Adelaide United FC has stormed to the top of Group H after pulling off one of its best wins away from home, with a 2-0 win over the highly fancied Shandong Luneng in Match Day 2 of the AFC Champions League 2010 at the Shandong Sports Centre.
A first United goal for striker Sergio van Dijk set the Reds on their way in the 26th minute, before 19 year old Mathew Leckie made it two goals from as many ACL starts with his commanding 70th minute header ensuring United returns home with maximum points after two games.
It was United’s first win in China, and the club’s breakthrough victory in three attempts against Shandong Luneng stemming back to the 2007 AFC Champions League.
The 2008 ACL finalists now go three points clear at the top of the group, having upset the reigning ACL title holders and the ‘Real Madrid’ of Chinese football.
“It was a great win. I think it was really important that we backed up from our good win against Pohang,” Coach Aurelio Vidmar said after the victory.
“We started the game off very well, we really didn’t allow them to get any rhythm in the game, especially in that first half and then we scored a great goal.”
Goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic was again a standout between the posts, but Vidmar was full of praise for all of his charges as they once again carried out the game plan to tremendous effect.
“He (Galekovic) is a fantastic keeper, we know that and at the right times he made two fantastic saves, but he wasn’t the only one that was fantastic tonight,” Vidmar said.
“I thought our two centre halves Robbie Cornthwaite and Iain Fyfe were fantastic, Sergio up front and our midfielders were absolutely brilliant, they stay disciplined, we executed our corner extremely well and we knew that was probably an area that we could have got a little bit of joy out of and we certainly did, it was a fantastic goal from Leckie.”
“The group’s mentality has been fantastic…the confidence amongst the players and within the group is very good at this point of time and winning does that.”
“The performance tonight, you could see that they were stubborn, there was no way they were going to concede the goal, they were desperate in defence and everything worked very well for us.”
In a typically cagey opening to an ACL match, containment was the key for the Reds in the first 20 minutes as they absorbed an early Shandong barrage, with goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic forced into a sharp reflex save.
The Reds went out with a deliberate plan to congest the midfield and close down Shandong’s time on the ball in the middle of the park, resulting in not a lot of action in United’s front third in the opening stages.
The few times the Reds were dangerous, was with the pace of Leckie as he sprinted to get on the end of carefully measured long balls, as the visitors gradually warmed to the chilly conditions in Jinan.
United was well in the contest, and in the 26th minute the vocal Shandong crowd was stunned into silence, as van Dijk sent the Reds ahead.
Argentine playmaker Marcos Flores dissected the Shandong defence with a sublime ball to put Pantelis through down the right, the Reds vice-captain delivering a pinpoint cross with his non preferred right boot for van Dijk at the far post, the unmarked Dutchman’s header taking a slight deflection off the inside of the post, before finding its way into the back of the net to give Adelaide the lead.
It was a brilliantly constructed build up to give van Dijk, who passed a late fitness test to take his place in the team, his first goal in the AFC Champions League and for United.
Credit must also go to Cornthwaite, who started the play when he corralled and then dispossessed the Shandong run from midfield, to get the ball to the feet of Flores.
The Reds continued to weather the Shandong challenge, holding firm until the break as the three time Chinese league winners tried to respond.
With the home side chasing the game, they came out aggressively in the second half and in the 51st minute they could have counted themselves fortunate not to be a player, as well as a goal, down after Ciu Peng showed his studs in a reckless challenge on Scott Jamieson.
The Reds’ composure was being tested as Shandong pressed, United pulled up for a number of fouls as they attempted to stem the flow, Leckie and Pantelis both receiving cautions as a result.
In the 69th minute the air tight United defence gave Flores an excellent chance to double the advantage, but he could not beat Li LeiLei in the Shandong goal after Travis Dodd’s determined run created the opportunity.
While the miss could have proved costly, from the ensuing corner all was forgiven, as the Reds went two up with a superbly executed set play.
A flat, perfectly waited Jamieson ball flew over the congested six yard box for Leckie, who stormed into the penalty area completely unmarked, and smashed his header in off the underside of the bar, with the ball clearly over the line before going back into the field of play. There was no doubting the ball had crossed the goal line, and suddenly United had a two goal break.
Van Dijk’s night came to an end when he was replaced by Cassio with 12 minutes to go, as Vidmar aimed to sure up the lead.
With vital minutes ticking away, the Reds continued to frustrate the hosts, Galekovic ensuring United went home with not only all three points but also a clean sheet, as he kept out Li Jinyu in the dying moments, the save rounding off another memorable ACL journey for the team from Adelaide.
The Reds’ travelling party arrives back in Adelaide on Friday morning with the club’s next AFC Champions League match at home against Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima on March 24 (Kick-Off 7.30pm ACDT). Tickets for the match are available now through Ticketek (call 132 849, online at www.ticketek.com.au).
Match Details
Shandong Luneng 0
Adelaide United FC 2 (van Dijk 28’, Leckie 70’)
Referee: Faghani Alireza (Iran)
Crowd: 22,176 @ Shandong Sports Centre
Adelaide United line-up: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 4.Iain FYFE, 5.Daniel MULLEN, 7.Lucas PANTELIS (27.Adam GRIFFITHS 90+2’), 9.Sergio VAN DIJK (6.CASSIO 78’), 13.Travis DODD (c), 14.Scott JAMIESON, 17.Michael MARRONE, 19.Mathew LECKIE, 24.Marcos FLORES (10.Adam HUGHES 82’)
Substitutes not used: 3.Nigel BOOGAARD, 18.Fabian BARBIERO, 20.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Cornthwaite 45+1’, Leckie 56’, Pantelis 65’, Hughes 87’
Red Cards: Nil
Shandong Luneng line-up: 1.Li LEILEI (gk), 2.Liu JINDONG (c), 3.Carlos SANTOS, 6.Zhou HAIBIN (14.Fred BENSON 64’), 7.Ciu PENG, 8.Wang YONGPO, 9.Han PENG, 15.Wei Wei YUAN, 18.Roda ANTAR, 24.Lu ZHENG (29.Li JINYU 75’), 25.Jiao ZHE
Substitutes not used: 4.Sinisa RADANOVIC, 11.Deng ZHUOXIANG, 16.Zheng ZHENG, 22.Yang CHENG (gk), 27.Ma LONG
Yellow Cards: Cui Peng 51’
Red Cards: Nil
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