Harry Kewell has enjoyed the greatest moment of his coaching career by guiding the 10-man Yokohama F.Marinos, against all the odds, into the Asian Champions League final after a dramatic penalty shootout triumph over Ulsan.
The former Socceroos great has gone where even his illustrious Australian predecessors Ange Postecoglou and Kevin Muscat could not by reaching the biggest club showdown in Asian football.
Yet it was the manner in which Yokohama made it which proved so remarkable on Wednesday, playing with just 10 for nearly an hour and a half but still managing to eke out a 3-2 second-leg win after extra-time to secure a 3-3 aggregate draw and then pinch the shootout victory 5-4.
“I just think that’s a huge step forward not only for these players, but the club itself. To show that anything is possible,” said Kewell, as he looked forward to the prospect of Yokohama’s first-ever Champions League final against United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain.
“We’ll enjoy it but we’ve still got to concentrate as well.”
In driving rain at the Yokohama International Stadium and having to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg in South Korea, Kewell’s team roared into a 3-0 lead within half-an-hour of the return, thanks to an Asahi Uenaka brace, sandwiched by an Anderson Lopes goal.
But then the wheels began to fall off as, first, Matheus Sales narrowed the deficit with a header and then Marinos’ defender Takumi Kamijima got sent off for a handball in the box, allowing Darijan Bojanic to level the aggregate score from the penalty spot.
Yokohama then found themselves constantly under the cosh, with Ulsan hitting the bar through Lee Dong-gyeong and then having a Bojanic goal ruled out after a VAR review soon after the break.
But Yokohama defended with desperation and a touch of inspiration from their goalkeeper William Popp, who made a terrific save to tip a late effort from Ulsan’s Brazilian Kelvin onto the post in extra-time to take the match into penalties.
The Japanese keeper wasn’t finished, making the one crucial, diving spot-kick save at 4-4 from Kim Min-woo that enabled Brazilian defender Eduardo to then fire home the decisive penalty that left the home fans going crazy in the rain.
“I thought we were excellent,” said Kewell. “The first 30 to 33 minutes, until we got the sending off, we were dominating the game. They had no reply to it.
after newsletter promotion
“We were missing chance after chance. We got our three goals, which were fully deserved. They got one back, which was fair enough, and then mayhem happened.
“I want to talk about the effort and the work that my players put in for over 90 minutes as 10 men, and they couldn’t break us down.
Yokohama will play Al-Ain, who eliminated Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal on Tuesday, in the first leg in Japan on May 11, with the return in the UAE two weeks later.
And it represents a tremendous achievement for the 45-year-old Australian, rated by many as the greatest-ever Socceroo, who had plenty of struggles in the lower reaches of football club management in England before moving to Scotland to be Postecoglou’s assistant at Celtic.
Having left the Scottish champions to take over from Muscat at Yokohama in December, he’s now surpassed both Australian luminaries, who both took the Marinos to the J1 League crown but couldn’t get them beyond the last-16 in the Champions League.