Urawa Reds were the champions of the AFC Champions League last season. However, the club has been playing quite poorly recently. They have lost 6/9 recent matches. That caused Urawa Reds to be eliminated from the AFC Champions League group stage and miss out on the top 3 (for the AFC Champions League next season) in the Japanese national championship.
Alex Schalk's joy after scoring the only goal of the match, helping Urawa Reds overcome Club Leon (Photo: Getty).
However, in the face of adversity, the Uwara Reds have shown their mettle. In the second round of the FIFA Club World Cup, the Japanese team defeated CONCACAF champions Club Leon 1-0.
With this result, Urawa Reds have secured a ticket to the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup. Their opponent is the UEFA Champions League champion, Man City.
In this match, both teams played quite cautiously. Therefore, the match did not have many notable opportunities. Both teams' attacks were easily broken up from the middle area.
Urawa Reds were more dangerous than Club Leon. They mainly played ambush and aimed for counter-attacking play. The Japanese team created a breakthrough in the 70th minute. Taking advantage of the lack of concentration of Club Leon's defense, striker Alex Schalk penetrated the penalty area, finished off the shot to beat Club Leon's goalkeeper, opening the score.
Urawa Reds will face Man City in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals (Photo: Getty).
After this goal, Club Leon was forced to push up the squad to find an equalizer. However, due to the stubbornness of Urawa Reds, the Mexican team had to accept defeat. The semi-final match between Man City and Urawa Reds will take place at 01:00 on December 20.
The other semi-final will be between Al Ahly (Egypt) and Fluminense (Brazil). To advance to the semi-finals, Al Ahly defeated the home team Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia) with a score of 3-1.
Despite having a star-studded squad like Benzema, Kante, and Fabinho, Al Ittihad played extremely disappointingly. Benzema was the Saudi Arabian club's sinner when he missed a penalty at the decisive moment (Al Ittihad was trailing 0-1).
Al Ahly then took a 3-0 lead. In injury time, Benzema scored a consolation goal for Al Ittihad.
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