With a well-taken goal and two assists, a Cesinha inspired Daegu FC overpowered Melbourne Victory in a shock 3-1 defeat on Tuesday, denting the hopes of the home side’s bid to progress through this year’s edition of the AFC Champions League.
Despite fielding one of their strongest XI on paper with the likes of Ola Toivonen and Keisuke Honda, Victory were unable to keep their longstanding record of remaining unbeaten at home in the last 12 home matches of the continental competition since 2011.
It turned out to be a forgettable day in Victory’s history, as the club announced only minutes before kick off that they decided to play the match without their latest shirt sponsor, Kaishi Entertainment. Following online allegations from eagle eyed fans, Kaishi’s links with a major gambling site contravenes with the AFC’s (and Victory’s) strict stance on gambling partners.
Early in the 4th minute, Spaniard Raul Baena warmed up the 5572 strong crowd with a warning shot from outside the box that sailed over Daegu’s goal.
Shortly after, Toivonen’s inswinging cross found stand-in striker Kosta Barbarouses at the far post but the Kiwi was denied by the crossbar.
Barbarouses repaid the favour to Toivonen on the half hour mark, but this time the boys in blue were rewarded with a goal. After a neat exchange of passes with Keisuke Honda, Barbarouses sent a low cross from the right flank into the box, which met the right boot of a surging Toivonen who lost his marker. His close range sidefoot found the corner of the net, leaving Daegu’s Jo Hyeon Woo stranded in his goal.
Just two minutes later, James Donachie failed to put in as much of a contest with Edgar following a hopeful cross in Victory’s box. The Brazilian nodded the ball back to a lurking Cesinha outside the box, and the captain took a short back pedal and fired off a half volley in one slick motion. Cesinha’s rocket evaded the bodies of Honda, Baena, and an outstretched Lawrence Thomas to nestle in the top right of the goal, to stun AAMI Park into silence.
The action resumed in the second half, but it was Daegu who were in full control of proceedings following a very dominant Victory half. Just five minutes into the half, defender Hwang Soon Min struck a hopeful shot some way outside of the box, but to his delight, it struck Storm Roux’s arched backside and looped over a flatfooted Thomas.
Striker Kim Dae Won had the clearest of opportunities to add another, but sliced his foot through air at the most inviting of crosses by Jeung Seong Wun.
Daegu sealed the deal just off the hour mark to make it three, after Edgar overpowered Thomas Deng to slide the ball home despite being hauled down by the Victory man.
On the 62 minute mark, Jo denied Toivonen with a snap save that looked destined for goal given the power generated behind the Swede’s downwards header. It was an easily forgotten slice of trivia that Jo and Toivonen faced off in Russia just last year, where Sweden defeated South Korea 1-0.
A ridiculous save to deny Toivonen!
Hyun-woo Cho… WOW. #MVCvDAE #ACL2019 pic.twitter.com/12IpLcBBFD
— FOX Sports Football (@FOXFOOTBALL) March 5, 2019
It was easy pickings for Jo in the following moments, as Honda fired a handful of shots straight at South Korea’s number one.
Victory’s sole intentional substitute (Deng was replaced by Corey Brown following an injury) in Kenny Athiu failed to turned things around, despite Athiu’s ability to pop up useful late, as proven in last year’s AFC Champions League.
The full time whistle confirmed Victory’s poor record to Korean oppositions, now having only won once in 15 matchups since the Australian side’s participation in the competition in 2008.
Victory’s dire winless streak across all competitive games now extends to five games, after falling to a surprise 2-0 loss to Newcastle Jets last week. With three losses and two draws, Victory are now on their longest winless streak this season.
Not good enough for Melbourne Victory, they collapse 3-1 in their very first home game of their #ACL2019 campaign. There goes their 13 game unbeaten run in the competition at home, since 2011. #MVCvDAE pic.twitter.com/XyEi9iocXj
— Ngau Kai Yan (@KaiTFS) March 5, 2019
With Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Guangzhou Evergrande, playing each other in the later of Group F matches, Victory sit bottom of the group at zero points.
Victory will now travel to Japan to face Sanfrecce Hiroshima on the 12th of March, in their next competitive fixture. Their next game (H) in the A-League will follow just four days later, when they host Brisbane Roar in the same week.
Melbourne Victory 1 (Ola Toivonen 29’)
Daegu FC 3 (Cesinha 31’, Hwang Soon-Min 51’, Edgar 61’)
Melbourne Victory
20. Lawrence Thomas (GK)
2. Storm Roux
4. Keisuke Honda
6. Leigh Broxham [C]
8. Terry Antonis
9. Kosta Barbarouses
10. James Troisi
11. Ola Toivonen > 7. Kenny Athiu (77′)
14. Thomas Deng > 3. Corey Brown (65′)
15. Raúl Baena
17. James Donachie
Unused Subs
1. Matthew Acton (GK)
16. Joshua Hope
21. Carl Valeri
23. Jai Ingham
25. Anthony Lesiotis
Daegu FC
3. Kim Woo-Suk
5. Hong Jung-Woon
9. Edgar
11. Cesinha [C]
14 .Kim Dae-Won > 7. Dario (88’)
17. Kim Jun-Yub
18. Jeong Seung-Won
20. Hwang Soon-Min >
38. Jang Seong-Won (79’)
21. Cho Hyun-Woo (GK)
29. Ryu Jae-Moon > 44 . Tsubasa Nishi (45’)
66. Park Byung-Hyun
Unused subs
4. Jeong Tae-Wook
6. Han Hee-Hoon
25. Lee Joon-Hee (GK)
30. Kim Jin-Hyuk
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Referee : Alireza Faghani (IRN)
Assistant Referees : Reza Sokahndan (IRN), Mohammad Reza Mansouri (IRN)
Fourth Official : Kazemi Syedvahid (IRN)
Feature image credit: Ngau Kai Yan
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