AFC Champions League - Most popular for 2007
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Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson will tell you otherwise, but it if anyone in the UK thought club
international football was no longer the best, they only needed to follow this weekend's relevant
Euro 2008 qualifiers.
The fact remains no one club's Champions League success can inspire a country like their national
team can on the edge of glory.
I would not like to take a penalty in front of Urawa Reds' supporters at their Saitama stadium,
myself. Watch this shootout from an Asian Champions League semi-final against South Korea's
Seongnam Ilhwa last week, and marvel at the spectacle of the giant flags. It's really no surprise
they won, is it? [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/UVjKYntK5LY" width="425"
height="350" [.
The Urawa Reds became the first Japanese team since Shimizu S-Pulse in 2000 to win a continental
championship when they defeated Sepahan of Iran 2-0 in the final of the Asian Champions League on
Wednesday at Saitama Stadium.
An elated Holger Osieck spoke afterward about the win, the season and his preferred celebratory
poison of choice:
Q: Did you feel Sepahan were capable of scoring tonight?
Urawa Reds lead the way in the J-League with seven rounds remaining, having dropped just five
points since the mid-season summer break.
Urawa's latest victory came in front of 47,755 fans at a rain-soaked Saitama Stadium, with
Brazilian midfielder Robson Ponte scoring a late winner.
Gamba Osaka also needed a stoppage time winner from striker Bare to beat lowly Oita Trinita 1-0.
Urawa Reds are once again four points clear of second placed Gamba Osaka, following Gamba's shock
2-0 home defeat at the hands of Yokohama F. Marinos.
A near-capacity crowd of 19,419 turned out at Expo '70 Stadium on September 16 but the majority
went home stunned as a brace from Daisuke Sakata dented Gamba's title aspirations.
A day earlier, a crowd of 22,675 turned out in Hiroshima - their largest gate of the season, as
Urawa easily disposed of hosts Sanfrecce 4-2, with livewire striker Tatsuya Tanaka taking his goal
tally to eight goals in twelve games since returning from injury.
Urawa Reds manager Holger Osieck remains optimistic about his side's chances of advancing to the
semifinals of the Asian Champions League despite losing hold of a stranglehold on the home-and-away
quarterfinal clash against Jeonbuk Motors on Wednesday night.
The Reds outclassed the reigning ACL champions from start to finish and were up 2-0 heading into
the waning moments of the match at Saitama Stadium when Jeonbuk defender Choi Jin-cheul blazed home
through a maze of players to take the glean off a terrific showing by the home side.
Kawasaki Frontale's exit from the Asian Champions League earlier this week proved what many had
feared about Takashi Sekizuka's men over the last couple of weeks: they're a spent force whose
season has gone the way of a Britney Spears comeback.
Only time will tell how their freefall into irrelevancy in 2007 will affect Frontale in the
foreseeable future, but there's no denying that the team has suffered a major setback.
