AFC - AFC Champions League defending champions
Jeonbuk Motors of Korea Republic were drawn to play Japanese champions Urawa
Reds in a mouthwatering home-and-away quarterfinal encounter here today at
AFC House.
Urawa booked their berth in the last eight by virtue of a hardfought draw on
the last day of group qualifiers against Sydney FC of Australia while
Jeonbuk got a bye into the knockout stage.
In other pairings, the second Korean side to reach the knockout stage,
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, will take on last year’s runners-up and surprise
package Al Karama of Syria in the second quarterfinal.
Sepahan of Iran will clash with Kawasaki Frontale, the first Japanese side
to reach the knockout stage of this competition ever, in the first
quarterfinal, while it will be an all-West quarterfinal 3 encounter between
Al Wahda of the UAE and Saudi giants Al Hilal.
Jeonbuk Motors, who are currently struggling in midtable in the K-League,
became the first team from East Asia to win the coveted title last year
after defeating Al Karama 3-2 on aggregate in the two-legged final.
Al Karama, who won the Syrian League title for the second year in a row
recently, qualified for the elimination phase of the ACL this time round
only on the final match day after defeating Neftchi. The others who left it
late were Sepahan, Urawa and current K-League first stage leaders Seongnam.
The two-legged quarterfinals take place on September 19 and September 26.
The semifinals will be played over two legs on October 3 and October 24.
If Seongnam put the brakes on Al Karama’s streak of continental success then
they could meet either Urawa or Jeonbuk in the first semifinal.
The second semifinal will pit the victors of the Sepahan-Kawasaki game
against either Al Wahda or Al Hilal.
The final will be played on November 7 and November 14.
