Buriram eye win against Gamba to advance in ACL

Buriram United are looking forward to securing a home win against struggling Japanese champions Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League today.

Buriram coach Alexandre Gama, right, and captain Suchao Nutnum.

After three games, Buriram are leaders with seven points while the Japanese triple champions are last in Group F with only one point.

In today's other Group F match, South Korea's Seongnam (six points) take on China's Guangzhou R&F (three).

With the top two teams of each group advancing to the next round, Buriram will virtually book a place in the knockout stage with a win against Gamba.

Gamba drew 1-1 with Buriram in Osaka and Buriram coach Alexandre Gama believe the Thai Premier League champions will finish off the Japanese today.

"We are at full strength and do not have injured players,'' Gama told a press conference yesterday.

However, the Brazilian said defender Andres Tunez looked exhausted after a long journey following his international duty with Venezuela.

The Japanese could be affected by the hot weather in Thailand, he said.

"The most important thing is we must not make mistakes," Gama said.

"They have played well in the J-League and they will surely attack us as they need three points to keep their hopes alive."

Buriram captain Suchao Nutnum said: "We are looking forward to the match as we will advance if we win."

Gamba coach Kenta Hasegawa said: "We have played three tough matches in the J-League. Our players may be tired so we do not train hard ahead of the match.

"We still have a chance to advance if we beat Buriram."

He said midfielder Suchao and defender Theerathon Bunmathan were Buriram's dangerous free-kick takers so his players must try to avoid conceding free-kicks.

Meanwhile, disgraced Vietnamese football club Vissai Ninh Binh FC, who folded last year after nine players were banned for match-fixing, have revealed plans to reform.

Ninh Binh officials have petitioned the government and Vietnam Football Federation to allow them to resume next year with a revamped squad of young players, the club said in a statement.

"Our boss Hoang Manh Truong still loves football very much and really regrets what happened after what he'd done to build up the team for many years," Ninh Bing director Pham Van Le was quoted as saying by the Vietnamese media.

"We have discussed the matter and decided to come back."

In August, a Vietnam court jailed their former international Tran Manh for 30 months and dished out suspended sentences to eight other players found guilty of colluding with a bookmaker to throw a second tier regional AFC Cup game in March 2014 in return for a US$40,000 bribe.