Shin's double delight as Seongnam win AFC Champions League
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Seongnam Ilhwa were crowned club champions of Asia for a second time after they won the AFC Champions League by beating Zobahan 3-1 in an entertaining final at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
Captain Sasa Ognenovski crowned a memorable couple of weeks by lifting the trophy and scoring the opener in the 29th minute, while fellow centre-back Cho Byung-kuk headed Seongnam's second from a corner in the 53rd minute.
Iran striker Mohammad Khalatbari headed Zobahan back into contention in the 67th minute, before Kim Cheol-ho – the only starter remaining from Seongnam's devastating loss in the 2004 final – wrapped up the victory in the 83rd minute.
Seongnam legend Shin Tae-yong, 40, received much of the attention after he made history by winning the AFC Champions League as a coach to add to his victory as a player in the 1995 Asian Club Championship.
"I'm very happy. I feel so happy, I'm almost speechless," said Shin, whose side lost in the finals of the FA Cup and K-League playoffs in his first season as head coach last year.
"I'm even happier tonight than I was when I won the Asian title as a player. Then, I was young, I believed we would win and I thought these kind of opportunities would come all the time.
"But since I became head coach, I didn't think I'd have the opportunity to win the AFC Champions League so soon, so this has made me twice as happy."
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