Kawasaki pay penalty as Sepahan progress

AFCCL - Sepahan punished a profligate Kawasaki Frontale to progress to the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win over the J.League side after the second leg of the quarter-final finished goalless on Wednesday.

Hiroyuki Taniguchi missed Frontale's fourth penalty before Jalal Akbari slotted home Sepahan's final spot-kick to take the Iranians through to a last four meeting with either Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia or Al Wahda from the United Arab Emirates.

It was only the second game to be decided by a shoot-out since the inception of the AFC Champions League in 2002. The only previous occasion was in the fourth qualifying round of the inaugural competition when Al Sadd of Qatar defeated Al Jaish of Syria 4-1 on penalties after a 2-2 stalemate.

The second leg was a carbon copy of the scoreless first meeting between the two teams in Iran last week as Frontale dominated but failed to turn their superiority into goals.

Brazilian striker Juninho shook off a back strain to start for Frontale, partnering Jong Tae-se in attack while Iraq international Emad Mohammed led the line for Sepahan after starting the first leg on the bench.

In fact, Emad thought he had given Sepahan the lead - and a precious away goal - with just eight minutes on the clock, only to see the assistant referee's flag raised after planting his header beyond Frontale goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima.

Three minutes earlier Kengo Nakamura's shot from the edge of the Sepahan penalty area had gone just wide and in the ninth minute the Japan international midfielder caused the Iranians further trouble as goalkeeper Abbas Mohammadi spilled his long range shot before Hadi Aghily hacked the ball clear.

Jong had the visitors' defence on the back foot seven minutes later when he sprinted goalward, only for the danger to be snuffed out by Jalal Akbari before the North Korean could play Juninho in on goal.

Frontale were starting to turn the screw and with nine minutes left in the half Magnum released Kazuhiro Murakami down the left wing and he found his way past a pair of Sepahan defenders before cutting the ball back towards the penalty spot. From there Juninho looked certain to score, only for Mohammadi to keep the ball out with his legs

With barely five minutes to go until the break, Frontale went close again but once more Mohammadi denied Juninho, the Brazilian jinking his way through the defence before his shot was swatted clear for a corner.

Frontale's profligacy continued into the second half as they their vain attempt to score went on.

Yoshinobu Moniwa was the latest culprit in the 59th minute when Nakamura's free kick - one of a series for Frontale in close proximity to the Sepahan penalty area - found him unmarked eight yards from goal, but rather than hitting the back of the net the defender headed straight at Mohammadi.

Nine minutes later, Nakamura's clever free kick sent Juninho free into the penalty area, but yet again the chance went begging as the 30-year-old pulled his shot across the face of the target.

Juninho went close yet again as the game entered the last quarter of an hour, firing just wide from inside the penalty area, and inevitably the game headed into extra-time.

The introduction of Kazuki Ganaha by Frontale at the start of the second period did little to enliven a turgid extra time, leaving the game to be decided from the penalty spot.