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| Urawa fail to top J-League |
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| Urawa coach Gert Engels is confident the Reds and their fans will be celebrating a place in the ACL semi-finals. (AFP) |
TOKYO: Asian club champions Urawa Red Diamonds failed to knock Kashima Antlers off the top of the J-League Monday as they crashed to a surprise 3-1 defeat to Kawasaki Frontale.
Former Eintracht Frankfurt striker Naohiro Takahara, who has been left out the Japanese national team due to recent poor form, fired home to put Urawa one up in the seventh minute.
But after Hiroki Ito made it even with a 27th-minute header, DPR Korean substitute forward Jong Tae-Se made it 2-1 from close range in the 66th minute, and Brazilian Vitor Junior scored his first goal in Japan two minutes later to seal the win.
"I think the key point was their second goal. Of course, a game doesn't end at 1-2, but it was too bad that we allowed them to counter-attack," said Urawa's German coach Gert Engels.
"Their best weapon is a counter-attack, so it's dangerous to go down 1-2, and then they scored the third goal. We kept the initiative and had several scoring chances, but we couldn't score. I'm very, very disappointed."
Urawa are second on 32 points, two points behind defending champions Kashima Antlers, 2-0 winners over Yokohama Marinos on Sunday.
Third-placed Nagoya, level on points with Urawa, thrashed Omiya Ardija 4-0 with Keiji Yoshimura, Brazilian Magnum, Norwegian Frode Johnsen and Keita Sugimoto scoring one goal each on Monday.
Osaka, fourth on the same points, edged past bottom-placed JEF United Chiba 1-0 at the weekend.
In the other game on Monday, Shingo Akamine came to the rescue of FC Tokyo when he scored an equaliser four minutes into injury time to earn his side a 1-1 draw at Kyoto Sanga.
TOP FIVE STANDINGS (After the 18th round): 1. Kashima Antlers 34, 2. Urawa Red Diamonds 32, 3. Nagoya Grampus 32, 4. Gamba Osaka 32, 5. Kashiwa Reysol 29
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