THE long road to the final of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup reached a dead end for South China here on a dry and dusty evening.
Trailing 4-2 from the first leg at the Hong Kong Stadium on March 19, South China needed to score at least three times if they were to have any chance of winning the fourth edition of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup.
But they opted for a face-saving mission and a damage limitation exercise rather than a ''Desert Storm'' all-out attack and got what they came for - a respectable defeat in the Al Raka Stadium.
The home side had to wait until the 64th minute to open the scoring with a penalty from Saleh Al-Qanbar, who had been brought down by South China's goalkeeper, Werner Kooistra, after beating the offside trap down the left wing.
The Syrian referee, Fayez Al-Bitar, was very lenient on the big Dutchman, showing him only the yellow card when he must have expected to see the red card for what was clearly a professional foul.
Al-Qanbar picked himself up from his heavy tumble and drilled the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of Kooistra's goal to put the Saudis on their way to victory.