summary of AFC Champions League

By: 21 | September 18th, 2008

The first leg of the AFC Champions League completed with a number of surprises and definitely varying performance of J-League clubs. Hopes of all three of our teams took a fall with Kashima drawing at home to Adelaide and the Red Diamonds loosing to Kuwait’s Al Qadsia 3-2. Gamba Osaka, after a poor season was the surprise of the day defeating Al Karama in Syria. Results are as follows:

AFC Champions League
Kashima Antlers 1 Adelaide United 1 (review)

Gamba Osaka 2 Al Karama 1
- this has to be the big surprise of the day as Al Karama is one of the toughest places to play. After Al Karama got off to a fast start scoring seven minutes after the start, Gamba wasn’t able to break through till veteran defender Satoshi Yamaguchi brought the match level with a header. Only seven minutes later Masato Yamazaki shocked the home crowd with the winning goal.

Lineup
Gamba Osaka
Yosuke Fujigaya
Takahiro Shimohira (Masato Yamazaki 66′), Akira Kaji, Sota Nakazawa, Satoshi Yamaguchi,
Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Tomokazu Myojin, Hideo Hashimoto,
Jader Bare Spindler (Ryuji Bando 65′),Lucas Severino

Al Karama
Mosab Balhous
Tawfek Taearah,Hassan Abbas,Belal Abduldaim,Anas Al Khouja
Alaa Alshbli,Fahed Oudah (Youssef Sleman 63′), Aatef Jenyat, Esmaeel Feras
Mohanad Ibrahim, Haani Al Taiar (Tamer Haj Mohamd 61′)

Al Qadsia 3 Urawa Reds Diamonds 2
The Red Diamonds can find solace in the two away goals but will regret many missed opportunities. After Urawa missing numerous chances Al Qadsia opened the scoring and were leading 3-1 with Khalaf Al Mutairi penalty strike with nine minutes left. Edmilson brought one back deep into added time in what could end up as an important second away goal.

Lineup
Urawa Reds Diamonds 2
Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka,Nobuhisa Yamada, Robson Ponte, Hajime Hosogai (Tadaaki Hirakawa 70′), Takahito Soma, Satoshi Horinouchi,Yuki Abe, Edmilson,Yuichiro Nagai (Naohiro Takahara 78′)

Al Qadsia
Nawaf Alkhaldi,Al-Shammari,Mohammed Sanad,Hussain Fadhel,Ali Al Shamali,Mesaed Al Enezi (Khalaf Almutairi 74′),Selim Benachour (Hamad Al Enezi 74′),Fahed Alebrahim,Saleh Al Shaikh,Mohammad Al Mutiari,Bader Al Mutwa

Saipa 2 Kuruvchi 2

For those interested in a live-blog for the next round, please let me know and I’ll try to arrange it.

~ 21 ~