Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Saitama: Coach Seo Jung-won hailed his Suwon Samsung side’s strong second half performances as goals from substitutes Ko Cha-won and Kaio secured a 2-1 comeback victory against Urawa Red Diamonds in Group G of the AFC Champions League on Tuesday and sealed their progression to the Round of 16 with a game to spare.
The 2011 semi-finalists went into the game at the Saitama Stadium 2002 knowing that a victory would guarantee their qualification for the last 16 and in turn eliminate the 2007 champions.
And after failing to break the deadlock in a strong first half performance, largely because of the excellence of Urawa keeper Shusaku Nishikawa, the Koreans fell behind to a headed goal from Slovenian substitute Zlatan Ljubijankic.
But Seo’s side came back strongly and equalised through midfielder Ko in the 74th minute before Brazilian forward Kaio netted with two minutes left on the clock to send his side through and Urawa out.
Match Report: Urawa Red Diamonds 1-2 Suwon Samsung FC
“Ever since I came to Suwon, I have been working on improving our second half performance so we can play stronger later in the game because most games are decided in the second half,” said Suwon coach Seo, who will now be looking to win the group with a home victory next month against group leaders Beijing Guoan, who suffered a surprise 1-0 reversal at home to Australian side Brisbane Roar in the day’s other Group G game.
“We had many chances in the first half but couldn’t score which made the game hard for us, then we gave away the first goal in the second half. However, we usually play well in the second half in the K-League, and today our substitutions worked out well as Ko Cha-wan and Kaio did well after coming off the bench.
“I knew this would be a tough game for us for physical reasons and because we were without six of our regular players, but based on our preparations our players did very well.”
Urawa coach Mihailo Petrovic, though, was critical of his side’s performance after defeat saw them eliminated from the tournament with one game still to play.
Having suffered successive defeats in their opening three Group G encounters, Urawa managed a 1-1 draw at home to Beijing Guoan in Matchday Four to give them a glimmer of hope going into Tuesday’s match.
But after seeing his side concede two goals in the final 15 minutes, Petrovic admitted that their performances throughout the group stage have not been good enough.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t grab the remaining chance we had in today’s game and it is disappointing that we have been eliminated from the group stage with one game remaining,” said the Serbian coach.
“The first half performance was our worst of the season as we let our opponents create many chances; it could have been 3-0 at halftime but our keeper made great saves for us.
“We created chances and took the lead in the second half but we allowed our opponents to equalise.
“Looking back at our ACL campaign, I’ve got a feeling something was wrong in our first game, away at Suwon. It is difficult to point out what caused that, but something was missing from us.”
Photo: WSG