In the days running up to the second leg of the 2004 Asian Champions League final, a van drove around the streets of the South Korean city of Seongnam with a loudspeaker telling locals to get down to the stadium to watch their team win the continental title. The confidence was understandable. Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma had beaten Al-Ittihad 3-1 in Jeddah a few days earlier and the return match was seen as a foregone conclusion by most fans and observers. The fact that the early December evening was freezing was seen as another reason why the Saudi side would not be able to handle the occasion.
Al-Ittihad, inspired by Mohammed Noor, ran out 5-0 winners. Nobody saw it coming — it was the greatest comeback in the history of the competition. It means that there is some inspiration and history for Al-Hilal as they prepare for their second leg against Urawa Reds of Japan. The first leg ended 1-1 last Saturday in front of a disappointed home crowd, and while the situation is nowhere near as bad as it was going in to that night two decades ago, the Riyadh giants, looking to extend their record in the tournament to five titles, have a lot of work to do.
The first issue is the scoreline. Most expected that Al-Hilal would have a lead to take to Japan. Salem Al-Dawsari opened the scoring in the first half and 56,000 fans were ready to see the Blues, the pre-match favorites, go on to build a comfortable cushion to take to Saitama Stadium. Yet there was a freak equalizer early in the second half that gave Urawa, who had not really looked like scoring until that point, confidence and something to build on.
And then, there are the absences. Al-Dawsari, talisman for both club and country and a star of Asian football, was shown a straight red card late in the game for rashly kicking out at an opponent. This is a player who was sent off in the 2017 final when Al-Hilal lost to Urawa, and then scored the all-important second-leg strike two years later against the Japanese side as the Blues took revenge and gained their third title. This time, he did both — scored and saw red.
He will be out and will be missed. The same is true of Salman Al-Faraj, another crucial cog for club and country. The midfielder has struggled for months with various ailments and has a leg injury that is likely to keep him out of the clash in Japan and, perhaps, the rest of Al-Hilal’s season. Saudi Arabia full-back Yasser Al-Shahrani is also missing. These are three players who are among the best in their positions in the whole of Asia.
It now means that Urawa are the favourites and it is something that the hosts are keen to downplay. “If we prepare for the game thinking we’re going to do it because we got a 1-1 draw and we get too far ahead of ourselves, we’ll get burnt,” said Urawa midfielder Atsuki Ito. “Al-Hilal are a strong team, so we need to be careful and make sure we don’t allow that kind of atmosphere.”
There are, however, reasons to be cheerful and not just because of the lesson of Al-Ittihad from 2004 (who then won again in 2005 to become the first team to win successive Champions Leagues, a feat they are trying to repeat this weekend). Al-Hilal have other match-winners. Odion Ighalo is one of the hottest strikers in Asia. The former Manchester United striker won the Golden Boot last year in the Rohsn Saudi League and could end up doing the same this time around, both domestically and in Asia. The Nigerian had little service in the first leg and if coach Ramon Diaz can solve that problem then there is a good chance the Urawa net will bulge at some point.
Michael Delgado was the liveliest attacking player last week and a little bit of magic from the Brazilian set up Al-Dawsari’s goal. With the absences, Delgado is going to have to play even better and Diaz is going to have to come up with the right combination. It could even be a time for Saleh Al-Shehri to come in and replicate his World Cup heroics, and there are options in midfield such as the experienced Abdullah Al-Otayf.
Al-Hilal have shown already this year that they can deliver eye-catching results in the underdog role, especially when they have to go to hostile territory in the biggest games. The atmosphere in Urawa will have nothing on the Moroccan crowd that was waiting for the Saudi Arabians in the quarterfinal of the FIFA Club World Cup in February to play the African champions –local heroes Wydad Casablanca. It went to extra-time and a penalty shootout and the Asian title-holders held their nerve to win. In the next game, they even defeated South American champions Flamengo. Later in the same month, there was the Champions League semi-final when they went to Qatar to thrash local team Al-Duhail 7-0.
Going to Urawa with the scores level is far from mission impossible especially if Al-Hilal can be inspired by the heroics of Al-Ittihad from 2004 and make more history on the international stage.
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