Money is not buying victories for Evergrande Guangzhou Evergrande's Cho Won-hee (left) vies with Buriram United's Franck Acheampon...

Money is not buying victories for Evergrande

Guangzhou Evergrande's Cho Won-hee (left) vies with Buriram United's Franck Acheampong during their AFC Champions League Group H match in Guangzhou on Wednesday. Stringer / Agence France-Presse

Xu Jiayin believes hefty investments and large win bonuses will lead to good results for his team in the AFC Champions League.

The boss of Guangzhou Evergrande, the Chinese Super League champion, also once proclaimed the team could play competitively on the wider international stage through its huge investment in players.

Xu reportedly promised 14 million yuan ($2.2 million) in bonuses for the players after the team's 5-1 win against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea in the AFC Champions League two weeks ago. And he planned to add another 8 million yuan in bonuses if the side won its next encounter, at home.

However, that money did not go anywhere as the Guangzhou-based champion suffered a shameful 2-1 loss to Thai club Buriram United at the Tianhe Stadium on Wednesday night.

"The game was just a game. I, together with my players, did not think about the bonus. We lost the game. We need to think more about how we can move further in the competition," said Lee Jang-soo, head coach of Guangzhou Evergrande.

Suchao Nutnum gave Buriram the lead by scoring a penalty in the 62nd minute. The Guangzhou team came back via a towering header from Brazilian striker Cleo eight minute later, only for Frank Acheampong to prod the ball over the line in the 78th minute and maintain Buriram's perfect start to its first AFC Champions League campaign.

The latest loss followed Guangzhou Evergrande's 2-0 loss to city rival Guangzhou R&F in the CSL on March 16.

"If we had won or drawn this game we could have had more confidence in facing our next opponent," Lee said. "Then, when we come back to Guangzhou, all the conditions would have been favorable."

Buriram coach Attophol Puspakom didn't expect his side's second appearance in the AFC Champions League would be so easy.

"Playing against such a strong opponent was a tough assignment and we thought before the game we could only score a goal. But we managed two and hopefully we can do better in the future," Puspakom said.

The victory, which followed a 3-2 win over Japan's Kashiwa Reysol on March 7, has helped the Thai Premier League champion move to the top of the standings in Group H of the league.

Buriram's win was the first in the AFC's leading competition by a Thai club in China.

"Before the game we thought Guangzhou was a very strong opponent in the league, given that it has three international strikers, including Muriqui, Cleo and Dario Conca. But after 10 minutes of the game we could see that these players made no contribution to the team," the Thai coach said.

"In Thailand, there are a lot of players at the same level as them."

The Thai club had prepared well for the encounter by watching a lot of videos of the Guangzhou team, he said.

"We had a full understanding that the Guangzhou team is not very good at scoring goals," he said.

In response, Guangzhou coach Lee admitted his strikers had to change their playing style and that the team must concentrate more on defense.

"We must change. Strikers like Muriqui and Cleo scored easily through solo efforts in past games. But now every opponent knows that and they have adopted very effective defensive tactics against them. They must handle the ball more quickly and cooperate more with their teammates," Lee said.

(Agencies)