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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 |
