Ten-man Sydney FC and Suwon Samsung Bluewings played out a hard-fought scoreless draw in their opening AFC Champions League Group H match at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The home side were forced to play a man short for nearly an hour in a sometimes tempestuous contest after skipper Terry McFlynn was dismissed for stomping on Lee Sangho.
Suwon fielded their quartet of new signings in defender Hwang Jae-Won, midfielder Lee Yong-Rae, striker Yeom Ki-Hoon as well as Korea Republic’s South Africa 2010 goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong.
Despite high-tempo movement at times Suwon displayed rustiness at times ahead of the K-League commencing this weekend.
Sydney, whose season concluded three weeks ago, extended their unbeaten run to nine matches in their first continental outing for three years.
Sydney’s new signing David Williams had a quite debut on the right flank where he was rarely allowed enough latitude to display his speed. Striker Bruno Cazarine invariably forced to battle alone up front following the dismissal of McFlynn.
In a match of few openings Suwon’s Choi Sung Kuk had perhaps the best chance of the contest after just eight minutes but the visiting captain spurned a glorious opportunity by blazing well over with only exposed goalkeeper Liam Reddy to beat.
At the other end the home side failed to test the visiting goalkeeper until moments before half-time with Sydney’s Japanese midfielder Hirofumi Moriyasu warming the palms of Sung-Ryong from distance.
The Koreans commenced the second period in bright fashion with Yang Sang Min forcing a fine sprawling save from Reddy, before Oh Jangeun narrowly cleared the crossbar with a spectacular overhead kick.
Suwon defender Mato Neretljak curled a free-kick around the wall with five minutes remaining only for the ball to clear the near post of a diving Reddy. Almost immediately Sydney defender Stephan Keller directed a header wide as the home side ramped up the pressure in the final minutes.
