Al Ain: Urawa Red Diamonds coach Takafumi Hori said he was happy to see his side sign off on a winning note after defeating Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca 3-2 in Tuesday’s fifth place play-off at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain.
The Japanese side had suffered a 1-0 defeat to hosts Al Jazira in Saturday’s quarter-final and therefore needed to appease their travelling fans with a win for pride against the African champions.
Mauricio Antonio and Yosuke Kashiwagi scored either side of Esmail Al Hadad’s 21 minute equaliser, on 18 and 26 minutes. Then Antonio got another on the hour before Wydad replied with a consolatory penalty deep in stoppage time from Reda Al Hajhouj.
“The players did a good job switching gears after the opening game’s loss,” said Hori of his Asian champions. “We should’ve played better in the first match and delivered better results but I’m glad we were able to end on a winning note.”
Man of the Match, Kashiwagi vowed his team would come back stronger next year.
“It was a great and precious opportunity for me to be able to play in this tournament, a true honour, but we also wanted recognition and, unfortunately, we couldn’t prove that we are a great club. We did our best and now we want to come back with more energy and a better performance.”
Meanwhile, Wydad coach Hussain Amotta was left defending his decision to field a weakened squad against Urawa.
“We had injuries and fatigue physically and mentally, and if we had played with the same squad that had played 120 minutes against Pachuca we would have been even less of a force today,” he said.
“It was a smart step to give a chance to new players but we always wanted to make sure we played as seriously as possible. We wanted to win but made some mistakes, especially in our reaction, which wasn’t good, but overall this was an experience for the team. We’ve learnt many lessons and hope to come back for the next edition of the tournament.”
