Victory triumph can kickstart campaign: Higuchi

Although the A-League visitors took the lead as early as the seventh minute, back-to-back goals for Yokohama midway through the first half and a late strike from Shingo Hyodo (pictured) meant that the Emperor’s Cup winners picked up their first three points of this year’s competition.

With Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors moving level on points with Guangzhou Evergrande at the top of the table after beating the defending champions 1-0, Yokohama and Melbourne now sit just three points off the pace with two games remaining.

“After we had collected only one point from our first three games, I knew we had to win all remaining three matches to keep our hopes alive for going to the next stage,” said Higuchi.

“With today’s win today, though we haven’t secured anything, we can now play our next game with the right to challenge for the next stage.

“That means a lot to us, especially as we’ll also play our next game here at home. This win is significant for us.”

Despite the defeat, Melbourne coach Kevin Muscat expressed his pride in his team’s performance, especially the efforts of his young charges shorn of the likes of first team regulars Pablo Contreras and Kostas Barbarouses who missed the tie due to suspensions.

“Obviously, we are disappointed because we now are going back home without a point. But I must say that I am pretty proud of our team tonight. We are a very, very young team and played against a very good team,” said Muscat.

“From our prospective, we can certainly defend better than we did. It is disappointing how we conceded two soft goals, but I am more convinced with the positives than the negatives, even though we didn’t take three points or even a point.

“There’s no reason why we cannot go on and qualify for the next stage. We’ve got to believe that we can.”

Photo: AFP