Sydney FC striker Kosta Barbarouses says the squad will fight until the very end of the AFC Champions League and still hope to be able to finish second in Group H.
Two wins from the final two matches and a loss for Jeonbuk in their final game against Yokohama F. Marinos, should allow the Sky Blues to finish second due to their head to head record against the Koreans.
Barbarouses believes it’s still possible despite not being able to get a win on the board yet.
“We are disappointed with the results but not the performances, because I think the boys have been good at times,” he said.
“We just want to fight until the end now, so long as there’s a chance to finish second, we are going to do everything we can to do that.
“We’ll go out there and restore some pride and get a win in the next game.”
Head Coach Steve Corica accepts that results haven’t been good enough but expects that to come in the next two matches.
“So far we’ve been under-performing so the players know how important the last two matches are, if we want to have a chance at finishing second.
“It’s all about tightening up defensively and we also need to start scoring goals when the opportunities come.
“We speak about it all the time and there aren’t many opportunities in games so we need to make the most of them.
“With Jeonbuk only drawing their last game against Hoang it’s an important game for us to win to have a chance of finishing second in the group.
“It gives us an opportunity to try and finish second and we know if we win both games and Jeonbuk lose both games then we can do that.”
The Sydney FC Head Coach accepts there are some challenges with the AFC Champions League for Australian clubs and says smaller squads and budgets are key, when asked about why in the press conferences today.
“There are some tough teams with big money to spend out there,” he said. “Obviously we have a salary cap in Australia which doesn’t help us in this competition, but we’ve given it our best shot each time and we just keep trying.”
Sydney FC’s second last match of the AFC Champions League Group H kicks off at midnight on Friday morning against Korean Champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
