In the 6th round of the group league in the ACL Champions League on 3 and 4 May, Urawa Reds will take on Pohang Steelers (Korea). If Reds win, they will get through the group stage in the first place. F.C. Tokyo will face Becamex Binh Duong (Vietnam). If Tokyo wins it, they will advance to the round of 16. 

Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Gamba Osaka, both of whom have already been eliminated in the tournament, will play against FC Seoul (Korea) at home, and against Melbourne Victory (Australia), respectively. The two teams will try to wrap up their ACL in wins.

Urawa to host Pohang

Urawa clinched their first round of 16 in eight years with a scoreless draw against Sydney FC in the previous round. If they beat Pohang, who have already been eliminated, and the current group-leading Sydney end up in a draw or less against the reigning champion Guangzhou Evergrande (China), Urawa will advance to the next round as the first seed from their group.

Pohang captured a consecutive titles at the Asia club championships, the predecessor of the ACL, and won in the 2009 ACL. But they have missed some core players for injuries this year and have only managed to score one goal in five contests they’ve played in this year’s ACL. Pohang had not been able to have a win for seven games in a row until they finally won one on 30 April in the domestic league, which promoted them from the 10th place to the 6th place.

Pohang’s sole foreign player is forward VESELINOVIC, but they’ve got midfielders MOON Chang Jin and JUNG Wonjin, U-23 Korean National Team players, while they also have former Korean National Team forward YANG Dong Hyen, who scored a game-winning goal in the 30 April game.

Urawa lost to Pohang 0-1 in their previous meeting on 2 March away. But including a 4-1 win of this past weekend in the J. League against Nagoya, they have not lost in their last 10 games. Urawa have been consistent both offensively and defensively and are on top of the J. League standings at the present. Their offensive corps such as forwards KOROKI Shinzo, MUTO Yuki and LEE Tadanari have played well.

“We played our collective game as Reds, showing we are playing well and our maturity,” Lee said after the Nagoya game. “If we win our next ACL game, we believe we are going to get through in the first place.”

Tokyo aim to advance to next round

Tokyo are currently in the third place with seven points in Group E. But the first-place Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (Korea) have nine points and the runner-up Jiangsu FC (China) with eight, so the gaps are close. If Tokyo post a win or draw against Binh Duong, who have been eliminated from the tournament, while Jiangsu take a loss, Tokyo will clinch a berth for the next stage as they had beaten Jiangsu head-to-head.

Tokyo beat Binh Duong 3-1 in their previous meeting. But They will have to play away at Binh’s hot and humid site. Binh drew with Jiangsu and beat Jeonbuk at home, showing that they are the Vietnamese champions. For Binh Duong, Nguyen Anh Duc has been great as he has scored four goals in the ACL and three in the domestic league, but midfielder Le Tan Tai will not play for a suspension. Meanwhile, the team had a 0-0 draw in the domestic league this last weekend, but had given up at least a goal in the previous 10 games.

Tokyo have not posted a win in their last five games, but for this round defender MORISHIGE Masato will be back from a suspension. Vietnam’s hot weather is a concern for team, but they will get in the site one day earlier than usual trying to get accustomed to the circumstance. It will be a key for Tokyo to keep concentration in the hot weather, not giving up goals, and to connect their own chances for goals.

“This is a situation that we can manage on our own, so we want to play as the whole team,” forward ABE Takuma says.

Hiroshima to take on tough Seoul

Hiroshima will take on FC Seoul, who have already clinched a berth for the next round, in their final group league game.

Seoul, coach CHOI Yong Soo who are led by former Korea National Team forward and a J. League player, finished runner-ups in 2013 and advanced to the final four round in 2014. They have advanced to the knockout stage in all the ACL they competed in.

Seoul lost in their season opening game in the domestic league on 12 March, but have not lost 12 consecutive games afterwards. Their winning streak came to an end at six with a draw on 30 April, but they are still in the first place in the standings.

Seoul’s offence is outstanding in particular. Brazilian forward ADRIANO has scored nine goals in the ACL and six in eight games played in the domestic league. They have also got other high-scoring players, such as Montenegro forward Dejan DAMJANOVIC and forward PARK Chuyoung. The team have scored 16 goals in five ACL games, which is the most among the 32 participating teams. Meanwhile, they have only given up three goals defensively, so they defend their goalmouth well, too. They’ve got a former Hiroshima midfielder TAKAHAGI Yojiro, so it will grab some attention how he will play against his old club.

Having missed forward ASANO Takuma and defender SASAKI Sho for injuries, Hiroshima have struggled and their two-game winning streak stopped with a loss to Jubilo Iwata in the J. League on 29 April. Yet they hope to grab a win in their final ACL game to show that they are the reigning J. League champions.

Gamba vie to finish with win

Gamba Osaka will take on Melbourne away. Gamba have set to finish in the group’s fourth place and have already been eliminated from the tournament. But Melbourne will need to come up with a better outcome than Suwon Samsung Bluewings FC (Korea) in order to make it to the knockout stage as the two teams are tied in points.

Melbourne was ousted in the first round of the domestic A League final series on 15 April and lost to Shanghai SIPG 1-3 in the ACL four days later. It will be the first game for them to play in two weeks, but they are expected to enter the game well prepared. Their six-game unbeaten streak at home is still intact.

Their biggest offensive attraction is forward Besart BERISHA. He’s only scored one goal in the ACL so far, but racked up 18 goals in 26 games played in the domestic league to make the third place in the scoring rankings.

Gamba fell 0-1 to Kawasaki Frontale in a J. League match on 29 April and have gone 4-5 for the ninth place in the league. “We are going with fresh members to Australia,” Gamba coach HASEGAWA Kenta says. The club will look to post a win with different squad.

The Urawa-Pohang game and Melbourne-Gamba games are played on 3 May, while the Hiroshima-Seoul and Binh Duong-Tokyo contest will be held on the 4th.

AFC Champions League 2016

27 January 2016 - 26 November 2016

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