Lion City Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic is in dreamland and does not want to be woken up, as his side made history on April 16, becoming the first football team from Singapore to reach the final of a continental competition.
Despite a 1-0 loss to hosts Sydney FC in the second leg of their Asian Champions League Two semi-final in front of 10,588 spectators at the Sydney Football Stadium, the Sailors prevailed 2-1 on aggregate.
They will meet Sharjah FC of the United Arab Emirates in the May 18 final, which is scheduled to be held in Singapore. Sharjah had beaten Saudi Arabia's Al-Taawoun 2-0 on April 15 to win their semi-final 2-1 on aggregate.
"I said yesterday that I was still waiting for somebody to wake me up. But, now, honestly, I don't want to be awake. I want to keep dreaming and let's hope we can go all the way," said Rankovic on their trailblazing run.
"We knew that we were going to suffer a lot of pressure and we had to put a lot of bodies in front of the goal, and we did a good job."
Sailors defender Bailey Wright, who has 29 caps for Australia, called their achievement "pretty amazing", adding: "When we started this journey, none of us really expected us to be here, and here we are.
"Credit to Sydney, really good team. It was really tough tonight, we didn't win but we got through. Still pinching myself (and) we look back on moments like these, that's the stuff we dream of."
Wright was in the thick of the action as the Sailors produced a defensive masterclass to protect their first-leg advantage, repelling waves of attack from the hosts.
While the Sailors had the first chance of the game in the sixth minute, when Maxime Lestienne's tame shot hardly troubled Sydney custodian Harrison Devenish-Meares, the hosts soon took the game by the scruff of the neck.
Three minutes later, Anthony Caceres tore down the left wing and fired at Izwan Mahbud's near post, but the Singapore shot stopper was equal to the task, pushing the ball onto the upright.
The A-League outfit thought they had halved the deficit from the resulting corner after a mix-up in the Sailors box.
Adrian Segecic laid the ball off to Jordan Courtney-Perkins, who thumped it into the bottom corner, but the former was deemed to have been offside in the build-up.
The hosts continued to press in the Sailors' half as they searched for a breakthrough.
They had the ball in the net again in the 44th minute as Caceres found Rhyan Grant, but the Sydney captain had strayed into an offside position before planting his header past Izwan.
Izwan was called into action again in the 74th minute as former Bayern Munich and Juventus winger Douglas Costa crossed for Patryk Klimala, whose header was pushed away by the Singapore goalkeeper, much to the dismay of Sydney's supporters.
As time ticked away, Sydney piled on the pressure, which led to a goal in the 85th minute after a cross from Costa was headed down by Grant for former Nottingham Forest player Joe Lolley, who tucked his effort into the bottom corner. That set the stage for a nervy finale, including six minutes of injury time, but the Sailors held on for a place in the history books.
Rankovic lauded his players for seeing it through, saying: "When the goal comes in the 85th minute, then it's code red and you just have to defend those last 10 minutes and the guys did a tremendous job."
An emotional Lolley added: "I thought we were going to do it, we gave it our all, could've scored more, should've scored more... Just devastated."
More history could await the Sailors as they remain on course for a treble. The Singapore Premier League leaders will also meet Brunei DPMM in the Singapore Cup semi-finals. The first leg is on April 22 and the second leg on May 27, nine days after the Asian Champions League Two final against Sharjah.
The Jalan Besar Stadium, which staged the Sailors' home matches earlier in the campaign, is understood to be earmarked for the continental final.
The Straits Times understands that Asian Football Confederation officials will be meeting representatives from the Football Association of Singapore to assess its suitability for the showpiece.
Bishan Stadium is also being viewed as an alternative, but the National Stadium will be unavailable, as it will stage the first of Lady Gaga's four concerts here on the day of the final.
