TOYOTA, Aichi Pref. — Sanfrecce Hiroshima hope to go where no J. League or Asian team has gone before — the Club World Cup final.Not even their big-budgeted predecessors Urawa Reds (2007), Gamba Osaka (2008) and Kashiwa Reysol (2011) were able to reach the final, but Hiroshima believes it has every chance of making it to Nissan Stadium on Dec. 16 once it beats Egypt's Al-Ahly in Sunday's quarterfinal."Urawa, Gamba and Kashiwa all made it to the semifinals," Sanfrecce captain Hisato Sato said. "If we beat Al-Ahly, we give ourselves an opportunity to top what they achieved."Sato and J. League champions Sanfrecce are coming off a 1-0 win over Auckland City in the opening match on Thursday.Hiroshima dominated for the most part against the amateurs from New Zealand, but J. League Player of the Year Sato is expecting a completely different proposition from African champions Al-Ahly at Toyota Stadium."We were able to win our first match on the world stage, but Al-Ahly and Corinthians — who we could later face — will be on an entirely different level from Auckland City," Sato said."We made some minor errors in the Auckland game which we'll have to avoid if we want to stand a chance against Al-Ahly. Looking back on the last game, I thought Auckland paid us too much respect."I can't see that happening with Al-Ahly, who are African champions. I expect us to see less time on the ball in our next game."Victory over Al-Ahly would pit Hajime Moriyasu's men versus Corinthians, the inaugural Club World Cup champions, in the last four. A win against the Sao Paulo side would take Hiroshima to the final, where it will likely meet European champions Chelsea.Chelsea will play either Asian champions Ulsan Hyundai or Monterrey of Mexico — who also clash Sunday — in Thursday's semifinal at Yokohama.Al-Ahly will make its fourth Club World Cup appearance after winning the African Champions League on the heels of a cancelled Egyptian season due to the Port Said Stadium disaster in which 72 fans were killed.Moriyasu admitted Al-Ahly remains something of a mystery to him, but was confident his troops would come through, just as they did on Thursday."We don't have a great deal of information on our next opponents because there's only so much film available on them," first-year coach Moriyasu said."It will come down to how well we can execute, knowing little about the other team. But the boys held their nerves and played well enough to win it, which was the most important thing. I expect us to build on the performance next time out."
Showing posts with label Sanfrecce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sanfrecce. Show all posts
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Sanfrecce let off hook after Ono misfires late
YOKOHAMA — Sanfrecce Hiroshima escaped with minimal damage to their J.League title ambitions after Yokohama F. Marinos missed a second-half penalty in a 0-0 draw with the division leaders on Saturday.
By any means: Hiroshima's Koji Morisaki moves the ball in front of F. Marinos defender Yuji Nakazawa during their match on Saturday in Yokohama. KYODOSanfrecce went into the game at Nissan Stadium with a five-point lead over Vegalta Sendai and Urawa Reds at the top of the table, but that position hung in the balance when substitute Mihael Mikic brought down Yokohama's Yuji Ono inside the box in the 75th minute.Ono took the kick himself only to blast it high over the crossbar, however, allowing Sanfrecce to breathe a sigh of relief and open up a provisional six-point gap with Vegalta and Reds playing later in the evening.Vegalta went on to cut Sanfrecce's lead down to three with a 2-1 win over Gamba Osaka, but Urawa's championship hopes took a severe hit after a humiliating 2-1 home loss to Consadole Sapporo, who last weekend became the fastest team to be relegated in J.League history."We were lucky, but we need to be lucky if we want to be champions," said Mikic. "In the last 10 minutes we had chances to win. Of course one point away against Yokohama is good, but if we had won today we would have had one hand on the trophy."Now we have six more games, starting with a hard home game against Kashiwa and then an away game against Gamba. We must play these next two games at 100 percent and win them if we want to be the champions."Hiroshima has never won the title despite being one of the J.League's original members, but Mikic is undaunted by the task in hand."It is a new position," said the Croatian. "Maybe we don't have so much experience, but we have the best age. Maybe that will help us to become the champions."Both teams enjoyed spells of possession without being able to do much with it in a first half of tentative shadow boxing, and a pair of shots from Yokohama's Dutra was the nearest either side came to troubling the opposition goal.The second period began in far livelier fashion, however, and after Manabu Saito had gone close to giving Marinos the lead, Sanfrecce's Hisato Sato drew a smart reflex save out of goalkeeper Tetsuya Enomoto before Hironori Ishikawa crashed the followup into the side-netting.The match gradually lapsed back into a cagey stalemate, but Ono provided a rare moment of penetration when he burst into the box and went down under Mikic's challenge. The 19-year-old's effort from the spot left much to be desired, however, and Sanfrecce almost snatched the win at the death when Kohei Shimizu ghosted in to shoot wide in injury time."In the first half both teams were testing each other out, and although we were hanging on at times we stuck with it," said Sanfrecce manager Hajime Moriyasu. "The first half was about patience, and in the second half we tried to raise it up a gear. We had our chances, but couldn't get the goal."We always look to get three points, but I want to look at the positives and keep moving forward. This point has allowed us to keep moving on toward the last six games."Elsewhere in the J.League, Yoichiro Kakitani hit the winner in the 86th minute as Cerezo Osaka beat Sagan Tosu 3-2 to pull further away from the relegation zone, while Kashima Antlers also took a step toward safety with a 5-1 win over FC Tokyo.Albirex Niigata drew 0-0 with Vissel Kobe, Nagoya Grampus also played out a scoreless tie with Omiya Ardija, and Kashiwa Reysol beat Kawasaki Frontale 1-0.In the day's other game, Taisuke Muramatsu scored the only goal to give Shimizu S-Pulse a 1-0 win over Jubilo Iwata in the Shizuoka derby.
By any means: Hiroshima's Koji Morisaki moves the ball in front of F. Marinos defender Yuji Nakazawa during their match on Saturday in Yokohama. KYODOSanfrecce went into the game at Nissan Stadium with a five-point lead over Vegalta Sendai and Urawa Reds at the top of the table, but that position hung in the balance when substitute Mihael Mikic brought down Yokohama's Yuji Ono inside the box in the 75th minute.Ono took the kick himself only to blast it high over the crossbar, however, allowing Sanfrecce to breathe a sigh of relief and open up a provisional six-point gap with Vegalta and Reds playing later in the evening.Vegalta went on to cut Sanfrecce's lead down to three with a 2-1 win over Gamba Osaka, but Urawa's championship hopes took a severe hit after a humiliating 2-1 home loss to Consadole Sapporo, who last weekend became the fastest team to be relegated in J.League history."We were lucky, but we need to be lucky if we want to be champions," said Mikic. "In the last 10 minutes we had chances to win. Of course one point away against Yokohama is good, but if we had won today we would have had one hand on the trophy."Now we have six more games, starting with a hard home game against Kashiwa and then an away game against Gamba. We must play these next two games at 100 percent and win them if we want to be the champions."Hiroshima has never won the title despite being one of the J.League's original members, but Mikic is undaunted by the task in hand."It is a new position," said the Croatian. "Maybe we don't have so much experience, but we have the best age. Maybe that will help us to become the champions."Both teams enjoyed spells of possession without being able to do much with it in a first half of tentative shadow boxing, and a pair of shots from Yokohama's Dutra was the nearest either side came to troubling the opposition goal.The second period began in far livelier fashion, however, and after Manabu Saito had gone close to giving Marinos the lead, Sanfrecce's Hisato Sato drew a smart reflex save out of goalkeeper Tetsuya Enomoto before Hironori Ishikawa crashed the followup into the side-netting.The match gradually lapsed back into a cagey stalemate, but Ono provided a rare moment of penetration when he burst into the box and went down under Mikic's challenge. The 19-year-old's effort from the spot left much to be desired, however, and Sanfrecce almost snatched the win at the death when Kohei Shimizu ghosted in to shoot wide in injury time."In the first half both teams were testing each other out, and although we were hanging on at times we stuck with it," said Sanfrecce manager Hajime Moriyasu. "The first half was about patience, and in the second half we tried to raise it up a gear. We had our chances, but couldn't get the goal."We always look to get three points, but I want to look at the positives and keep moving forward. This point has allowed us to keep moving on toward the last six games."Elsewhere in the J.League, Yoichiro Kakitani hit the winner in the 86th minute as Cerezo Osaka beat Sagan Tosu 3-2 to pull further away from the relegation zone, while Kashima Antlers also took a step toward safety with a 5-1 win over FC Tokyo.Albirex Niigata drew 0-0 with Vissel Kobe, Nagoya Grampus also played out a scoreless tie with Omiya Ardija, and Kashiwa Reysol beat Kawasaki Frontale 1-0.In the day's other game, Taisuke Muramatsu scored the only goal to give Shimizu S-Pulse a 1-0 win over Jubilo Iwata in the Shizuoka derby.
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