HIROSHIMA, Japan — There were still about 45 minutes to go to kickoff when it was made clear who the villains of the piece were in Wednesday’s evening’s AFC Champions League Elite round of 16 second leg at Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima.
As Johor Darul Ta’zim made their way out onto the field for their warmup, a deafening chorus of boos from the Sanfrecce Hiroshima fans echoed around the stadium.
Of course, no team was ever going to get a warm reception as the away side. Getting under the skin of the visitors is almost a required act from the home supporters.
There was extra venom in this.
Perhaps the Sanfrecce faithful were fully in agreement with coach Bartosch Gaul that it was “a joke” that three JDT players had been allowed to play in last Wednesday’s first leg — a 3-1 win to the Malaysia Super League outfit — as part of a stay of execution granted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier in the year, only for 12-month bans they had been previously been slapped with to be partially upheld later in the week.
The jeers continued as the JDT lineup was announced — from starting XI to substitutes, without pause for a breath. The only ones affiliated with the Southern Tigers who were spared the hostile treatment? The small smattering of travelling JDT supporters, whose appearance of the big screen ended one particular refrain and instead elicited respectful applause from the opposite fanbase.
When the JDT players finally returned to the field for kickoff, they did not seem to be fazed by the intimidating atmosphere.
If anything, from the way they drew even louder jeers right from the start as they stayed down longer than usual after every challenge to knock more minutes off the clock — even with 85 still to go — they seemed to be relishing every bit of being the antagonists in the storyline for the day.
Yet, having proven they were able to endure the treatment from the majority of the 11,128 present, there was one other thing the Southern Tigers had to survive: a late, late scare.
But with Kosuke Kinoshita‘s 90th-minute penalty proving to be the only goal of the evening in a 1-0 win for Sanfrecce, JDT would ultimately hold on for a 3-2 aggregate victory — a historic one given it has now sent them through to the ACL Elite quarterfinals for the first time.
It may not have been pretty but it was never going to be, given the context of the tie and what was at stake. JDT simply had to preserve their two-goal cushion. Every passing minute was one closer to getting the job done whatever way necessary.
Of course, a team of Sanfrecce’s quality was always going to pose some problems.
The first real warning shot from the hosts came in the 18th minute when Hayao Kawabe pounced on a half-clearance to send a rasping drive towards goal — only for Antonio Glauder to make amends for his less-than-convincing earlier intervention with a brave and perfectly-positioned block a few yards out from goal.
From the resultant corner, Hayato Araki climbed highest inside the area but just could not guide his header on target.
The heroes were in the ascendancy but the villains nearly delivered a classic sucker punch two minutes before the break.
After a JDT set-piece had initially been cleared, Sanfrecce left themselves completely exposed as the visitors worked the ball back down their right.
Left in acres of space, Óscar Arribas fizzed a shot away that looked to have confounded Keisuke Osako only to come back off the foot of the post, before Nacho Méndez‘s attempt of a delightful lob on the follow-up had the Sanfrecce goalkeeper beaten again — although a retreating Sho Sasaki was on hand to head clear an effort that might drifted just wide in the end.
Apart from that close shave, it was largely Sanfrecce looking the more dangerous of the two in the attacking third — with Takaaki Shichi, perhaps in the side only due to the absence of first-choice Shunki Higashi, an absolute livewire from left wing-back.
Seven minutes into the second half, Shichi cut in onto his right foot and advanced towards a central position before clipping a sumptuous delivery into the area. After sailing over a sea of players, it landed tantalisingly at the far post but the late-arriving Kawabe just could not reach it from two yards out.
As the game wore on, it increasingly looked like JDT were going to get the job done — especially when a VAR review for a potential Sanfrecce penalty was waved away in the 84th minute, with referee Mohammed Khled Al Hoish making a rare decision to stick with his original call.
Nonetheless, Sanfrecce would eventually be awarded a penalty four minutes later and Al Hoish once again proved to be something of a revolutionary when it comes to VAR decisions — this time taking just six seconds of replays to decide that Nené had indeed illegally blocked a shot by Yotaro Nakajima with his hand.
Kinoshita made no mistake from the spot but, five minutes of added time later, it proved to be too little too late for Sanfrecce.
And after thriving in their given role of villains in Hiroshima on Wednesday night, JDT will now return to Johor on Thursday naturally to a heroes’ welcome.
They have, after all, made history.
