Da Silva strikes out Happy Valley
HAPPY Valley coach Chan Hung-ping admitted his team were always facing a losing battle after the local side were dumped out of the Asian Cup-Winners' Championship by J-League side Nagoya Grampus Eight last night.
Facing a 3-1 first-leg deficit, Happy Valley looked good in patches but they were unable to turn the tide as the visitors ran away with a comfortable 3-0 second leg win for a 6-1 aggregate at Hong Kong Stadium.
'Everybody knows that the level in the J-League is higher than ours. They have good players and the competition is good there. They have some very excellent outfield players who can all score,' said Chan.
'But having said that, I am satisfied with the way we played. We gave them a good run until they scored late in the first half. We played well in patches, but it wasn't good enough.'
Brazilian forward Ueslei Pereira da Silva broke the deadlock with the first of his two goals in the 37th minute, a simple header after finding Naoki Hiraoka's cross.
It was downhill for Happy Valley from there as the visitors struck again with Da Silva finding his target again in the 66th minute, this time blasting home from the inside right channel. Brazilian Wagner Lopes crashed home goal number three for Grampus Eight in the 77th minute.
Happy Valley midfielder Lo Kai-wah came closest to scoring for the local side when his rising shot went wide and over in the 81st minute.
Grampus Eight could have added to the scoring with two late chances from midfielder Kenji Fukuda, but goalkeeper Peter Guthrie kept them out.
'It wasn't really an easy game. We played a good game. We defended well and played good soccer. That's why we won,' said Grampus Eight coach Joao Carlos da Silva Costa.
Meanwhile, South China bowed out of the Asian Club Championship after losing 3-1 - and 6-2 on aggregate - to Jubilo Iwata in their second round, second leg clash in Japan.
