talent.
By virtue of Urawa Red Diamonds’ 1-0 win over Shanghai SIPG (both nine points) in Tuesday night’s other Group F match, Popovic’s side (equal on three points with Seoul) must now beat both by significant margins and rely on other results going their way to have any hope of advancing to the knockout stages.
“It’ll be difficult,” a disappointed Popovic conceded. “We’re in a group as well where there have been no draws so no one’s dropping any points. “You have a look at the other groups - the leaders might be on four, five or six points. As a whole, in terms of results, disappointing.”
Brisbane, last in Group E, host Kashima Antlers on Wednesday night.