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Yomiuri – Sepahan will get
another crack at Urawa Reds as Luka Bonacic's side opened the FIFA Club
World Cup with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Waitakere United on Friday
night.
Sepahan, beaten by Urawa in last month's Asian Champions League final, will
head down to Toyota Stadium on Monday in a grudge quarterfinal against Reds
as a pair of Iraqis produced the goals for the Iranian club.
Emad Mohammed struck twice early to set the tone at Tokyo's National Stadium
while Abdul Wahab Abuhail chipped in during the second half. New Zealand
amateur side Waitakere pulled one back with a late Hadi Aghily own goal as
Oceania again failed to advance.
Bonacic looked forward to proving his team was not outplayed by Reds in the
ACL final.
"Now I can start talking about Urawa," said the Croatian coach. "It gives us
great pleasure to be able to challenge Urawa again after losing to them in
the ACL final.
"I think we were fortunate to be up 2-0 after five minutes. It was easy for
us after that."
Sepahan did not need a whole lot of time to expose the gap between
professionals and part-timers on a relatively warm evening at the National
Stadium.
The Iranian side was superior to the OFC O-League champions in every facet
of the game, and moved in front after all of three minutes with the first
strike by Mohammed.
The forward got the benefit of the decision of the linesman, who ruled
Mohammed on side after a lob for the box. Mohammed found the net with a
header softly hit, but hit hard enough to beat Waitakere keeper Simon Eaddy
as Sepahan took the lead.
Mohammed's second goal arrived not long afterward, one minute to be exact
and required a bit more skill than the first. After defender Jonathan Perry
handled inside the penalty area, Mohammed did not give up on the loose ball
as referee Marco Rodriguez allowed the game to play on.
A quick, off-balance tap of the right foot by Mohammed was enough to beat
Eaddy and make it 2-0 for Sepahan with nearly the entire match left to play.
Eaddy had a particularly rough night in goal, his performance drawing a few
snickers from the gentle crowd. He nearly conceded a third before halftime
when he gave away a free kick inside his own box, after controlling the ball
and then proceeding to pick it up.
The free kick was kept out, but following the recess, another Eaddy mistake
stretched Sepahan's lead to three.
Three minutes into the second half, Sepahan midfielder Abuhail tested Eaddy
with a shot from nearly 30 meters out. The Kiwi reacted well, but couldn't
hang on to the ball which spilled under his arms and rolled over the line.
Sepahan's lead was reduced with 16 minutes to go with a mistake by keeper
Mohammad Savari. Although Aghily was taxed with the own goal, Savari clearly
bobbled over the line a free kick he should have easily handle.
Waitakere captain Danny Hay said the early goals eliminated its chances of
becoming the first Oceania to win at the Club World Cup.
"It hurts because we had five minutes of madness at the beginning of the
game," Hay said.
"It's just disappointing that we made such stupid errors."
The other quarterfinal between Etoile Sahel of Africa and Pachuca of
CONCACAF will be played Sunday at the National Stadium. The winner faces
Boca Juniors in a semifinal on Wednesday evening.
SEPAHAN: Savari, Aghily, Bahadorani, Bengar, Jafari, Abuhail, Karimi, Mujiri,
Mohammed, Salehi, Safi
WAITAKERE: Eaddy, Perry, Cunneen, Hay, Bazeley, Totori, Sykes, Bale, Emblen,
Pearce, Seaman
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