Once again Western Sydney Wanderers scored first, but on Tuesday night in Japan, it was Kawasaki Frontale who finished on top thanks to two late goals in the Champions League. Frontale got goals from Kengo Nakamura and Ryota Oshima in the final sixteen minutes to overcome Labinot Haliti’s first half opener at the Todoroki Athletics Stadium just south of Tokyo. Guizhou Renhe surprisingly defeated Ulsan Hyundai 3-1 on Tuesday in Group H’s other game.
Western Sydney Wanderers drop Champions League game in Japan
Labinot Haliti scored again but this time it wasn’t enough to take all three points from Kawasaki Frontale.
Haliti, who scored in the third minute on Match Day 3, which was enough to give Western Sydney all three points against Frontale at Pirtek Stadium, tallied his opener in the 24th minute in Kawasaki. But on Tuesday night, the Wanderers could not ward off the talented J-League side, yielding those two late goals. As it happens, due to the third tiebreaker of goals scored, Western Sydney do remain clear of Frontale in second place, as the clubs are tied on points (six) and goal difference (-1).
Match Day 5 will be no picnic for the Wanderers as they must travel to Korea to play Group H’s top side, Ulsan Hyundai, at the Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium on Tuesday April 15. In between, Western Sydney are fighting for second place in the A-League and will first host top of the ladder Brisbane Roar on Saturday April 5.
Scoring:
WSW: Haliti 24’
KAW: Nakamura 74’
KAW: Oshima 88’
Line-ups:
Kawasaki Frontale: Nishibe; Tanaka, Jeci, Nakazawa; Nakamura, Taniguchi, Oshima, Moriya (Inamoto 92’); Morishima, Okubo, Renato
Unused substitutes: Sugiyama, Saneto, Yamamoto, Takeoka, Jun, Paulinho
Western Sydney Wanderers: Covic; Beauchamp, Heffernan, Mullen, Golec; La Rocca, Ono, Trifiro (Spiranovic 65’); Haliti (Cole 81’), Juric, Appiah (Santalab 87’)
Unused substitutes: Tyson, Polenz, Mooy, Hersi
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