SEPAHAN END ACL AS RUNNERS-UP BUT QUALIFY FOR CLUB WC

Persianmirror – Sepahan FC lost the second leg of Asian Champions League (ACL) final 2-0 to Urawa Reds of Japan (3-1 on aggregate) to finish the campaign as runners-up. There were over 60,000 Japanese and around 700 Iranian fans in Saitama stadium to support their teams. This was a match Sepahan had to score in, a 0-0 draw would have handed the title to Urawa on away goal rule. Sepahan started the match cautiously using only one striker (Emad Reza) and leaving Mahmoud Karimi who scored in the first leg of the final on the bench.

Sepahan keeper Abbas Mohammadi was called into action early in the match with an acrobatic one handed save pushing a goal bound header away for corner. But there was little Mohammadi could do to stop a well taken Yuichiro Nagai shot from inside the penalty area, Nagai was lucky to receive the ball after Sepahan’s Moriji failed to intercept a pass, all credit to Nagai though for taking full advantage of the gifted opportunity he had been given with a powerful shot into the top of Sepahan goal.

Sepahan had their chances and earned 4 corner kicks in the first half but found it impossible to get through Urawa’s well organised defence, striker Emad Reza was taken off with an injury 30 minutes into the match and replaced by Karimi.

In my last article I emphasised on Urawa Reds’ professionalism and their clinical finishes, this was to be the difference between the two sides in this match. Sepahan had the upper hand in the second half and had Urawa Reds on the defence, however, despite their magnificent efforts and hard work Sepahan failed to break through Urawa’s final defence line; where shots were taken they were off target and unless you hit the target you are not going to score.

An uncharacteristic mistake by Mohammadi gave away a needless corner kick when he allowed a back-pass to run over the line. This put Sepahan under unnecessary pressure at a time when they were in full control of the match, Urawa once again took full advantage of the gifted opportunity and punished Sepahan with a second goal totally against the run of play.

Sepahan continued to play their game and did not lose their composure, but they failed to find a way past Urawa’s heavily fortified defence-line, that proved to be the difference between the two sides, two lapses of concentration in Sepahan back line meant Urawa Reds scored twice whilst Sepahan failed to capitalise on numerous opportunities they created.

I would like to round up this article on a positive note and there are positives about Sepahan’s ACL effort. First and foremost Sepahan have qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup to be played in Japan next month as a result of their ACL runners-up place. Second, Sepahan have secured Iran’s two automatic places in ACL, due to poor performances of Iranian clubs in ACL in recent seasons Iran was in danger of losing one of their two automatic places in ACL finals, Esteghlal’s disqualification from this season’s ACL did not help matters. Further more, Sepahan were the first Iranian club to reach the final of ACL, they defeated far more resourceful clubs than themselves along the way, Sepahan have now gained vast experience at international level having played in ACL in three of the last four seasons, Sepahan won Iran’s Hazfi Cup last season and qualified for ACL 2007-2008 campaign so they will be back in the New Year.

Sepahan will take on Waitakere United of New Zealand in their first round match of FIFA Club World Cup next month on Friday December 7th, a win against Waitakere would put Sepahan in the quarter finals when they would meet Urawa Reds of Japan for the second time in two months, Sepahan will have extra reasons for wanting to beat Urawa Reds, apart from paying Urawa back for their ACL final defeat Sepahan would earn a semi final place against Italian giants AC Milan. Sepahan have done Iran proud, we wish the Persian lions all the best in taking on the world.

This article was contributed by AFSHIN DASTAFSHAN