Kyoga Nakamura in action for Tampines Rovers in the AFC Champions League against Gamba Osaka , 25 June 2021 (Photo: Shintaro Tay/Tampines Rovers)
SINGAPORE, 11 JULY 2021 – A defeat to Chiangrai United on Saturday night saw Tampines Rovers’ Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) 2021 campaign come to an end.
The Stags, who were playing for the first time ever in Asian’s premier club tournament, went down to their sixth defeat in as many games with a 3-0 loss to the Thai side at the Lokomotiv Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The result meant that the AIA Singapore Premier League (SPL) side finished at the bottom of Group H with one goal scored and 27 conceded, behind group winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (South Korea), runners-up Gamba Osaka (Japan) and Chiangrai.
While it was a tough debut for Gavin Lee’s charges, veteran defender Daniel Bennett did create a slice of history when he scored their only goal during their fifth group encounter against Gamba in an 8-1 defeat. At 43 years and 181 days, Bennett also eclipsed Dejan Damjanović (39y 341d) as the oldest ever scorer in the tournament’s history.
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Apart from Bennett, who became the first Singaporean to turn out for two different Singaporean clubs in the ACL after playing (and scoring) for the Singapore Armed Forces in 2010, Lee utilised 18 other players throughout the tournament.
Tampines are set to arrive back in Singapore on Monday and will resume their 2021 SPL season against the Lion City Sailors on 4 August.