As the UAE team Al Ain prepares to face its host Yokohama Marinos of Japan on Saturday in the first leg of the AFC Champions League final, fans of the purple team hope that their team will finally be able to untie the knot in the final round, after losing its last two matches in this round in the 2005 and 2016 editions.
Al Ain is looking forward to getting a positive result from Yokohama Stadium in order to facilitate its mission in the return match against its rival, which will be held at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on May 25, hoping to win the title for the second time, after having previously won the Championship Cup in the 2002-2003 season.
Al Ain, which is making its fourth appearance in the AFC Champions League, had a distinguished season in the tournament, after defeating many of the nominated teams during its career in the competition, including Al-Nasr and Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia.
During its journey in the tournament, Al Ain played 12 matches, during which it achieved 8 victories and one draw, while suffering 3 defeats. Its players scored 28 goals, while their net conceded 18 goals.
Al Ain’s Argentine coach Hernan Crespo can rely on an ideal mix of youth and experience with the presence of players at the peak of their careers, even though the team played the match without its Togolese striker Kodjo Laba.
Moroccan winger Sofiane Rahimi is considered Al Ain’s most dangerous trump card, as he scored 11 goals during the team’s campaign in the current edition of the competition, placing him at the top of the scorers, with a difference of 5 goals ahead of any player still in the competition.
Although he was not an outright striker, Rahimi was in good scoring form in the AFC Champions League, as he scored in 8 matches during his team’s 12 matches, including 7 goals in the knockout rounds.
Rahimi also contributed two assists, meaning he leads all players in the competition in terms of goal contributions with a total of 13, while his 23 shots on target are also the highest in the tournament this year, according to the AFC’s official website.
Also prominent in the ranks of the Emirati team is Ivorian defender Kwame Kouadio, one of the discoveries of the famous Asec Mimosas Academy in his country, as he has been a special signing for Al Ain since joining in 2019, and has developed into one of the best defenders in the Emirates and in the AFC Champions League this season.
Kwame played 1,020 minutes in the tournament with Al Ain, more than any other player in the competition during the current season, as he started 11 out of 12 matches for his team before entering the final.
Kwame, 23, also made tackles 26 times, more than any other player in the tournament, and also excelled at the other end of the pitch by scoring two goals.
Al Ain fans are also counting on the brilliance of veteran goalkeeper Khaled Issa, who participated in more than 70 matches in the AFC Champions League, during which he led the team to the final of the 2016 edition.
In the current version, Issa made 45 saves, more than any other goalkeeper, and kept a clean sheet in 3 matches. The Emirati goalkeeper, 34 years old, is the only one in the tournament who succeeded in making 10 or more saves in 3 matches in the competition against Al-Ahly and Al-Hilal. And victory.
Al Ain appears to be in contrast on the local level this season, as its chances of winning any title within the Emirates this season have faded, after it was eliminated from the President’s Cup in the quarter-finals against Ittihad Kalba last April.
Al Ain also lost the Abu Dhabi Bank Cup final to Al Wahda in the final match with a clean goal at the beginning of this month, while it also moved away from the struggle for the UAE League title this season, as it is currently in third place, 16 points behind Al Wasl (the leaders).
Al Ain only tasted victory once during its last seven local matches, as that was in its last match in the UAE League, when it beat its host Khor Fakkan 1-0 last Monday.
In addition to Kodjo Lapa, Al Ain will also miss the services of Omar Atzili during the match for technical reasons, as he was absent from the team’s delegation traveling to Japan.
For its part, Yokohama, which advanced to the AFC Champions League final for the first time in its history, played 12 matches during its current campaign in the tournament, during which it achieved 8 victories, against one draw and 3 defeats, and its players scored 21 goals, and conceded 13 goals.
After overcoming South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai, which won the continental title twice, by penalty kicks in the semi-finals, Australian coach Harry Kewell’s team became only two matches away from lifting the coveted cup.
Yokohama includes a number of players who played an important role in the team’s rise to the final, led by Brazilian striker Anderson Lopez, who scored 6 goals with the team in the competition this season.
It can be said that Yokohama’s threat from the flanks is its biggest strength, as the two Brazilian wingers, Yann Matheus and Wilber, have caused major problems for the opponents’ defenses so far, and the interconnected play between full-back Ken Matsubara and Matheus on the right flank increases the threat of the attack on a wide scale.
Since left-footed Jan Matheus often opts to cut deep, Matsubara’s runs not only ensure he gets into dangerous crossing situations, but also serve as a trick for opponents.
When in possession, Matsubara, 31, has the ability to deliver precise crosses and has powerful shots from long range.
On the local level, Yokohama’s situation is not much different from Al Ain, as it was unable to achieve any victory during the last 4 matches in the Japanese League, and its last victory in the local competition dates back to last April 10, when it won 2-0 over Gamba Osaka.
Yokohama caused more concern for its fans, following its 1-2 loss to its host Urawa Red Diamonds, last Monday, in its last rehearsal before its upcoming continental confrontation, as its score froze at 16 points in eleventh place, after playing 11 matches in the competition.
The match also witnesses an outside-the-lines confrontation between coaches Crespo and Kewell, as the date between them is renewed after they previously met in the Champions League final, when they were players, in 2005 and 2007.
Kewell helped his English team, Liverpool, win the Champions League in 2005 at the expense of Italian Milan, which included Crespo at the time, in the final match, before the Lombard team avenged that loss and won the title at the expense of Liverpool in the final of the 2007 edition, in the presence of the Australian and the Argentine.
