Urawa Reds top Group F after beating Shanghai SIPG at home in the fourth group-stage match and claiming their third win in Asian Champions League (ACL) 2017 on Tuesday 11 April. On the same date, Gamba Osaka played an away game against Jiangsu Suning in China, but lost 0-3 and posted their third loss of the Asian campaign.

After a home win, Urawa with nine points are now level on points with Shanghai, but placed above the Chinese counterparts on goal difference to stand in top of Group F. As for the other match in the group, FC Seoul edged an away contest 3-2 against Western Sydney Wanderers and secured their first win in the ACL. Both Seoul and Western Sydney have three points, but the Korean club take the third spot on goal difference. As a result of today’s fixtures, Urawa only need a draw in their next group-stage match against Western Sydney on Wednesday 26 April to advance to the knock-out stages of the tournament.

Having lost the previous encounter 2-3 against Shanghai, Urawa faced the match with a strong determination to avenge the previous loss and secure a home win. Thanks to a goal by forward Rafael SILVA and fine saves by goalkeeper NISHIKAWA Shusaku, the J.League club came on top of a close contest to earn precious three points in the group stage.

In the weather resembling a cold winter day with chilly wind and rain, Urawa came out aggressively in the opening minutes with Rafael surging up the pitch and attempting his first shot at goal, but denied by the right side of the goalpost. After 30 minutes, MAKINO Tomoaki fired from long-range, but also failed to open the scoring for the Japanese club.

On the other hand, visitors Shanghai entered the match focusing their efforts in defence coping against the threatening J.League team, while looking for their chance to attack through an exchange of passes from forward WU Lei and defender FU Huan. Then, in the 34th minute, LU Wenjun reacted to a cross from the right side with a header, but only to be denied by the woodwork.

The much-awaited goal for Urawa came just before halftime in the 44th minute. Stringing pass from midfielder AOKI Takuya to forward ZLATAN, then to Rafael who surrounded by three defenders fired a brilliant right-footer to the right corner of the net to give the home team a one-goal advantage.

Being a goal behind, it was Shanghai who came out aggressively seeking for an equaliser and took the initiative in the second half. Forwards Lu and OSCAR dribbled up towards the Urawa goal and created several threatening chances. Then, in the 65th minute, a penalty was awarded to the Chinese club as Oscar was illegally taken down by midfielder KASHIWAGI Yosuke inside the box. However, Oscar’s placed kick was superbly parried away by goalkeeper Nishikawa’s one-handed save. Furthermore, the Japanese keeper shone again as he reacted well to a dazzling mid-range shot by Lu five minutes later to deny Shanghai their attempt to level the match.

Another game-tying chance for Shanghai came in the 75th minute as Lu’s cross inadvertently hit Makino’s hand inside the penalty area awarding a penalty to the Chinese side. Oscar stepped up again to convert his second attempt to level the match from a penalty kick, but his shot blazed over the crossbar and failed to even the scoring.

Shanghai kept their high attacking pace in the last quarter of the match, but with some tenacious defending from Urawa and fine saves by goalkeeper Nishikawa, the Japanese club did not allow the Chinese counterparts to equalise the match. In added time, defender MORIWAKI Ryota attempted a shot from range, but unable to find the target and seal the game. After all the drama in the second half including a pair of unconverted penalty kicks from the Chinese club, the scoreline remained the same from halftime and Urawa edged a closely-contest match 1-0 to hand the first loss for Shanghai SIPG in the Asian Champions League.

Match Details (Japanese version only)

Third loss for Gamba, but second spot wide-open in Group H

Losing at home in the previous group-stage match 0-1 against Jiangsu, Gamba Osaka looked to win the away rematch and earn three points, but their hopes were soon shattered as forward Alex TEIXEIRA robbed the ball and scored the opening goal for the Chinese side in the third minute, and midfielder RAMIRES quickly reacted to the loose ball and doubled the lead four minutes later.

Defending woes continued for the Osaka club as defender HONG Jeong-ho headed in the third for the Chinese side off a free kick taken by Teixiera two minutes before halftime. 

Gamba looked deep in the bench for answers to come back from three-goal deficit, and replaced defender MIURA Genta with defender FUJIHARU Hiroki after halftime and subbed in forward DOAN Ritsu for midfielder HATSUSE Ryo in the 69th minute. Furthermore, they made the final substitution in the 78th minute with midfielder IZUMISAWA Jin coming off the bench for midfielder FUJIMOTO Jungo, but failed to find the attacking flair as they missed two key players, midfielder KURATA Shu and forward ADEMILSON. Unable to score until the end of regulation, Gamba find themselves in a deep hole losing for the third time in their Asian campaign.

Match Details (Japanese version only)

Winning four straight group-stage matches, Jiangsu Suning with 12 points already secured the top spot in Group H and advanced to the Last 16., After defeating Jeju United (Korea) 3-1 and claiming their first win in the ACL, Adelaide United (Australia) with four points are now level with the Korean club on points. Gamba with three points sunk to the bottom of the group, but with only a single-point difference with second-placed Adelaide and third-placed Jeju, the Osaka club will compete for the second and final spot in the remaining two matches to get through to the knock-out stages,

The second day of the fourth group-stage matches of ACL on Wednesday 12 will see Kawasaki Frontale face Guangzhou Evergrande of China at home and Kashima Antlers take on Bribane Roar of Australia in an away game.

Coaches' and Players' Comments

Mihailo PETROVIC, Coach (Urawa Reds)
It was a fine evenly-contested match. In the second half, as our work-rate went down, our opponents started to gain control of the match. We conceded two penalties, but none of them found the net. While the first attempt was saved by goalkeeper Nishikawa, the other missed the target. Luck played a significant part in the game, but I would like to praise my players for working hard and bringing such luck to our side. Now we have an excellent chance of advancing to the knock-out stages, and looking into the future of the competition it was a very important win. Shanghai SIPG are one of the best organised teams in China with disciplined and the quality to execute the team tactics given by the manager. We hope we can advance and face them again in the final.

GK NISHIKAWA Shusaku (Urawa Reds)
I am glad I was able to stop the penalty. If it weren’t played at Urawa, I would have conceded a goal off that penalty. I had a strong determination to perform well in front of the Urawa supporters, and given that I performed poorly in the previous group-stage match, I came here to give my best and make amends for the last poor performance. I believe I learned well from my previous errors and made the necessary adjustments to come up with some positive results today. It is important that I continue this learning and improving process. I will work hard to perform well in future matches as well.

FW Rafael SILVA (Urawa Reds)
It was a tough match. I wouldn’t be surprised if either of the teams scored more goals within the 90 minutes of play. We competed well, and I believe we deserve to win three points today. I must thank Zlatan for that goal. Despite being surrounded by three defenders, Zlatan provided me with an excellent pass. It was a well worked-out combination play to dodge the defenders to slot in a precious goal.

André VILLAS-BOAS, Coach (Shanghai SIPG)
We missed the opportunity to advance to the knock-out stages. However, our performance in the second half was excellent, but not clinical enough in front of the goal. We also missed two penalties, and I believe luck was not on our side. We are now looking to get through the group stage by earning at least a point in the coming FC Seoul match. The responsibility to take the penalties was given to Oscar, and I did not hesitate to give that responsibility on the second penalty despite failing to convert the first one to Oscar who claimed he was confident to score. Unfortunately he missed them both, but these kinds of thing happen in football. His performance after the miss was brilliant. I have full confidence in him.

Tournament Period：24 January 2017(Tue.)～25 November 2017(Sat.)

Group E
12 April 2017 (Wed.) Kick-off 19:00 (TBC) ＜Local Time＞
Brisbane Stadium
Brisbane Roar (Australia) vs Kashima Antlers (Japan)

Group G
12 April 2017 (Wed.) Kick-off 19:00 (TBC)
Todoroki Athletic Stadium
Kawasaki Frontale (Japan) vs Guangzhou Evergrande (China)

Tournament Information