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.