Tainan City’s campaign in the AFC Cup came to an end on Thursday following a 3-1 loss to Hong Kong’s Eastern Long Lions in their group’s closing match at Buriram Stadium in Thailand.
The loss was Tainan City’s second consecutive defeat after losing to Hong Kong Premier League outfit Lee Man 3-1 on Monday, leaving the Taiwanese side with zero points and in last place in three-team Group J.
It was the second victory in a row for Eastern, following their defeat of Lee Man 3-1 on Friday last week, meaning they top the standings and advance to the inter-zone semi-finals.
Eastern on Thursday only needed a draw to advance, but took the lead in the 17th minute when forward Mikael reacted to an inswinging cross from the left by teammate Fernando, heading downward and into the bottom-right corner of the goal.
In the fifth minute of the second half, Eastern midfielder Sun Ming Him doubled the Hong Kong side’s advantage, before Tainan midfielder Ange Kouame gave his team hope by scoring their first goal nine minutes later.
However, those hopes were extinguished 13 minutes later when Eastern forward Victor Bertomeu struck from inside the penalty area to end Tainan City’s dreams of a comeback.
To advance to the next round Tainan had to defeat Eastern by three goals or more. The teams met in last year’s competition, with Eastern winning a closer game 1-0.
Before the latest match, Tainan City head coach Kenneth Kwok remained upbeat, despite the 3-1 loss to Lee Man on Monday.
“We need to win by a certain number of goals, but this is not our concern, winning the game is our priority,” Kwok said.
“We need to keep our spirits up. We have trained pretty well for this game and we want to show everyone the identity of the Tainan City team,” he said.
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