Two goals late in the first half – from Kudo and an own goal by David Vrankovic – sent Reysol on their way to the win before efforts from Kim Chang-soo, Kudo and Hidekazu Otani ensured the 2013 semi-finalists claimed all three points.
Reysol, who kicked off their campaign with a draw against Jeonbuk Motors on Matchday One, were rarely troubled by a Binh Duong side who battled hard despite the gulf in class before claiming a late consolation through Ganiyu Bolaji Oseni.
Kashiwa were quick out of the blocks and Cristiano should have scored just four minutes into the game when he had time and space behind the Binh Duong defence to do better than fire over the bar, while four minutes later Yuki Otsu sent his effort wide from six yards out.
Otsu tried his luck from long range in the 12th minute as Reysol cruised through the opening phase of the game, with only Le Cong Vinh presenting any threat for the Vietnamese when his free kick was collected by Takanori Sugeno in the home side’s goal.
Reysol, though, continued to dictate the tempo of the game; Kudo’s header was weak and straight at Nguyen Quoc Thien Esele in the 25th minute while Eduardo should have scored when the goalkeeper dropped the ball at his feet, only to stab over the bar.
With six minutes to go and against the run of play, Cong Vinh created the best chance of the half but his curling effort from just inside the Reysol half was deflected wide of goal.
That finally nudged Reysol out of their slumber in front of goal and, in the 43rd minute, Kudo put the home side in front with a crisp finish to the goalkeeper’s left after a low, firm cross from the right by Cristiano.
Two minutes later, Tatsumi Yoshida’s team doubled their lead when Vrankovic headed into his own goal, ensuring the scoreline better reflected Reysol’s dominance.
Nguyen Thanh Son introduced Mai Tien Thanh at the start of the second half as the Binh Duong coach sought a way back into the game and, eight minutes after the restart, he went close to opening the Vietnamese side’s account, only for the midfielder’s spectacular effort to cannon back off the cross bar.
But the result was put beyond any doubt three minutes later when Kim Chang-soo latched onto Akimi Barada’s perfectly weighted through ball before slotting home.
Kudo claimed his second of the game with a close range header in the 67th minute after Otsu glanced Barada’s corner across the face of goal while, eight minutes later, Otani found the back of the net when his shot from outside the area was deflected past substitute goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong.
Oseni pulled one back for Binh Duong nine minutes from time when he was played in on goal by a well-placed pass from Cong Vinh before sliding a fine finish beyond Sugeno, but it was not enough to spark an unlikely revival.
Report: http://www.the-afc.com
Picture: World Sport Group
Gamba Osaka went down to their second loss of their 2015 ACL campaign with this away defeat to Korean FA Cup winners Seongnam FC. Ricardo Bueno converted an early penalty and Hwang Ui-jo wrapped the game up 22 minutes from time to put Gamba on the bottom of Group F.
Changes for Gamba saw Oh Jae-suk replacing Hiroki Fujiharu and Kim Jung-ya at centre back for the injured Keisuke Iwashita, while Shu Kurata started in midfield – which also saw Shohei Ogura alongside Yasuhito Endo in a defensive midfield pairing. Takashi Usami was on the bench, with LIns getting the start alongside Patric up front.
Ogura was at fault for the early opening goal, dragging down Hwang on the corner of the area for an obvious penalty. The former F•Marinos midfielder can be thankful that referee Mr. Irmatov didn’t yellow card him, too, although that did not stop him being replaced at half time.
Brazilian forward Bueno slotted home the penalty easily, with just eight minutes on the clock before Hwang doubled the advantage and sealed the points on 68 minutes. Gamba had looked to be getting back into the game when an aimless high ball was flicked on by Kim Tae-Youn to Hwang. The ball was controlled and then the player slipped the ball to the right to beat the challenge of centre back Daiki Niwa and Hwang curled the ball around the keeper with his right foot.
Gamba had seen plenty of possession but, as in last week’s game, could do little with the ball when it mattered. There was a free kick chance before the break which saw Endo beat the wall but the keeper saved easily, and then Hiroyuki Abe and Patric exchanged passes to give Abe the shot but, again, it was easy for the Seongnam keeper.
Patric was denied twice in the closing minutes, as Gamba woke up and gave too little, too late, while late substitute Takashi Usami also showed promise but no end result for the visiting team.
Team – Higashiguchi, Oh, Niwa, Kim, Yonekura (Fujiharu, 70), Endo, Ogura (Myojin, 46), Abe (Usami, 70), Kurata, Lins, Patric
Urawa Reds joined Gamba Osaka in slipping to a second straight loss in their 2015 AFC Champions League campaign. The 2007 champions went down to an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Brisbane Roar at Saitama Stadium. The “embarrassing” tag is not to belittle Roar’s achievement, but more to highlight how little Reds offered throughout the match. They were deservedly booed off at the end of the half and given a much worse sending off by their suffering fans at the end of the tie.
Reds were down within two minutes when Thomas Broich took the ball off a dallying Yosuke Kashiwagi deep in the Reds’ half. Broich slipped the ball to his right to Brandon Borrello, who still had much to do, but Reds’ keeper Shusaku Nishikawa seemed to leave a gaping hole at his near post and Borrello blasted home with aplomb.
Urawa could barely string two passes together and were deservedly booed off at the break. Changes were made for the second period – Naoki Ishihara replacing the ineffective Zlatan and Tsukasa Umesaki taking the place of Kenichi Kaga, and Reds started to dictate play a little more but Shinzo Koroki shot straight at the keeper when an opening came minutes into the second half.
Just as there seemed to be a possibility of Urawa getting something out of this match Daisuke Nasu was guilty of giving the ball away with a terrible pass and took his man down from behind, earning a straight red card for his trouble. Reds went down to ten men, with Yuki Abe moving into centre back, yet, even then Tadanari Lee could have have earned an undeserved point for the home team with a header in the final minutes.
Starting with arguably the biggest match, if not the biggest result of the round, defending champions Western Sydney Wanderers showed their resolve to retain the AFC Champions League title this season with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Japan’s Kashima Antlers on Wednesday. (In the Western area, 2014 finalists Al Hilal also began their campaign with victory by the same margin after defeating Uzbekistan side Lokomotiv 3-1 in Riyadh.)
Antlers centre back Gen Shoji gave the holders the lead in the 9th minute of the second half with an unfortunate own goal from point blank range. Anthony Golec hurled in a long throw-in which was headed on by Tomi Juric, for Mark Bridge to shoot. Shoji got the final touch to confound his keeper and Western Sydney were ahead.
Shoma Doi brought the sides level for the J.League less than a quarter of an hour after the opener. Caio beat his man down the right and crossed for Doi to volley home impeccably, taking the ball well even though the ball was slightly behind him at waist height.
Antlers then pressed forward looking for the winner but were shocked through goals from former Sanfrecce Hiroshima midfielder Yojiro Takahagi (pictured above) – after 86 minutes – and Mark Bridge in additional time, and the Australian side came away with a valuable away win in their opening defence.
In the other match in Group H, China’s Guangzhou Evergrande’s new signing Ricardo Goulart scored the only goal of the match, giving the 2013 champions a 1-0 win.
“It was a very tough game and Kashima are an exceptionally good team with fabulous history, and for us to come here to start our AFC Champions League defense with a positive a result is fantastic achievement for us,” Western Sydney assistant coach Ian Crook told gathered journalists.
“Winning games of football helps confidence,” he continued, referring to the lack of good form the team were suffering in league play at home.
J.League champions Gamba Osaka went down in flames in their Group F opener as ACL first-timers Guangzhou R&F of China took the away points with a 2-0 victory on Tuesday.
While Gamba played their usual patented passing game, there was no finished product and Abderrazzaq Hamedallah opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a well-earned goal. He took the ball near the half way line, advanced alone with Keisuke Iwashita backing off. The tackle came in from Daiki Niwa but the ball bounced fortunately back into the path of the Moroccan striker and his left foot shot from the angle found its way past Masaaki Higashiguchi in the Gamba goal.
Once the Chinese team was a goal up the proverbial bus was parked. Not that it wasn’t already in the bay before their goal! Once again, a Japanese team failed to break through a packed defence looking to stifle the game and from a rare Guangzhou breakaway the referee deemed Iwashita had committed a foul and Wang Song’s free kick saw a deflection that left Higashiguchi helpless and confirmed the points in the 80th minute.
“I’m very happy… for the club and the players, because they worked very hard on the pitch, and these three points are very, very good for us,” said Romanian coach Contra after the match.
The other match in Group F saw Thailand’s champions Buriram United defeat Korean FA Cup winners Seongnam FC 2-1 in Thailand on Tuesday evening.
Two-time Asian champions Suwon Bluewings took out 2007 Champions Urawa Reds 2-1 in Group G on Wednesday night, coming from behind to take the points. The other match in the group saw Shao Jiayi score the game’s only goal in additional time as China’s Beijing Guoan beat Australian champions Brisbane Roar, on the Gold Coast
In Group E, Kashiwa Reysol – who qualified after beating Chonburi FC in last week’s play-off – earned a point in a goalless draw at Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors, while in the same group, China’s Shandong Luneng were victorious over Vietnamese champions Binh Duong in a 3-2 away victory.
With a local time of 18.00 for kick off in Australia, the air was warm, but not too hot – a balmy 27 degrees C, and a slight spatter of rain to add a little zip to the surface – at Hunter Stadium, Newcastle, New South Wales for Japan’s opening match of the Asian Cup, against tournament debutants Palestine.
It was, in the end, a walk in the park for Japan – the Group D favourites – against Asian Cup first-timers Palestine, with Yasuhito Endo, Shinji Okazaki, Keisuke Honda and Maya Yoshida all getting on the scoreboard to open the Samrai Blue defence of the trophy confidently – and with a clean sheet.
Japan celebrate Endo’s opener!
Javier Aguirre chose experience over youth – as I’d expected – with Endo and Makoto Hasebe starting in the middle of the park, despite some critics’ dismissal of both players’ selections for this tournament. With Gaku Shibasaki a little behind in fitness after joining the squad late, due to a flu infection, his non-inclusion was not a surprise anyway, so the veteran pair selected themselves.
Takashi Inui – who had been in a rich vein of goalscoring form in friendlies before the tournament proper – was given the nod over Muto, or Kiyotake, depending on your outlook and Gotoku Saki was looking to make the right back spot his own.
It was no surprise to see Eiji Kawashima between the posts and, of course, this game was never going ahead without Honda, Shinji Kagawa and Okazaki.
Honda beats his man, again!
Life will be a little harder for Japan in their remaining Group D fixtures against Iraq (Friday) and Jordan (Tuesday).
Palestine had qualified for this – their first Asian Cup appearance – through the AFC Challenge Cup, and questions will probably be asked about their winning of a place over more qualified national teams who went through the qualifying process unsuccessfully.
Endo’s opener was a speculative – possible even mis-hit – grass-cutter from about 25 yards that escaped the keeper’s fingertips after he seemed to dive too early. The reigning champions then doubled their lead in the 25th minute when Inter Milan’s left back – said to be on the radar of Premier League West Bromwich Albion – attacked down the left. His cross was forced out, but the bouncing ball fell to Kagawa, who saw his blast headed home from close range by the lightning reflexes of Okazaki.
Palestine had made a habit of pushing and pulling the Japanese players and this came home to roost when Mus’ab Al Battat was judged to have bundled Kagawa over in the penalty area. Honda stepped up to place the ball past the keeper with some ease and it was 3-0 at the break.
Japan made their first change as the second half began, with Hiroshi Kiyotake replacing Takashi Inui as the teams came out for the restart.
Japan added their fourth goal when Kagawa received a short corner in the area, twisted one way, slipped back the other and lobbed a deep far post cross for Yoshida to head home with aplomb. Still lels than 50 minutes on the clock and Japan were cruising in second gear, if that.
Palestine then raised the physical aspect of their game with more and more fouls and started to lose any friends that they might have gained by making it this far. This rough play saw Japan’s second sub, Yoshinori Muto – on for Endo – get a high boot in the stomach (or worse!?) moments after entering the field. His assailant escaped with just a yellow card.
Ahmed Harbi was not so lucky and saw his second yellow in the 73rd minute, and yet, as Palestine went down to ten men, Japan seemed to lose momentum, or desire, or just slip down into a lower gear, their job done.
After earlier flailing – and missing – at the one cross that came his way, Kawashima then saw a free header from a right wing free kick fly past his post as Al Bahdari was given space to attack the ball.
Yohei Toyoda made a late appearance for Japan but did little as the Samurai Blue settled back for the easy win, yet, as additional time wound down it looked as if Japan would get another. Kiyotake saw his shot saved, and then the ball ricocheted around the box and four goal attempts were blocked within ten seconds before the final whistle sounded.
Summary? An easy win against a team that were out of their depth and got more physical as the game progressed. A clean sheet, no yellow cards and, hopefully, no injuries is more than a decent start to the campaign. Bring on Iraq!
The destination of the J.League title looked like a foregone conclusion during the month of September after Urawa Reds put together an incredible run of form to lose only two matches from April to September. Just when it seemed that they would comfortably seal the title with weeks remaining, Reds have been stuttering in the title race. Their main title contenders, Gamba Osaka, have a midweek Emperor’s Cup match against Shimizu S-Pulse, but they are expected to put up a huge fight in the remainder of the league season. Betfair places Gamba Osaka at 4/7 to win against Shimizu in the Cup clash tonight.
Just one win in the last four matches meant that Reds came into last weekend’s top of the table clash against Gamba Osaka will less than stellar confidence and a 2-0 win for Gamba Osaka has now thrown the league title race wide open with two match days remaining. The prospect of an astonishing collapse for Urawa Reds now looks real due to the difficult end to their campaign.
Gamba Osaka are up against Vissel Kobe and Tokushima Vortis in the remaining two matches. The former does not have much to play for due to their mid-table position, while Tokushima are rooted to the foot of the table.
Gamba Osaka have not won the league title since 2005 and the first half did not give them a lot of confidence. Reds could have gone ahead just before half-time after Daiki Niwa came close to putting the ball into his own net before it was acrobatically saved by goalkeeper Masaaki Higashiguchi.
Reds coach Mihailo Petrovic will be extremely unhappy about the defeat considering that his team have been in imperious form in front of their own supporters this season. This was their first defeat at home since March.
At the coming weekend, Urawa Reds have to deal with a difficult away match against Sagan Tosu, who are still mathematically in with a chance of the title. Ironically, Sagan inflicted Reds’ previous home defeat and they have not lost against this opposition since 2012. Even if their title hopes are slim, a top three finish and a chance to play in the AFC Champions is a very real possibility for the Kyushu team. Urawa Reds complete the campaign with a home match against mid-table Nagoya Grampus, but given the nervousness that they showed against Gamba Osaka, this match is unlikely to be a certain three-pointer.
Momentum plays a huge role in league title races and the J.League is no different in this aspect. Gamba Osaka clearly have the momentum on their side, as they have dropped just five points since the start of September. This is an astonishing run in any league and it is not surprising to see them just two points off the top.
Despite this incredible run, there was always the danger of Gamba Osaka running out of matches. Akihiro Sato put those fears to bed after scoring against Reds with just two minutes of normal time remaining. While for long periods of the match there was nothing to separate the two teams, and both created a similar number of opportunities, Sato’s late goal seemed to take the wind out of Reds’ sail. Their efforts to get the much-needed equaliser resulted in Shu Kurata confirming three points with an injury time goal to make the final score 2-0 to the away team.
Urawa now have a full week to prepare for their high profile clash against Sagan Tosu whereas Gamba will concentrate on reaching the final of the 2014 Emperor’s Cup before looking ahead to their weekend league meeting with Vissel Kobe. They also have only two days of preparation for this match, but Gamba manager Kenta Hasegawa will have every reason to believe that the club’s momentum will carry them through these tough matches.
Shimizu S-Pulse are the opponents – and the underdogs – against Gamba with Betfair placing them at 19/5 for a victory. The winners will be playing at the Nissan Stadium against Montedio Yamagata or JEF United.
Gamba coach Hasegawa may feel the pressure, but having led the team to Nabisco Cup success recently and with an Emperor’s Cup semi-final place in the bag, he can afford to let the team ride on the momentum. After all, the Japanese league title is technically still Urawa Reds’ to lose!
On Saturday 8th November, Saitama Stadium – the home of Urawa Reds – was the venue for the J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Final between Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Gamba Osaka. It was a pulsating contest, with classy football played by both teams – rare was it to see a long pass, and never an aimless one! After going two goals down, Gamba stormed back to take the trophy with a 3-2 scoreline.
An interesting selection by team boss Kenta Hasegawa saw Tomokazu Myojin selected as the key defensive midfielder, with Yasuyuki Konno on the left of a midfield diamond, Yasuhito Endo at the top, and Hiroyuki Abe completing the central four.
Sanfrecce went ahead in the 20th minute on a dubious penalty decision when referee Mr. Nishimura judged Keisuke Iwashita to have handled in the area. Hisato Sato barely converted the penalty kick – Masaaki Higashiguchi in the Gamba goal getting a firm hand to the ball before it made its way in at the post.
In the 35th minute, Sato made it two goals for him – extending his record number of goals in this competition to 28, one more than Masashi Nakayama and Juninho who had held the record before this match – and two goals for Sanfrecce, after a little pinball in the area, the predatory forward doing what he does best – stabbing home from close range.
Minutes later the Gamba comeback commenced, with Patric heading home a Yasuhito Endo cross to make it 2-1 to the boys in purple at half time.
With Gamba looking to be on top Hasegawa juggled the formation at half time, with Kotaro Omori replacing Myojin for the second half. Konno moved into the central defensive position and Omori played as an attacking force, and how well that turned out!
With the changes in position, Gamba came out with all guns blazing in the second period and were level in the 54th minute. Patric again, this time from a Takashi Usami cross. By this time Takutp Hayashi in the Sanfrecce goal had already been forced into making two fine saves from Patric and Hiroyuki Abe but could do nothing to prevent the Brazilian no.29 scoring his second.
Patric could have had his hat trick in the 66th minute as Kotaro Omori and Usami combined on the left to find space for the latter to send in a low cross that Patric slid in to connect with. The ball went over the bar from two yards out!
Gamba did finally go ahead for good when Hayashi was again forced into action to parry a superb shot from Abe – who was in fine form – only to see Omori following in to head home the winner.
So, Gamba win in Saitama… and their fans will be hoping for another win at the same stadium when J1 play returns – away to Urawa Reds in the all-important matchday 32! Don’t miss it!
Thomas Birch joins Ben on the first episode of the week to discuss another big win for Gamba Osaka and the other results in the top five of J1 from last Saturday’s Matchday 28 (to 42:10). Ben then rounds up the rest of the top flight games (to 46:00), before finishing the episode with a J2 and J3 update.
We’ll be back later in the week with a review of Wednesday’s J1 Matchday 29.
