Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim advanced to the Asian Champions League quarter-finals despite a second-leg loss to Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima © STR / JIJI PRESS/AFP
TOKYO:
Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim reached the Asian Champions League quarter-finals for the first time despite a 1-0 loss to Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima on Wednesday, advancing 3-2 on aggregate.
Japan’s Vissel Kobe joined them in the last eight after beating South Korea’s FC Seoul 2-1 in the second leg for a 3-1 aggregate win.
JDT did just enough to frustrate Sanfrecce in a scrappy second leg in Hiroshima.
Kosuke Kinoshita’s 90th-minute penalty was not enough for Sanfrecce, who were also looking to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
“To suffer today, to be able to keep the result in a really difficult game, to make history for the team, for the club — very proud of everybody,” said JDT midfielder Nacho Mendez.
“It’s like a dream for everybody.”
JDT were unable to select three players who have been banned for falsifying documents to play for the Malaysia national team.
The players were available for last week’s first leg before the case went before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the ban.
One of the players, Brazil-born Joao Figueiredo, started the first leg in Malaysia.
Kobe went into the second leg of their game against Seoul with a 1-0 lead from last week’s first leg in South Korea.
Seoul’s Polish striker Patryk Klimala evened the tie 20 minutes in but Kobe substitute Yuya Osako slid home a Yoshinori Muto cross with just over 10 minutes to play.
Yosuke Ideguchi gave Kobe some breathing space with a second goal in the 89th minute.
The Asian Champions League becomes a single-leg knock-out competition from the quarter-finals onwards, with all games set to be played in Saudi Arabia next month.
The Asian Football Confederation last week postponed last-16 matches played by clubs in the Middle East after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
