Some players buried their heads in their hands, while others stared blankly into space. After losing 9-0 to South Korean team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the misery in the locker room was palpable.
“They were at their tipping point,” said Tampines Rovers head coach Gavin Lee, recalling the scene at Lokomotiv Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He told his players to stay off social media.
Netizens hurled criticism, saying the team wasted their time at the competition and that the score was an embarrassment to Singa- pore.
“This is not a football challenge but a mental one,” Lee, 31, told his players. “How we respond defines who we are.”
Three days later, Tampines Rovers had to face the same opponents. This time, the Koreans managed to score only one goal by half-time, not four as in the previous match.
“Jeonbuk started to panic and started throwing out their super-star players, so I think that was an indication of our response,” said Lee.
The team lost all six matches over 24 days, and many at home wondered why they chose to compete in Asia’s top football competition.
It is not just about winning but learning, said Lee. “Humans will always adapt to their environment. So if your environment is of a higher level, you will either adapt or you will become extinct.”
Despite losing 2-0 to Japan’s Gamba Osaka, Lee was spotted with a smile after the Stags’ first match in the competition.
Gamba Osaka were Japan’s second-best football team in the J1 League last year. They are also a regular competitor in the Asian Champions League, and won the title in 2008.
Gamba Osaka fielded players such as Wellington Silva, who was once at Arsenal, Takashi Usami who played for Bayern Munich, and Gen Shoji who played for Toulouse.
Shoji is estimated to be worth €1.8 million (S$2.8 million), which is more than the yearly operating cost of Tampines Rovers.
Surprisingly, Tampines dominated control of the ball. Match statistics showed the team had 58 per cent possession, with 87 per cent ball passing accuracy.
For Lee, the results reaffirmed that even though his team did not have the same resources as their opponents, they could still per- form.
“We found many solutions to play under pressure,” he said.
But soon fatigue set in. Due to the pandemic, matches were played back to back, with only three days’ rest. This took a toll on the players, some of whom played more than 400 minutes in the tournament, unlike the Korean and Japanese teams which had enough players to rotate during games.
The Stags’ line-up included de- fender Daniel Bennett, 43, the old- est player in the Singapore Premier League (SPL). Despite the dis- appointment of losing, he said it was important for younger players to aspire to a higher level of football.
“When you watch footballers on TV, you think, yeah, I can do that. But then you go and play against them, you’ll see just how physically strong and professional they are.
“These kinds of teams will lose quite easily to teams in Europe. You realise what you need to do to be at that level,” said Bennett, who was the only player to score for the Stags in the tournament.
Midfielder Iman Hakim, 19, thought his experience in the SPL and some regional competitions made him ready to compete in the Asian Champions League. But things changed when he made a mistake that led to a goal.
“I think more quickly now and I’m more aware of my surroundings when making a decision. I try to go into challenges stronger, with my whole body weight instead of just putting my legs in,” he said.
Tensions rose high when Tampines Rovers captain Yasir Hanapi was sent off after two offences on July 4. With a man short against their opponents from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Tampines Rovers lost 4-0.
But as soon as the team returned to their hotel, Yasir began taking orders for burgers and pizza.
“I thought, why not buy them some food as a token of appreciation as they had to work extra hard without me on the pitch,” he said.
The string of losses was especially tough for Yasir, 32, who was part of the national team that went to the World Cup qualifier matches in Saudi Arabia in June and lost three matches.
Acknowledging how senior players can influence younger ones, he said he has become more conscious about the way he behaves.
“If I were to do things that are not good, the younger players might follow and in the end, the future won’t be great,” he said.
When Marc Ryan Tan, 19, made an error that led to the opponents scoring a goal, he expected his teammates to blame him.
But during half-time, senior player Baihakki Khaizan, 37, went over to him and told him how he could improve.
Tan said: “We were all trying to recover at half-time, but he came to me to talk about that mistake so it was very motivating for me.”
During their time in Tashkent, the Stags bumped into their opponents from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at breakfast and at the gym as they were in the same hotel.
Defender Andrew Aw Yong, 18, said it was eye-opening to watch the Korean players in the gym. They had individualised workout regimens, and they stretched to re- duce injuries during matches.
Aw Yong vowed to imitate how the Korean team trained and played in the Asian Champions League. The Koreans finished first in the group qualifiers in Tashkent and advanced to the next stage of the competition.
“I realised that professionalism is quite lacking in Singapore. Players don’t really care about their diets and their bodies,” Aw Yong said.
After the Stags returned from Uzbekistan, they faced numerous challenges.
They were unable to train during their quarantine after two players tested positive for Covid-19. When they resumed playing in the SPL, they lost five straight matches.
The Stags eventually finished fourth in the SPL that ended on Oct 10. It was won by Lion City Sailors, who will be competing in next year’s Asian Champions League.
Lee hopes the team will continue to draw on their experiences.
“We are holding ourselves to a higher standard and that should be the most important thing with everything we do from now on.”
