The 2nd leg of the round of 16 in the AFC Champions League (ACL) will take place on 13 and 14 May and three clubs, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Kawasaki Frontale and Cerezo Osaka, will all go out and play away matches.

Hiroshima playing for first top-8 berth

Out of three J-League clubs remaining in the knock-out round, it was Hiroshima that won the first leg match. FW Ishihara Naoki’s two goals helped the club to defeat Western Sydney Wanderers (Australia) 3-1.

With a draw or better, or even with a loss by one goal including the result of 0-1 or 1-2, the spot in a quarter-final match will be awarded to Hiroshima due to the total result of two legs. But it will not be as easy as it sounds yet. Western Sydney’s head coach, Tony Popovic, who used to play for Hiroshima as a player, said after the first match with a gloat “We’ve got the away goal we wanted.”
When the total goal difference of two matches is even as well as wins and losses, the team scoring more away goals get advancement. Western Sydney’s home record in the ACL so far has been two wins and a loss, but that of the domestic league including the playoff was outstanding seven wins, two losses and five draws. Their domestic league ended its season already on 4 May. Popovic is optimistic, saying “Now we can just focus on the second leg.”
Moriyasu Hajime, Hiroshima’s head coach, says “They will start different players for the next one”, and stays being cautious. Western Sydney’s playmaker Ono Shinji did not start for the first leg because of playing many consecutive matches before, but he is expected to start for the second to lead his club.

Hiroshima have only three days after their last match and also take a long trip to Sydney. DF Shiotani Tsukasa, who scored a goal on Saturday against Shimizu (tied 1-1) and Ishihara have been hot recently. Considering all those factors, how players maintain their conditioning level will surely be a key for the second leg.

Kawasaki looking to turn it around on the road

Kawasaki lost the first leg 2-3 on 7 May to FC Seoul (Korea Republic), last year’s ACL runner-up, by Yun Il Lok’s goal in the additional time. They have to win the second leg on 14 May by two goals or more.

Choi Yong-Soo, who played in the J-League and for Korea Republic’s national team, leads Seoul as the current head coach. His team are expected to be more aggressive at home. Moreover, Seoul did not have their domestic league match last weekend. They will most likely to be all ready to come out for the next match.
Kawasaki created many opportunities in the first leg only to keep missing shots. In the J-League match on 10 May, they seemed to bounce back from the defeat against Seoul. The club’s two strikers, Kobayashi Yu and Okubo Yoshito, both scored two goals apiece and beat Kashima Antlers 4-1. DF Komiyama Takanobu’s comeback from injury also gives the club a reason to stay positive.
Players look ahead to the rematch against Seoul, saying “All we have to do is just winning by two goals.” They will battle on the road for the first top-eight berth since 2009.

Difficult challenge ahead for C Osaka

On the other hand, Cerezo Osaka lost to Guangzhou Evergrande, the defending ACL champion, 1-5 in the first leg on 6 May. Their road back to the quarter-final after their first trip in 2011 now looks extremely challenging.
C Osaka still can advance to the next round if only they win the next away match by the margin of five goals or more or by the margin of four and scoring more than six goals, for example the final result being 6-2 in C Osaka’s favour. That gives C Osaka more away goals. If the match finishes 90 minutes of the regulation with C Osaka leading 5-1, everything will come out even and there will be an extra time of two 15-minute halves.
Guangzhou have won all the ACL home matches this season, although their winning streak in the domestic league stopped at seven on 9 May when they recorded the second loss of the season. The head coach Marcello Lippi, former head coach of Italian national team, confidently said after the first leg against C Osaka “We are getting back to the good state we had last year.”
Backed by the enthusiastic local supporters, their attacks led by FW Luiz Guilherme, FW Elkeson and MF Alessandro Diamanti will become even more dangerous in the second leg on 13 May.
C Osaka, not with FW Diego Forlan and DF Sakamoto Noriyuki, will expect MF Hasegawa Ariajasuru, Japan’s national team duo FW Kakitani Yoichiro and MF Yamaguchi Hotaru, and DF Maruhashi Yusuke to show their best performance possible.

Please do not miss out the matches of three J-League Clubs.

Schedule

13th Ｍay 2014　20:00 Kick Off Guangzhou Tianhe Sport Center
Guangzhou Evergrande　-　Cerezo Osaka

14th May 2014　19:30 Kick Off　Parramatta Stadium
Western Sydney Wanderers　-　Sanfrecce Hiroshima

14th May 2014　19:30 Kick Off　Seoul World Cup Stadium,
FC Seoul 　-　Kawasaki Frontale