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AFCCL - Sepahan punished a profligate Kawasaki Frontale to progress to the
semi-finals of the AFC Champions League with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win
over the J.League side after the second leg of the quarter-final finished
goalless on Wednesday.
Hiroyuki Taniguchi missed Frontale's fourth penalty before Jalal Akbari
slotted home Sepahan's final spot-kick to take the Iranians through to a
last four meeting with either Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia or Al Wahda from the
United Arab Emirates.
It was only the second game to be decided by a shoot-out since the inception
of the AFC Champions League in 2002. The only previous occasion was in the
fourth qualifying round of the inaugural competition when Al Sadd of Qatar
defeated Al Jaish of Syria 4-1 on penalties after a 2-2 stalemate.
The second leg was a carbon copy of the scoreless first meeting between the
two teams in Iran last week as Frontale dominated but failed to turn their
superiority into goals.
Brazilian striker Juninho shook off a back strain to start for Frontale,
partnering Jong Tae-se in attack while Iraq international Emad Mohammed led
the line for Sepahan after starting the first leg on the bench.
In fact, Emad thought he had given Sepahan the lead - and a precious away
goal - with just eight minutes on the clock, only to see the assistant
referee's flag raised after planting his header beyond Frontale goalkeeper
Eiji Kawashima.
Three minutes earlier Kengo Nakamura's shot from the edge of the Sepahan
penalty area had gone just wide and in the ninth minute the Japan
international midfielder caused the Iranians further trouble as goalkeeper
Abbas Mohammadi spilled his long range shot before Hadi Aghily hacked the
ball clear.
Jong had the visitors' defence on the back foot seven minutes later when he
sprinted goalward, only for the danger to be snuffed out by Jalal Akbari
before the North Korean could play Juninho in on goal.
Frontale were starting to turn the screw and with nine minutes left in the
half Magnum released Kazuhiro Murakami down the left wing and he found his
way past a pair of Sepahan defenders before cutting the ball back towards
the penalty spot. From there Juninho looked certain to score, only for
Mohammadi to keep the ball out with his legs
With barely five minutes to go until the break, Frontale went close again
but once more Mohammadi denied Juninho, the Brazilian jinking his way
through the defence before his shot was swatted clear for a corner.
Frontale's profligacy continued into the second half as they their vain
attempt to score went on.
Yoshinobu Moniwa was the latest culprit in the 59th minute when Nakamura's
free kick - one of a series for Frontale in close proximity to the Sepahan
penalty area - found him unmarked eight yards from goal, but rather than
hitting the back of the net the defender headed straight at Mohammadi.
Nine minutes later, Nakamura's clever free kick sent Juninho free into the
penalty area, but yet again the chance went begging as the 30-year-old
pulled his shot across the face of the target.
Juninho went close yet again as the game entered the last quarter of an
hour, firing just wide from inside the penalty area, and inevitably the game
headed into extra-time.
The introduction of Kazuki Ganaha by Frontale at the start of the second
period did little to enliven a turgid extra time, leaving the game to be
decided from the penalty spot.
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