Urawa Red Diamonds – Gamba Osaka AFC Champions League

By: 21 | October 7th, 2008

The semi-finals of the AFC Champions League begin to today with Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor visiting Adelaide United whilst J-League giants Urawa Red Diamonds and Gamba Osaka battle for the final spot.

The Red Diamonds visit to Osaka offers little surprises to these great rivals. Urawa are looking to defend their title but have been stumbling of recent in league action with only a single victory in the last six matches. In the clubs only meeting this year, Akira Nishino’s Gamba handed the Red Diamonds a tough 3-2 defeat in-front of a packed house at Saitama Stadium. On the other side of the pitch Gamba has been slowly moving up the table with efficient Football and offering the opposition few scoring opportunities. This past weekend they shut down Kashima Antlers after three successive victories. Much of the battle will be decided in the disciplined midfield play with Nippon Daihyo Yasuhito Endō leading the charge for Gamba facing off against the formidable Red Diamond midfield that includes Takahito Soma and fellow Daihyo, Marcus Tulio Tanaka and Yuki Abe on the back-line.

In the other match of the day, at a packed Hindmarsh Stadium, Aurelio Vidmar’s squad will employ their stingy defense in a effort to control the surging Uzbekistan club headed up by Brazilian legend Zico. This will be an exciting match that pits Aurelio Vidmar’s defensively tough Adelaide United against the punishing attack Uzbekistan attack lead by Rivaldo. Please visit the A-League blog for full coverage on this exciting match.