Selangor FC coach Kim Pan-gon celebrated his side’s progress to the Asean Club Championship Shopee Cup final on Wednesday by thanking his squad for the “very big present” of a place in the title-decider against defending champions Buriram United FC.
Shopee Star of the Match Chrigor Moraes scored twice at Thiên Trường Stadium in Ninh Binh as the Malaysia Super League side completed a 4-1 aggregate win over V.League 1 champions Nam Ðinh FC to advance to next week’s showdown.
“It’s a very big present from the players during the season that I joined here,” said the South Korean, who took over as Selangor boss in January.
“We have tried to create our own DNA and characteristics of football. We are working day-by-day and game by game, and we can taste our Selangor DNA and characteristics.
“We’re a very attacking team, also very solid with very strong teamwork. Everybody is professional. For me, that’s why I’m most proud.”
Kim’s record since his appointment has been impressive, with Selangor winning 14 and losing only one of his 20 matches in charge.
Selangor performed well again on Wednesday as the Red Giants built on their 2-1 lead from the first leg, with Chrigor extending his side’s advantage with an emphatically struck penalty in the 40th minute after Mitchell Dijks had fouled Mohammad Abdualnadi.
Nam Định pushed for a way back into the tie throughout the second half but, as the home side grew increasingly desperate, Selangor hit on the break in the final minute when Chrigor netted again to put the result beyond doubt.
“It was a great performance from all our players,” said Kim. “We were playing well. They followed our plan great.
“There was very strong attacking from Nam Định at the beginning of the game, but we were very strong to resist them in that situation. We got a goal, and it was crucial. Very proud of all our players and all our supporters.
“Selangor deserves to go to the final. We deserve to be there. We will try our best.”
Nam Định boss Vũ Hồng Việt was left frustrated by his side’s performance as the Vietnamese outfit surrendered their perfect home record in the Shopee Cup to exit the competition.
“I think the penalty has broken the game plan that we prepared, and in the second half we played much better,” he said. “We created pressure on our opponent, but the rush to equalise led to plenty of bad passing and plenty of bad possession.
“Our opponent recovered the ball, counterattacked, and they scored the second goal when it was too late to do anything anymore.”
