Beetles proud despite ACL exit

Chiang Rai United coach Alongkorn Thongaum said he was very proud of his players although the Thai League 1 champions were eliminated from the AFC Champions League on Monday.

A second-half revival saw the Beetles earn a 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory as Siwakorn Tiatrakul’s free-kick and Gionata Verzura’s late strike cancelled out Jake Brimmer’s spot-kick and Ben Folami’s lob for the Australians in the first half.

But the result in their penultimate Group E game was not enough to keep alive the Thai champions’ hope of advancing to the next round in their ACL debut.

“We had to fight hard today, and we did just that. Unfortunately, we conceded goals too early,” said Alongkorn.

“Looking back at this campaign, we might have been eliminated, but the most important thing for us is that we tried our best and played as a team.

“The players, the staff and the coach, we…