The Eastern division group stage of the AFC Champions League (ACL) 2019 started on Tuesday 5 March, where the defending champions Kashima Antlers welcomed the Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta'zim to their home field and earned a 2-1 victory, while Sanfrecce Hiroshima suffered a 0-2 away loss against the Chinese powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao.

Following their championship campaign from last year, Kashima entered their first match in Group E with a long list of injured players including forward SUZUKI Yuma and defender YAMAMOTO Shuto. On this day, the team started a line-up that saw five players being rotated from their previous league match played on Friday 1, as HIRATO Taiki was one of the newly named players, starting at the right fullback position.

Despite being the Malaysian Super League champions for five consecutive seasons, this year marked Johor’s first ACL appearance, as they wasted no time to attack the Kashima goal. In the early minutes of the match, their Brazilian forward DIOGO, who was the leading scorer of Thai League 1 last year, created opportunities for the Malaysian club, including the bicycle shot he struck in the ninth minute.

A golden opportunity came towards Kashima in the 15th minute, when SERGINHO induced a foul inside the opposing penalty area to earn a penalty kick. Serginho took the spot kick himself, but his attempt was denied by the goalkeeper.

Although Kashima continued to show great ball movements to initiate their offence, with the team starting an unusual line-up with players playing in unfamiliar positions, the team struggled to come up with effective attacks.

In the 35th minute, Johor came close from capturing the opening goal when their defender La'Vere CORBIN-ONG connected with a freekick to strike a header, but the shot came short from finding the net.

The moment came for Kashima in an unexpected way, when Hirato’s cross delivered from the left flank sailed over the head of the goalkeeper to shake the net in the 43rd minute.

The second half saw Kashima creating more chances, as ANZAI Koki penetrated the penalty area in the early minutes, followed by consecutive shots taken by KANAMORI Takeshi and Serginho, but both attempts were saved by the opposing goalkeeper.

Kashima’s second goal came in the 56th minute when Serginho forced a turnover in the midfield before firing a left-footed shot from the outside of the penalty area. The shot struck the crossbar before crossing the goal line to give Kashima a 2-0 lead.

Johor rallied back towards the end with a goal scored in the 80th minute, when Diogo redirected the shot taken by Hariss HARUN from a free kick to cut their deficit in half. Another opportunity came their way in additional time, when Akhyar RASHID struck a shot from a counter attack, but his attempt couldn’t hit the target, and Kashima earned three points with their 2-1 victory over Johor.

Hiroshima starts off with an away loss

In their first ACL appearance in three years, Sanfrecce Hiroshima started off their group league action with an away match against the Chinese powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, who has won the ACL title in 2013 and 2015.

Following their J. League match against Iwata on Friday 1, the Hiroshima side has rotated their entire starting line-up with NOTSUDA Gakuto on the bench. Their forward PATRIC was not included in the squad while their newly acquired Brazilian forward Douglas VIEIRA got the nod to start the match.

It was Guangzhou who took the initiative of the match, as they scored the opening goal in the 19th minute when their Brazilian attacker TALISCA, who recently signed with the team, struck a header to take the lead. Seven minutes later, another Brazilian, PAULINHO converted a shot following a corner kick to double the lead for the Chinese club side.

In efforts to rally back, Hiroshima brought in Notsuda at the start of the second half, followed by a substitution made in the 58th minute to bring MATSUMOTO Taishi into the match. However, despite seeing more chances created, Hiroshima came short from scoring a goal, as the match ended with a final score of 0-2 in favour of Guangzhou.

Hiroshima will welcome Melbourne Victory, where the former Japan National Team member HONDA Keisuke plays, to their home on Tuesday 12 March. The Australian club is also coming off an away loss in their first match, as they lost to Daegu FC (Korea Republic) 1-3 on Tuesday 5.

At the Western division, Al-Duhail (Qatar) played a home match against Esteghlal (Iran) and won the match 3-0 with Japan National Team member NAKAJIMA Shoya scoring a goal. Another Japan National Team member was featured as SHIOTANI Tsukasa played for Al Ain (UAE), but his side lost to Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) 0-1 at home to start off the group stage.

On Wednesday 6, Urawa Red Diamonds will host the Thai League 1 champions Buriram United in Group H, while Kawasaki Frontale will face an away match in Group H against Shanghai SIPG who are coming off their first championship campaign at the Chinese Super League.

Coaches and Players' Comments

OIWA Go, Coach (Kashima Antlers)
All we did was earn three points at our first match of the ACL. Anything can happen at these ACL matches. Prior to the match, I have spoken to my players that we cannot afford to showcase bad decision makings and flaws in our game management, but we ended up making many mistakes. We wanted to display a better performance today. We managed to move the ball well up until our second goal, but we killed the momentum from our own mistakes. However, our players played hard for the entire 90 minutes, so we hope to feed off of this match to play better in our next match.

DF HIRATO Taiki (Kashima Antlers)
When I scored the goal, the ball came rolling towards me and I delivered a cross with an image that it can drift into the goal. With many of our players injured, I wanted to showcase my ability to help the team and win our first match of the ACL. There will be more tough matches to follow, but we will fight hard as a team to win through the competition.

FW SERGINHO (Kashima Antlers)
The first match of a tournament is always tough, especially in tournaments like the ACL, so the most important thing is to win the match. In that aspect, we are glad to earn the victory today. Missing a penalty is part of football, so although it was a regretful moment, I am glad I was able to score a goal from a run of play. The fact that we managed to keep our focus in each of our plays helped us score those goals.

Benjamin Mora, Coach (Johor Darul Ta'zim)
Facing the defending champions in our first match was a huge challenge for us. We knew it was going to be a tough match and we entered the match by analysing four or five matches played by Kashima, but they were playing at a different level than us. However, we managed to stay aggressive and score a goal, so we were able to achieve at least one of our goals today. That goal really gave us the momentum but couldn’t go onto capture the equaliser, which was regretful. We are looking forward for our second leg played at Johor, where the hot climate might help us out.

Tournament Dates:
Play-offs: Tue. 5 - Tue. 19 February 2019
Group Stage: Mon. 4 March - Wed. 22 May 2019

Tournament Information