Japanese Urawa Red Diamonds, Asian champions, defeated Mexican León 0-1 this Friday in the Saudi city of Jeddah and qualified for the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, where they will face Manchester City next Tuesday.
The Dutchman Alex Schalk He scored the only goal of the match played at the Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium when he connected the ball with a powerful shot from his right foot after 78 minutes.
The Japanese are starting to do better
The Japanese were better in the first minutes when they took advantage of their speed. They turned a blind eye, better in transitions and almost took the lead in the 18th minute, with a shot from Tomoaki Okubostopped by goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota.
The students of Polish Maciej Skorza They again created danger with a long-range shot from Guinean José Kanté, but moments after León took the ballfinished better and was about to take the lead coming from Uruguayan Federico Viñas.
José Alvarado and Fidel Ambriz They also put the back of the Japanese in trouble, which did not lose order.
The Concacaf champions, who have eight Mexican soccer titles, came out with advanced lines in the second half, but Urawa went close to taking the lead with Atzuki Ito’s shot from a corner.
The game returned to the match in the middle of the field. Skorza sent Schalk on the field in the 73rd minute and five minutes later the Dutchman entered the area and With a cross blow from his right leg he defeated Cota to decide the duel.
The Lion remains at ten
The Mexicans suffered another blow in the 84th minute with the dismissal of Colombian central defender William Tesillo for the double warning, which left the team with one less man on the field.
Cota stopped Schalk in the 89th minute, then Urawa concentrated on defending against a desperate opponent, looking for an equaliser.
León turned to attack, but had no strength. In the 96th minute, Uruguayan Nicolás López missed a free kick and a minute later his compatriot Federico Viñas shot wide.
This Friday, in the other match of the quarterfinals, Egyptian Al Ahly will face Karim Benzema’s Saudi Al-Ittihad. The winner will face Brazilian Fluminense in the top four stage.
Data sheets
León: Rodolfo Cota; Jaine Barreiro, William Tesillo, Adonis Frías, Osvaldo Rodríguez (Elías Hernández m.83); Iván Moreno (José David Ramírez m.87), Fidel Ambriz (Omar Fernández m.83), Lucas Romero, Ángel Mena (Nicolás López m.83); José Alvarado (Sebastian Santos m.90), Federico Viñas.
Instructor: Nicolás Larcamón.
Urawa Red Diamonds: Shusaku Nishikowa; Marius Hoibraten, Alexander Scholz, Takahiro Akimoto (Hiroki Sakai m.82), Takahiro Sekine (Takuya Ogiwara m.64), Kaito Yasui, Ken Iwao; Atsuki Ito (Shoya Nakajima m.73), José Kanté, Yoshio Koizumi, Tomoaki Okubo (Alex Schalk m.73).
Instructor: Maciej Skorza.
Goal: 0-1, m.78: Alex Schalk.
Referee: Congolese Jean Jacques Ndala. He dislodged Colombian defender William Tesillo. And he advised Tomoaki Okubo, and Federico Viñas.
Incidents: The Club World Cup quarterfinal match was played at the Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
