Al Hilal were the better team overall but Nishikawa made some unreal saves plus Urawa's counterattack are pretty decent, when on the break especially with Sakai's ability to bring the ball forward and create chances from the Urawa's final third, which maybe made Al Hilal slightly more apprehensive when moving forward . Urawa are pretty organized in defending corner chances imo, especially when they concede quite a few corners. Urawa DFs kept their focus throughout the match.
Yeah! Al Hilal were the better team, they are basically the Saudi Nat'l team sans the foreigners. Urawa played smart against them and it paid off... oh also a bit of luck and... Nishikawa. I'm looking forward to seeing another Japanese team lift the trophy soon.
Oh, and something amused me while I was reading the comments on Social Media post match is that Al Hilal fans made a fuss about this Tifo, thinking it somehow mocked them and their country ... I mean come on! Have they ever seen a tifo before?! They got worked up of the "Riyadh" banner, thinking it meant "Hilal fans!!! the exit to Riyadh is to the right "
Urawa's opponent in the upcoming FIFA CWC 2023 is Leon form Mexico, and the winner will play against Man City in the Semifinals. Good luck to Urawa
Kawasaki Frontale seems to be cursed in the ACL, not sure if they don't value it or it is just bad luck. Toru Oniki has won everything possible, except for the ACL thought he would perhaps prioritise it. If Urawa Reds didn't get eliminated in the group stage, perhaps they might have a chance. Seems like this ACL season will not be won by a J league team.
Ikr? I was shocked to see them lose in this unexpected way. I also think no J League team will win it this season too. Yokohama Marinos is also cursed in this tournament, I don't believe they have what it takes to win this one, and Ventrofet... well... let's say it's an achievement they made it this far. Interestingly, only Urawa has figured out how to win this competition . Maybe because they don't do that well locally, so the ACL is their saving grace
You're right, especially since the 2nd leg of the final would be on Western Asian soil, but despite their strength, Saudi teams usually get so cocky that they lose it all in the end. It happened numerous times in this particular tournament
Yes, but this year they have too much quality. They were beateble when they had the likes of Gomis as their star, but now with those top international players it is very difficult to touch them.
Agreed, it's gonna be harder to beat them this time around. And starting from next season, there is no limit of foreign players playing in the ACL, so these Saudi teams could simply play with a whole roster of mercenaries I guess we're bound for an era of silly Arab dominance They literally buy their success. Can't blame them, though, money talks
Toru Oniki's Kawasaki has never reached the Semi iirc, may be wrong. He should at least aimed to reach it. Previously, there was a lot of talk regarding Toru Oniki being a future JNT manager but tbh not sure if his ACL record is an indicator of how well he does in Cup tournaments, even when he had performed well in domestic Cup competitions. Another candidate being mentioned, Go Oiwa has won the ACL before and lost J league once on GD during his time at Kashima, but outside of that he hasn't really won much.
Yes, it seems their league will allow also to have a starting 11 full of foreigners. Is not good for their football at all as well. Hopefully won't last long, but the Saudis do everything nowadays to gain international recognition. As you know in China was something similar few years ago, but this is at a bigger scale.
Saudis can do what they want. If the case comes true and they will buy for example 11 solid-good international proven foreigners for the ACL it will only appear, that no country and team appart from the Saudis will give a shit anymore to this competition. Even if from now on the Saudis will win the ACL every year it changes nothing on world stage until you can also fill 11 foreign players for the NT. The only outcome it will be is..Saudis maybe win this trophy every year but other country likr Japan/Korea will grow from that on long term cause even the players who are still not playing in Europe will improve from the higher level they are against.
Also this will hurt them in the long run, specifically their national team players as they don’t have enough playtime in their clubs due to the influx of foreigners, and nobody outside their region would want to recruit them for their clubs. It’s a lose lose situation for their players but what do I know. Their govt are flexing their wealth.
Indeed. Is not a bad idea to bring top players, but even 8 is too much. I think 6 players would have been great. Local players will get playing time but in the same will feel how is to play against a much better opposition.
Marinos won today in China. Hopefully they don't repeat the same mistake Kawasaki did in their match at home.
Riku Yamane is promising, won't be surprised if he moves to Europe this coming summer transfer window alongside with the likes of Matsuki, etc.
After a nerve-racking match against Korea's Ulsan, Yokohama F. Marinos is in the final of ACL for the 1st time!!! That unfortunate red card surely had negative impact on Marinos, but still, they persevered and won via PKs. Congratulations!
Yeah. They held up well pretty much. I guess only the teams that show this kind of grit would win the ACL just like Urawa and Jeonbuk. On the other hand, teams that tend to play pretty football always struggle in these kinds of tournaments, See: Kawasaki Frontale.