Muangthong's dream dashed by Victory
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Thai Premier League club Muangthong United's dream of another adventure on the continental stage was snuffed out following a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Australia's Melbourne Victory in the AFC Champions League play-off yesterday.
Aiming to claim a second consecutive appearance in the continent’s premier club competition, the three-time TPL champions, though, had to spend the time denying a media report by a local Australian newspaper that English coach Scott Cooper would quit after the one-off play-off tie.
Despite such unwelcome distraction, Muangthong tried their best to keep the focus on the job at hand.
Given the fact that Muangthong have yet to begin their new league campaign while Melbourne have already played 19 matches of the current A-League season, it was no surprise the Australians quickly settled into the rhythm.
Muangthong, however, silenced the home crowd by taking a shock lead against the run of play when Macedonian midfielder Mario Dorovski fired in an in-swinging corner that went straight into the net at the near post, much to the delight of the visiting bench.
In the 41st minute, Teerasil Dangda had another chance to extend his side’s advantage when he showed great piece of skills by dribbling past the home defenders but again was let down by his finishing.
The Thai side survived a big scare on the stroke of half-time. Referee Masaaki Toma quickly pointed to the penalty spot when veteran striker Archie Thompson was bundled over by Piyaphon Buntao.
The Japanese official, himself, was left red-faced, though. He initially showed the Thai defender a second yellow card before correctly changing his decision following protest by the Thai team as Piyaphon had not been cautioned before.
Thai goalie Visanusak Kaewruang then made a crucial save by diving low to his left to block Mark Milligan’s spot kick to keep Muangthong in front at half-time.
The home side eventually drew level after the break when James Troisi made amends for his early miss by powering home a bullet header in the 58th minute.
The game looked to have headed for the extra time but midfielder Leigh Broxham collected a poor clearance on the edge of the box before firing a shot that went into the back of the net off the head of Piyaphon.
Things went from bad to worse in the closing stages for Muangthong when Datsakorn was shown a red card for an attempted headbutt at Leigh Broxham.
Chonburi FC, the other Thai club that had to fight for a group stage berth through the playoff, were due to face China’s Beijing Guoan in yesterday’s evening match at the Workers stadium in the Chinese capital.
