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AFCCL – The AFC Champions
League final remains intriguingly poised after Urawa Reds of Japan held
Iranian side Sepahan to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Foolad Shahr Stadium
on Wednesday evening.
Brazilian playmaker Robson Ponte opened the scoring for the J.League
champions with an accurate low drive from the edge of the box on the stroke
of half-time.
But the Hazfi Cup holders were back on level terms almost immediately after
the resumption as Mahmoud Karimi tucked the ball away in a goalmouth
scramble after Ebrahim Lovinian had fired against the post.
The home side dominated the second half but were unable to find a winning
goal, giving Urawa a slender advantage, with the away goal in hand, for the
return game at Saitama next Wednesday.
Sepahan coach Luka Bonacic made one change from the second leg of their
semi-final victory against Al Wahda with Iraq international Emad Mohammed
coming in to replace the suspended Hadi Jafari.
There were three alterations to the Urawa side that beat Seongnam Ilhwa
Chunma in a penalty shoot-out in the other semi with defenders Nene and
Satoshi Horinuchi coming in for the injured pair of Marcus Tulio Tanaka and
Nobuhisa Yamada while forward Yuichiro Nagai replaced Tatsuya Tanaka up
front.
There was plenty of endeavour by both teams but little in the way of chances
in the first 20 minutes as the two sides sized each other up, probing at the
other team’s defence with little success.
Roared on by the noisy contingent of home fans packed into the compact
15,000-seat stadium, the home side created their first real chance on 20
minutes. Jalal Akbari and Moharram Nadvkia exchanged passes before the
latter released Karimi, who took the ball past Keisuke Tsuboi on the left
by-line but fired his shot from a narrow angle straight at goalkeeper Ryota
Tsuzuki.
Sepahan’s central defensive pair of Hadi Aghily and Mohsen Benkar provided a
formidable barrier in front of goalkeeper Abbas Mohammadi and it was not
until midway through the half that Urawa had their first real effort when
Tadaaki Hirawaka crossed from the left flank to an unmarked Yuichiro Nagai,
who glanced a header well wide of the target
Nagai shot harmlessly wide on 25 minutes but very nearly opened the scoring
two minutes later when he received the ball in the box once again from
Hirakawa, and drove his effort past Mohammadi only to see the ball come back
off the right post.
Reds were getting more and more dangerous and went close again on the
half-hour after a Ponte corner from the right was flicked towards a lurking
Washington. But just before the ball could fall to the Brazilian, Saeid
Bayat made a brilliant interception, acrobatically hooking the ball against
the Urawa striker and out of play for a goal kick
Sepahan were a constant menace on the counter-attack and gave Reds a scare
on 40 minutes when Navidkia played a neat through ball to Karimi, who went
down in the box under challenge from Keisuke Tsuboi only to seen his penalty
appeal turned down by Malaysian referee Subkhiddin Salleh.
With half-time looming, the deadlock was finally broken by a moment of
brilliance by Ponte. The Brazilian received the ball in space from Hirakawa
on the left edge of the Sepahan box and had time to size up his shot before
accurately picking out the far corner with an effort that bounced awkwardly
in front of Mohammadi.
Bonacic responded to the setback by making two changes at the half-time
break, sending Mohsen Hamidi and Lovinian on in place of Jalal Akbari and
Saeid Bayat.
The decision paid almost instant dividends as the hosts levelled the scoring
less than a minute after resumption.
In a wild scramble in the box, the ball fell to Lovinian, who fired his shot
against the left upright. But with Tsuzuki out of position, the ball fell
kindly in the six yard box to Karimi, who tucked the ball into the net, to
the delight of the home fans.
The game sparked to life and Abdul Wahab Abolheil nearly put the home side
ahead with a shot that went just wide of the right post.
Substitute Mohsen Hamidi then shot straight at Tsuzuki after being released
by a long through ball from the back and the Urawa goalkeeper did
brilliantly to turn aside a low effort by Navidkia as the Iranian side
turned up the heat.
With 14 minutes remaining, Emad attempted to force his way through the Urawa
defence single-handedly but ran out of room and put his shot harmlessly into
the side netting.
Washington had little joy against the Sepahan defence at the other end and
his night was summed up by a woeful shot from 20 metres that flew well over
the crossbar.
On 81 minutes, Emad’s cross from the left picked out Iraqi compatriot
Abolheil in the box but the midfielder’s effort went past a crowd of players
and rolled agonisingly past the far post.
The home team had one final effort deep into stoppage time when Mohammadi’s
long clearance kick found Emad, who surged past Nene before firing his shot
from the edge of the box well over the crossbar.
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