Wullems: Makassar outclassed

PSM Makassar’s technical director Hank Wullems conceded the obvious and admitted his side are out of their depth at the top end of Asian club football.

The Dutchman saw his side lose 8-1 to Korean side Suwon Bluewings just two days after losing 3-1 to China’s Shanding Luneng and said they are still well behind the best in Asian football.

“I’m not so disappointed because I knew there would be a difference in quality,” he said. “We’re the best in Indonesia but we are a long way behind the Koreans.

“I didn’t expect the result to be so high but before the game I didn’t think we could win or even draw. They are three classes above us and we only have a few players that are at the same level as the Korean players.”

There was little Wullems could do as the Koreans pulled themselves back into contention for a spot in the semi-finals with seven goals in the first half.

Seo Jung-won hit a hat-trick inside the first 25 minutes while Ko Jong-su and Sandro Cardoso claimed two apiece and Park Kun-ha scored one.

“No matter what strategy we played we couldn’t have won,” said Wullems.

By contrast, Suwon coach Kim Ho said he had made no alterations to his team after the 3-0 loss to Jubilo Iwata on Wednesday.

“There were no special changes from the last match,” he said. “I believe Makassar were not in good condition and that helped us to win easily.

“We tried to concentrate on attacking down the wings and that’s where most of our goals come from.”

Suwon now go into Sunday’s game against Shandong needing to draw to reach the semi-finals for the second year in a row.

After the Chinese side’s heavy defeat at the hands of Jubilo, a point would see the Koreans go through to the last four to play Iran’s Pirouzi by virtue of a better goal-difference

from AFC website