Guanzhou Evergrande's Mei Fang competes for the ball against Urawa Red Diamonds' Tsukasa Umesaki. (Photo : Getty Images)
Defending AFC Champions League winners Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC is in the brink of elimination from the tournament they won twice in the last two years as they suffered a monumental 0-1 setback to J. League Division 1 giants Urawa Red Diamonds on Tuesday at the Saitama Stadium 2002 in Japan.
It was the second straight winless performance by the Southern China Tigers against the Reds as the two teams finished their first meeting on March 16th with a 2-2 draw at the former's home field of Tianhe Stadium.
With the loss, Guangzhou has now dropped to the bottom of the Group H standings with no wins and only two points to boot after four games. Urawa is settled at the second spot with 7 points, two points behind current group leaders Sydney FC of the A-League with only two matchdays left in the group stage competitions.
Japanese striker Yuki Muto scored the lone goal for head coach Mihailo Petrović's side at the 52nd minute as both teams had problems finding the net in the first half of play, as per the South China Morning Post.
One goal is enough, however, for the Red Diamonds to overcome the tough challenge of Luiz Felipe Scolari's boys, whose high-profile signing Jackson Martinez has yet to unleash his top form in continental games.
Petrović was all praises about his squad's feat after the match, saying that he had never seen "such a great performance" on local soil and that the "tempo was very good" and his men proved that "money cannot buy a win", probably pertaining to the millions spent by Evergrande during the last winter transfer window in acquiring their current international players, via the Japan Times.
"There were certain instances in the game that we could have had a second or third goal and that should be the next thing to work on, to get the extra goal," the 58-year-old Serbian bench tactician added.
Meanwhile, Scolari was gracious in defeat as he admitted that he was still "satisfied" with his team's performance despite the loss even as he also complimented the Reds after the match.
"It was a tough game and we had some good chances but Urawa played with a lot of courage, even after scoring," Scolari said. "Our players played without fear even in adverse circumstance and I am very satisfied with the way they performed today."
The 67-year-old World Cup-winning mentor was reportedly irritated when asked about the hole they are currently in.
"We are not God and cannot be expected to win (the ACL) championship every time," he said.
