“I’m pleased to get the three points. So far in this campaign, sometimes we had difficulty playing,” said Kuroda.

“We came here two days after winning the Emperor’s Cup but were still able to field fresh players like (Keiya) Sento and (Hokuto) Shimoda, who scored the goals.

“This is a result that we can take to the remaining matches and helps us along the way to achieve our target of reaching the next round.”

Sento and Shimoda put Machida 2-0 up with Oh Se-hun adding a third in an utterly dominant first half display and even though Park Ho-young pulled a goal back in the second half, there was no fear of a comeback from the Korea Republic side.

Chung Kyung-ho apologised to the fans but the Gangwon head coach firmly believes that a place in the Round of 16 is within reach if they can make improvements.

“This was a very important match for us but we had to juggle between domestic and continental matches so I’m sorry to the fans for the result,” said Chung.

“However, we still have three more matches to go and I believe that we can advance if we learn from today’s match and keep working on our mistakes.

“Therefore, I want the players to keep their heads up and I will do my best to get better results in the coming matches.”

Machida will face Korea Republic’s Ulsan HD FC next while Gangwon play Buriram United of Thailand, with both matches to be played on December 9.