26 Mar 2007(Mon)

It was a formality, right?

Frontale would be 2-0 up at half time, and add another four in the second half to win six-nil -- with Bangkok lucky to get nil.

Well, how wrong can you be?

I did not think it was possible for Kawasaki to play so badly, even with Ganaha on the bench nursing an ankle injury. I am sure coach Sekizuka was not expecting to call on Ganaha, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and off the bench he came midway through the second half to try and breathe life into his ailing team.

Frontale did manage to equalise, thanks to an own goal, but could not find a second and ended up with a point from an embarrassing 1-1 draw. It could have been worse, too, as Bangkok looked quite sharp on the break and full of confidence in front of goal against a strangely lethargic and nervy Frontale.

Usually they are like a machine. Big, strong, relentless and ruthless, they have grown accustomed to bullying and battering opponents into submission in the J.League with their potent cocktail of speed and aggression.

But the roaring lions of the J.League became timid fieldmice on the Asian stage. They started slowly, conceded an early, well-taken goal, and could never really get into it.

The pace was pedestrian, their passing was poor and they failed to get behind the Bangkok defence, either down the flanks or through the middle with the speed of Juninho. Magnum had a decent game and tried to stir them into action, as did libero Terada moving forward, but it was not Kengo's day -- and the team struggled with its chief playmaker out of sorts.

All in all, then, a bad day for Frontale and for their hopes of winning Group F to advance to the quarter-finals. They still have an away win under their belts, though, and, with four points from two games, are in a good position -- but it could have been so much better going into their clashes with Chunnam Dragons.

Sensing an upset, it was inevitable that Bangkok University would use every trick in the book to prevent Frontale from gaining any momentum. Time-wasting, players, notably the keeper, going down "injured" at every opportunity, the match was close to a farce at times.

But with the rules as they are at the moment, and the mentality of the players locked in the culture of "Unfair Play Please", there is little the referee can do except add on time; only four minutes on this occasion.

It was a poor spectacle, but at least Frontale cannot play worse than this.

ends