Urawa Reds 0-1 Brisbane Roar
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.
Picture: World Sport Group