On Monday 22 August, the AFC Champions League (ACL) 2022 East quarterfinals took place at Saitama Stadium 2002, where Urawa Red Diamonds defeated BG Pathum United (Thailand) 4-0 to advance to the semi-finals, while Vissel Kobe lost to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC (Korea Republic) 1-3 in overtime. Urawa will now face Jeonbuk Hyundai on Thursday 25.

Urawa display great offensive form in back-to-back wins

Following their round of 16 victory over Johor Darul Ta'zim (Malaysia), Urawa made just one change, as SEKINE Takahiro was named into the starting line-up. With David MOBERG scoring in back to back matches, the team reached the ACL semi-finals for the first time in three years.

Cheered on by a home crowd of 16,210 supporters, Urawa showed great intensity from the start of the match. MATSUO Yusuke and Sekine each found the back of the net in the first and 25th minute respectively, but both plays were disallowed after being reviewed by VAR.

Despite their misfortunes, Urawa continued to dominate the match and scored the opening goal in the 32nd minute, when Moberg fired a powerful shot that ricocheted off the goalkeeper’s hand before finding the nettings.

10 minutes later, IWANAMI Takuya flicked in a corner kick delivered from the left side to make it 2-0 before halftime.

In the 65th minute, KOIZUMI Yoshio received the ball from ITO Atsuki at the edge of the box before striking a pinpoint shot that found the far corner of the Pathum goal to further extend the lead.

Soon afterwards, AKIMOTO Takahiro, ESAKA Ataru, and Kasper JUNKER were sent off from the bench to replace the front three and tokeep the attack going against a tenacious Pathum side. This substitution proved to be effective, as Esaka and Akimoto combined to score the next goal to make it 4-0 in the 72nd minute.

Playing in their first ever ACL quarterfinals, Pathum started DIOGO from the second half and created chances that threatened the Urawa goal, as Worachit KANITSRIBAMPEN collected a loose ball to fire a shot in the 51st minute, followed by back to back attempts made by Irfan FANDI in the 55th and 63rd minutes, but couldn’t quite find ways to break down the Urawa defence.

With this victory, Urawa have now reached the semi-finals in three consecutive ACL appearances, following their championship campaign in the 2017 and runners-up campaign in 2019. They will now face two time champions Jeonbuk Hyundai.

Kobe fell short from reaching semi-finals in back-to-back attempts

Following their win over Yokohama F. Marinos on Thursday 18, Kobe made seven changes to their starting line-up against Jeonbuk Hyundai. Stefan MUGOSA, who has the experience of playing in the K.League, was named upfront, IINO Nanasei, YURUKI Koya, and Matheus THULER, who played key roles in the round of 16, started on the bench, while OSAKO Yuya and Andres INIESTA were not included in the squad.

Despite the scorching summer heat, Kobe started the match with great aggression, as ODA Yutaro fired a shot in the 20th minute, followed by an attempt made by KOBAYASHI Yuki from distance, but fell short from finding the back of the net in the first half.

Kobe introduced Iino to start the second half, while Yuruki was brought on in the 62nd minute, and the deadlock was broken just two minutes following their latter substitution.

The goal came when Yuruki responded to a deflection of the shot taken by OZAKI Yusei, as the second half substitute calmly converted the loose ball with his right foot to give Kobe the lead.

However, Jeonbuk came back with the equaliser in the 66th minute, when GUSTAVO won the ball in his own territory before sending a superb through ball that allowed Modou BARROW to break into the Kobe penalty area and slot the ball into the net.

With momentum on their side, Jeonbuk started to dominate the match, as they created number of close opportunities from attacks from the left side.

In efforts to change the dynamics of the match, Kobe introduced MUTO Yoshinori, Thuler, and OSAKI Leo in the 74th minute, but it was Jeonbuk who created the next big opportunity, as KIM Jin-gyu connected with a cross sent by KIM Jin-su in the closing minutes, but Kobe’s goalkeeper MAEKAWA Daiya was there to make the save.

Tied at 1-1, the match entered overtime, which saw the Korean side take the lead in the 103rd minute, when Gustavo struck home the cross delivered by Barrow with a towering header.

Desperately needing a goal to remain in the tournament, Kobe made numerous attempts in the second half of overtime, including the header struck by Mugosa during additional time, but fell short from equalising the match.

While making their final attempt from a corner kick, Kobe had their goalkeeper Maekawa press forward into the opposing penalty area, but was countered by Jeonbuk, as they conceded to MOON Seon-min, who made the run to slot the ball into the open net to seal the match.

The semi-final match between Urawa and Jeonbuk is scheduled to take place at Saitama Stadium on Thursday 25 at 19:30.

YouTube(The AFC Hub):#ACL2022 - QF1(EAST) | Vissel Kobe (JPN) 1 - 3 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC (KOR)
YouTube(The AFC Hub):#ACL2022 - QF2(EAST) | Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN) 4 - 0 BG Pathum United (THA)

Tournament Information