The ACL Champions League had the first day of the 6th round of the group stage on 3 May, and Urawa Reds, who had already qualified for the round of 16, drew the match against Pohang Steelers (Korea) 1-1. Their ranking of the Group H is second. In the round 16, they will play against FC Seoul (Korea) who is the top team of Group F.

Gamba Osaka had already been ousted from the tournament had an away match against Melbourne Victory (Australia) and was beaten 1-2. Their result of the competition was 2 draws and 4 defeats; they could not win and ended the tournament of this year as the bottom team of Group G. 

Urawa had an opportunity to go through as a top team of their group if they could beat Pohang Steelers, and if the top team Sydney FC lost against the former champion Guangzhou Evergrande (China). The team selected different starting players from the previous J1 League match against  Nagoya they had 4 days ago except for 3 players goalkeeper NISHIKAWA Shusaku, midfielder KASHIWAGI Yosuke, and midfielder UMESAKI Tsukasa. Regardless of this change, they couldn’t move the ball around well due to strong wind and mistakes which caused by unfamiliar combination amongst the players. 

Even in this situation, they competed intensively and made chances especially after the 30th minute; midfielder KOMAI Yoshiaki tried to attack on right wing, and defender HASHIMOTO Wataru headed Kashiwagi’s free kick to forward Zlatan who was sneaking in the space behind the opponent and tried a shot. In the 50th minute, forward ISHIHARA Naoki cut into from right wing and made a shot but it was blocked by the opponent’s goalkeeper. 

Pohang Steelers on the other hand had ousted from the tournament hence the team didn’t selected two U-23 Korea National Team players midfielder MOON Chang Jin and forward YANG Dong Hyun for this match. They focused more on defense with a 5-4-1 formation and tried offense focused on forward VESELINOVIC. Before the end of the 1st half, Veselinovic and PARK Junhui, and in the 54th minute defender PARK Sunyong tried to attack the Urawa’s goal but all of them were blocked by the goalkeeper Nishikawa.

Trying to change the air, Urawa sent three substitute players defender MORIWAKI Ryota, defender NAGATA Mitsuru, and forward KOROKI Shinzo to the pitch in the 58th minute. However, Pohang Steelers got a penalty due to a foul caused by an Urawa player in front of the goal, and Veselinovic successfully smashed the ball into the net. After conceding the opening goal, Urawa tried to build up offense mainly from right wing, but they could not do it well due to mistakes they made. In the 87th minute, Pohang Steelers conceded a penalty when one of their players handled the ball in the penalty area. At this chance, Zlatan scored the equaliser to make it 1-1. 

Urawa continued to attack but they couldn’t get additional goals and the match ended 1-1. They got 9 points in the group stage, but could not reach Sydney FC’s 10 points, who were defeated by Guangzhou Evergrande. Their ranking of the group was second with the result of 2 wins, 3 draws, and 1 defeat.

See more match details (Japanese version only)

Urawa’s first match of the round 16 will be against FC Seoul at home on 18 May, and the second away match will be on 25 May. 

Meanwhile, Gamba Osaka tried to get the first win of this ACL at the away match. The team changed the starting players selecting younger players and others who had not played much instead of the team’s main players such as forward USAMI Takashi and midfielder KONNO Yasuyuki. However, they conceded the opening goal by a penalty in the 13th minute. 4 minutes after the first goal, they conceded another goal made by the former Australian squad player forward Archie THOMPSON. 

From the beginning of the 2nd half, Gamba substituted a young player midfielder DOAN Ritsu to the pitch and after the 60th minute, forward GOYA Hiroto and veteran player forward FUTAGAWA Takahiro were sent to the pitch. In the 85th minute, Gamba’s forward Ademilson could score a goal but they couldn’t score any more. The match ended 1-2. 

See more match details (Japanese version only)

As a result, Melbourne Victory finished the group stage on 9 points. This is the same amount as Suwon Samsung Bluewings FC (Korea) who beat Shanghai SIPG (China), who had already qualified for the round 16 as the top team of this group, 3-0. Since Melbourne Victory had beaten Suwon Samsung Bluewings FC before, they can go through this stage as 2nd placed team of Group G. Shanghai SIPG and Melbourne Victory will play against the top teams of Group E where F.C. Tokyo plays. 

The last matches of Group E and Group F will take place on 4 May. 

Coach and Players' Comments

Mihailo PETROVIC, Coach (Urawa Reds)
It was not an easy match due to strong wind, and the players made a lot of mistakes, but I still appreciate them for trying to keep their level to win the match. I didn’t check the result of Sydney FC’s match, but it didn’t matter for us; we had to win this. To go through to the final, we have to keep winning and we will play against FC Seoul in this process. I believe that our supporters could go to Seoul for us considering it is not so far from Japan. FC Seoul is a good team with good quality of offense and I am happy that we can play against such a team. It will be an interesting and a spectacle match both for our team and for Japan’s football. 

FW  Zlatan (Urawa Reds)
It was difficult for us due to the strong wind, and there was a nervous part since it was the match against a Korean team. We could have scored one more goal since we had many chances. I think we had strength enough to go through to the next stage as a top team of the group, so second position is a bit disappointing. 

GK  NISHIKAWA Shusaku (Urawa Reds)
I believed that my teammates could equalise after conceding the opener. It would have been better if we could win, but I’m still positive towards the future match against FC Seoul. If we can beat them with good players, it will give us confidence. 

MF  ISHIHARA Naoki (Urawa Reds)
I wish we could break them but it was difficult for us to find the good chance to go behind the defense. We still did well in the intensive moments. I kept thinking that if substitute players could show off their consistent strengths on the pitch, it would be a great push to strengthen the team. I want to be selected more to play on the pitch and to assist goals. 

CHOI Jin Cheul, Coach (Pohang Steelers)
Since we had already ousted from the competition, today we wanted to try new tactics and players for the coming K League. It was good for us to find various things. Kashiwagi’s possession was good and we could not respond well to Urawa’s players in the middle, but in the 2nd half we added one more mid-fielder to pressure Kashiwagi, and that helped us to play better. 

AFC Champions League 2016

27 January 2016 - 26 November 2016

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