11/7/2007
PA Sport

ESFAHAN – The AFC Champions League final remains intriguingly poised after Urawa Reds of Japan held Iranian side Sepahan to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Foolad Shahr Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Brazilian playmaker Robson Ponte opened the scoring for the J.League champions with an accurate low drive from the edge of the box on the stroke of half-time.

But the Hazfi Cup holders were back on level terms almost immediately after the resumption as Mahmoud Karimi tucked the ball away in a goalmouth scramble after Ebrahim Lovinian had fired against the post.

The home side dominated the second half but were unable to find a winning goal, giving Urawa a slender advantage, with the away goal in hand, for the return game at Saitama next Wednesday.

Sepahan coach Luka Bonacic made one change from the second leg of their semi-final victory against Al Wahda with Iraq international Emad Mohammed coming in to replace the suspended Hadi Jafari.

There were three alterations to the Urawa side that beat Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in a penalty shoot-out in the other semi with defenders Nene and Satoshi Horinuchi coming in for the injured pair of Marcus Tulio Tanaka and Nobuhisa Yamada while forward Yuichiro Nagai replaced Tatsuya Tanaka up front.

There was plenty of endeavour by both teams but little in the way of chances in the first 20 minutes as the two sides sized each other up, probing at the other team’s defence with little success.

Roared on by the noisy contingent of home fans packed into the compact 15,000-seat stadium, the home side created their first real chance on 20 minutes. Jalal Akbari and Moharram Nadvkia exchanged passes before the latter released Karimi, who took the ball past Keisuke Tsuboi on the left by-line but fired his shot from a narrow angle straight at goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki.

Sepahan’s central defensive pair of Hadi Aghily and Mohsen Benkar provided a formidable barrier in front of goalkeeper Abbas Mohammadi and it was not until midway through the half that Urawa had their first real effort when Tadaaki Hirawaka crossed from the left flank to an unmarked Yuichiro Nagai, who glanced a header well wide of the target

Nagai shot harmlessly wide on 25 minutes but very nearly opened the scoring two minutes later when he received the ball in the box once again from Hirakawa, and drove his effort past Mohammadi only to see the ball come back off the right post.

Reds were getting more and more dangerous and went close again on the half-hour after a Ponte corner from the right was flicked towards a lurking Washington. But just before the ball could fall to the Brazilian, Saeid Bayat made a brilliant interception, acrobatically hooking the ball against the Urawa striker and out of play for a goal kick

Sepahan were a constant menace on the counter-attack and gave Reds a scare on 40 minutes when Navidkia played a neat through ball to Karimi, who went down in the box under challenge from Keisuke Tsuboi only to seen his penalty appeal turned down by Malaysian referee Subkhiddin Salleh.

With half-time looming, the deadlock was finally broken by a moment of brilliance by Ponte. The Brazilian received the ball in space from Hirakawa on the left edge of the Sepahan box and had time to size up his shot before accurately picking out the far corner with an effort that bounced awkwardly in front of Mohammadi.

Bonacic responded to the setback by making two changes at the half-time break, sending Mohsen Hamidi and Lovinian on in place of Jalal Akbari and Saeid Bayat.

The decision paid almost instant dividends as the hosts levelled the scoring less than a minute after resumption.

In a wild scramble in the box, the ball fell to Lovinian, who fired his shot against the left upright. But with Tsuzuki out of position, the ball fell kindly in the six yard box to Karimi, who tucked the ball into the net, to the delight of the home fans.

The game sparked to life and Abdul Wahab Abolheil nearly put the home side ahead with a shot that went just wide of the right post.

Substitute Mohsen Hamidi then shot straight at Tsuzuki after being released by a long through ball from the back and the Urawa goalkeeper did brilliantly to turn aside a low effort by Navidkia as the Iranian side turned up the heat.

With 14 minutes remaining, Emad attempted to force his way through the Urawa defence single-handedly but ran out of room and put his shot harmlessly into the side netting.

Washington had little joy against the Sepahan defence at the other end and his night was summed up by a woeful shot from 20 metres that flew well over the crossbar.

On 81 minutes, Emad’s cross from the left picked out Iraqi compatriot Abolheil in the box but the midfielder’s effort went past a crowd of players and rolled agonisingly past the far post.

The home team had final one effort deep into stoppage time when Mohammadi’s long clearance kick found Emad, who surged past Nene before firing his shot from the edge of the box well over the crossbar.