Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Saitama: Yuki Muto and Shinzu Koroki each scored as Urawa Red Diamonds claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Sydney FC in the sides’ AFC Champions League Group H opener at Saitama Stadium on Wednesday.
Urawa shaded the first half and went into the break a goal to the good after Muto capitalised on poor defending to open the scoring inside 10 minutes.
And the J-League club doubled their advantage from the spot 20 minutes into the second half through Koroki’s penalty after he had been upended by goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic as the 2007 champions secured all three points.
“It was our first official game to this season, but our opponents are already in the middle of their season. Plus, we didn’t do well in the ACL over the past couple of years or so. That’s why today’s game was a very difficult one to play for us, for sure,” said Urawa coach Mihailo Petrovic.
“For every team in every season, the first game is always difficult. But today our players showed their strong determination for a win, good mobility in offense and defense and went hard to win the ball. With those, I am feeling satisfied.
“Of course, we can play much better with better combination work. But as the first one in the season we can give a credit to them.
“Winning the first game in the season can bring you confidence, and that can provide positive results in the coming games. That applies not only to the ACL campaign, but also to the J. League one, which we’ll have our opening game with two games in between. So, today’s win means a lot to us.”
Urawa went in front in the eighth minute when Zac Anderson dithered inside the penalty area after Tsukasa Umesaki’s deflected low cross from the right allowing Muto to nip in and fire home from a tight angle.
Then on 15 minutes Ryota Moriwaki unleashed a curling left-foot shot from 25 yards that Janjetovic did well to parry to safety.
Sydney could have equalised in the 25th minute, though, when Urawa captain Yuki Abe played straight to Andrew Hoole on the edge of the area, but with goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa stranded the midfielder’s goalbound shot deflected off Mitsuru Nagata and wide.
Six minutes before the interval Urawa almost scored a second when Tomoaki Makino’s overhead kick from six yards was cleared off the line by Christopher Naumoff following an Umesaki corner from the right.
The A-League side again came close to levelling seven minutes after the restart when Naumoff’s inswinging corner eventually landed at the feet Anderson, whose shot from close in was kept out by the face of Nishikawa.
But Urawa then doubled their lead in the 64th minute when substitute Koroki latched onto Sebastian Ryall’s miscued clearance before being brought down by Janjetovic, and the frontman then dusted himself off to confidently dispatch his penalty straight down the middle.
With six minutes remaining Sydney almost threw themselves a lifeline when substitute Milos Ninkovic’s shot from distance was well tipped wide by Nishikawa, but Graham Arnold’s side ultimately left Japan empty-handed.
“This is a disappointing result. We gave them the three points from two goals. Other than that, we felt that we had similar chances that Urawa Reds had, but, with two bad mistakes defensively we gave them two goals,” said Sydney coach Graham Arnold.
“What is important in the Champions League is that to win at your home games. We came here, we tried to win. We were equal to Urawa Reds. We gave then two goals. But what is important is to win at home. We’ve got three games at home, that’s we have to win. If we can do that, then we will be with a good chance.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports