With 36 minutes gone in Wednesday's first leg of the AFC Champions League Two quarterfinal between Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Lion City Sailors, the plucky visitors were daring to dream.
Despite falling behind to Satoshi Tanaka's 12th-minute opener, the Sailors had impressively equaliser shortly after the half-hour mark with Shawal Anuar applying the finishing touches to a scintillating counterattack initiated by Maxime Lestienne's charge.
Coming up against a Sanfrecce outfit who will feature in the top-tier AFC Champions League Elite next term, and are among the title contenders in the J1 League this season, the Singapore Premier League upstarts were matching it with their more-illustrious opponents -- at least on the scoreboard.
But there are two things that Sanfrecce have consistently shown throughout the campaign.
Firstly, they usually have several gears to engage if need be. And when their engine gets going, they never take their foot off the pedal.
They do not only want to win the match. They want to it as convincingly as possible.
They did just that against LCS, producing a second-half onslaught en route to a comprehensive 6-1 triumph.
It was just the same in the round of 16, when they had already claimed a 3-0 first-leg win over Thép Xanh Nam Định but were not deterred from bettering that tally in the return encounter for a crushing 7-0 aggregate victory.
With 90 minutes still to play in Singapore next Wednesday, Sanfrecce already look through to the last four as the Sailors face a monumental five-goal deficit to overturn -- even with home advantage at Jalan Besar Stadium.
The situation did not look like it might be this dire even when the hosts reclaimed the lead just before halftime through Ryo Germain's close-range finish.
Nonetheless, when Germain struck again two minutes after the restart, Sanfrecce were clearly only just getting started.
The talent waiting in the wings also took their chance to shine, with substitutes Hayao Kawabe and Valère Germain getting in on the act before Sota Nakamura rounded things off in an unstoppable seven-minute burst before the 75th minute.
The Sailors have matched, and even bettered, plenty of quality opposition this season. They just had no answer for Sanfrecce.
There is no shame in suffering such a defeat to the Hiroshima-based outfit, especially given many regard them as favourites to go all the way.
Sailors coach Aleksandar Ranković had previously acknowledged that Sanfrecce were arguably the best team in the competition, and how it was a welcome challenge to see where his side stood in comparison.
The conclusion to that is clear.
LCS are still a level or two away from seriously challenging a side like Sanfrecce -- bearing in mind that Sanfrecce should be regarded as continental powerhouses and clearly too good for most of their ACL Two competitors.
This was the sort of challenge the Sailors will have to prepare for if they do eventually realise their goal of returning to the top level of Asian club competition, which they previously competed in as recently as last season.
This was the exact sentiment voiced by Ranković after the match, as he said: "I said to the boys that they will learn more from this match than all the previous matches we've played in the last two years.
"This is the level you want to progress to. You see what level you have to strive to [reach] but it's going to take a lot of time."
For now, the Sailors can take heart in knowing they have proven they are, at the very least, more than worthy of featuring in the ACL Two despite Wednesday's result. Whenever their campaign ends, they can look back on it with pride.
And they still have one more opportunity to test themselves -- and be better for the experience -- against the cream of the crop.