Urawa Red Diamonds smashed Muang Thong United 4-1 to claim their first win of the 2013 AFC Champions League, taking second spot in Group F.
Urawa Red Diamonds smashed Muang Thong United 4-1 to claim their first win of the 2013 AFC Champions League, taking second spot in Group F.
The visitors from Thailand were pulled apart by Urawa in a 15-minute period in the second half with the Japanese hosts scoring three times to make it 4-0 before Ivory Coast defensive midfielder Siaka Dagno grabbed a late goal for Muang Thong United.
It took just seven minutes for Urawa to open the scoring at Saitama Stadium on Tuesday with Yosuke Kashiwagi bouncing his volley over a pack of players and into the net from Marcio Richardes’ corner.
While the visitors had midfielder Piyapol Buntao sent off after just half an hour for his second yellow card, Urawa had to wait almost an hour between their first and second goals.
In the 64th minute, Kunimitsu Sekiguchi cut in from the left-wing and curled the ball into the penalty area, putting enough on the cross for it to bend inside the far post.
Five minutes later and it was 3-0 when Genki Haraguchi headed a cross into the top corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area.
An own goal from Panupong Wongsa in the 78th minute extended Urawa’s lead to 4-0 and, while Muang Thong United finally got on the scoresheet in the closing stages thanks to a sharp header from Dagno, the Thai club were completely outclassed.
The victory takes Urawa to second spot in Group F on three points, one behind China’s Guangzhou Evergrande, who came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw away to Jeonbuk Motors.
The home team led 1-0 at half-time in South Korea after Kim Jung-Woo’s strike in the 28th minute but Evergrande hit back just after the hour mark through Muriqui, who avoided Jeonbuk’s offside trap to score the equaliser.
In Qatar, El Jaish and Tractor Sazi produced a thrilling 3-3 draw, which included two goals in the final six minutes.
After the first half ended at 1-1, Tractor Sazi took the lead six minutes after the break thanks to a fine finish from Mehdi Salehi.
El Jaish fought back though and looked on track for victory after Adriano’s penalty and then Wagner Ribeiro’s second goal of the game put the home side in front with three minutes plus stoppage time remaining.
But Brazilian substitute Geilson denied El Jaish the win when he headed home a corner in the 91st minute.
In other results, Al Ittifaq were held to a 0-0 draw by Lekhwiya, Pakhtakor won 1-0 away to the UAE’s Al Shabab, Buriram United played out a scoreless draw with Seoul, Al Jazira drew 1-1 with Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia and Jiangsu Sainty versus Vegalta Sendai remained goalless.
