Champions League QF draw: The highly-anticipated #ACL2019 Knockout Stage draw results. Who will go on to clinch the title? pic.twitter.com/EUMszPVaTw— #ACL (@TheAFCCL) July 2, 2019 Shanghai vs Urawa, Guangzhou vs Kashima.
Pity we can't have an all-Japanese final. Good thing that both Urawa & Kashima will host the 2nd leg, it raises their odds to overcome their Chinese counterparts more. Good luck.
Urawa Reds x Shanghai SIPG (2-2) Kashima Antlers x Guangzhou (0-0) Good results for both Japanese teams but since the return leg will be 20 days from now, anything is possible i.e. Injuries, fatigue...etc that might hamper their chances in their ACL campaign.
2-2 is a good result for Urawa Reds but I don't think 0-0 in 1st leg gives Kashima Antlers any advantages. By recent records in some major cup tournaments, actually not conceded any goals in home game is an advantage.
Kashima Antlers need to tighten up on their defense to hopefully not concede any goals within normal time, at least by extra time, away goals are not counted and they can afford to draw 1-1 or 2-2 then. Kashima were pretty organized yesterday but they lack a threat up front who can head goals from all those crosses. They were relying on long-range goals a lot yesterday iirc.
oh new info for me, why does this AFC have different rules from common cup tournament though? asian logic
Kashima got ousted by Guangzhou on away goals. I guess they got a bit too relaxed with the result they had gained in the first leg. Still, it's a good achievement for Kashima considering their depleted roster to last year's. And we're set for another JPN-CHN derby in the semis. I hope Urawa wins it and ultimately wins the whole thing for an unprecedented 3 ACL titles but not at the expense of their rocky domestic league campaign that could end up in a relegation.
They brought it upon themselves. I don’t know what was Oiwa thinking about when he fielded a defensively-oriented line-up? Didn’t he know that Kashima needed a win to progress? Playing with Machida (CB) as a left-back and Nago (DM) as a left-side attacking midfielder was a crazy make-shift. He could have started with Koike as a left-back and Soma as the left-side attacking midfielder instead of this make-shift defensive line-up. It was really puzzling, Kashima was clearly the better side and dominated the game, but a bit of offensive orientation could have see Kashima winning this match easily. Not to mention the referee who whistled many fouls against Kashima, as if it was his duty to prevent Kashima to score or to get into a threatening scoring position. Now, Urawa is our hope.
It's not a good result considering they walked over Guangzhou. Extremely disappointing really ... hopefully Urawa can put them away, judging by their respective games, they're clearly a better team.
soma should’ve started. he beat his defender 3-4 times in the space of twenty minutes. ueda should’ve been played earlier. any manager that places his faith in inukai is in trouble.
Machida should really have done better for Talisco's header. I think he was the one marking him iirc.
Correct. However, one has to give credit to Kashima for what they accomplished in the last two years considering how much players they had lost for transfer and injury. The won the AFC CL, and managed to climb up the league table to finish third, and this season they managed to reach the champions league QF and were unlucky to get knocked out, while they are just one point adrift the current league leaders FC Tokyo. If any other team in Japan lost the players Kashima lost, they will be in the relegation zone already.
They really lack a figure like Shoji who can organize the defence well. Misao is probably the other one who can do it but he is injured now. Machida really needs to step up, i think he has potential to be even better than Naomichi Ueda, he needs to move on his positioning and physicality a little bit more imo.
Urawa x Guangzhou 2-0 Good result for Urawa. I hope they can continue their excellent form in the ACL and we might have a rematch of ACL 2017 Final against Al Hilal who yesterday destroyed Al Sadd away 4-1.
I really hope they'll be able to manage the advantage. Guangzhou isn't strong under Cannavaro, but they still have the potential to overcome the hurdle. One away goal could close the deal.
They really need to bring their form today to Guangzhou because Guangzhou at home will not be easy. Btw, on a side note, Daiki Hashioka seems decent. Hopefully he gets an European offer after this ACL campaign.
Are you echoing me? Daiki Hashioka deserves to be considered for Japan’s senior NT. https://t.co/IO2uW3Zzcu— Samurai Warrior (@SamuraiWarrio17) October 23, 2019
The only bad thing about Guangzhou vs Urawa match is that Nishikawa is going to miss the first-leg of the final in Saudi Capital (Riyadh).
The Saudis seem eager to avenge the, according to them, undeserved lost in 2017!!! I don't remember there were bad calls from the referees in both legs that benefited Urawa. So I really don't now what they are talking about lol. One thing for sure is that Urawa must aim to score an away goal for an easier time in the 2nd leg. Al-Hilal's defence isn't that good and was exposed at yesterday's game.