News Center

Al Ain lose to Japan’s Nagoya Grampus 4-0

Al Ain Football squad has lost their second match in the AFC Champions League after being outclassed 4-0 by Japanese hosts Nagoya Grampus in the second round postponed game this afternoon at Miyanto Nagoya stadium. The UAE side slipped one step down to be at the bottom of Group F on one point which came from their draw last week with Hangzhou Greentown from China. Nagoya Grampus have now jumped to second place with 4 points on goal difference to Hangzhou Greentown. Both teams are three points behind leaders Seoul from South Korea who are sitting on top of the standings with 7 points. Al Ain will now host Hangzhou Greentown on April 19 at Tahnoun Bin Mohammad Stadium and Nagoya Grampus will travel to South Korea to take on Seoul. Al Ain need to win the next match in order to revive their hopes and keep their chances of qualify to the next stage alive. Nagoya Grampus’ Kanazaki scored two goals in the 25th and 46th, whilst Ibrahima Kieta of Al Al Ain netted the third into his own net after committing a severe error in the 61st minute. Koji Moto then made it 4-0 thirteen minutes before the final whistle. Al Ain played the last 14 minutes with ten players after their solid defender Faris Juma'a was shown the red card.Al Ain's Brazilian coach Alexander Gallo started the game with the same line up who played the last match against Hangzhou. They put some pressure on their rivals' defense in the opening minutes, but could not benefit from all the chances they created. Their two international players Elias from Brazil and Valentine from Romania played below the par and missed a number of opportunities to score. The hosts recovered quickly to take the lead via Kanazaki only 25 minutes into the match, capitalizing on a defensive error. The same player added his second goal with a perfect header one minute before the break. In the second session Al Ain’s hopes were dashed when Kieta netted the own goal and the situation went from bad to worse when Koji Moto scored the 4th goal.