Yokohama: Kashima Antlers coach Masatada Ishii believes his side’s title charge at the FIFA Club World Cup is well on track after the Japanese champions came from behind to beat Auckland City 2-1 on Thursday and reach the competition’s second round.
Kim Dae-wook had headed home an Emiliano Tade free-kick to open the scoring for Auckland on 50 minutes, but Shuhei Akasaki’s subsequent equaliser and a late winner from fellow substitute Mu Kanazaki duly helped Kashima set up a meeting with CAF Champions League winners Mamelodi Sundowns on December 11 in Osaka.
“Our objective is to play four matches in this tournament. So one down. This is good.” Ishii told FIFA’s official website.
“In the first half, our players seemed to be very heavy in terms of physicality and movement. We should have been more aggressive and tried to finish better. We conceded, changed a gear, made improvements, fixed mistakes and were able to win.
“In attack, the focus wasn't there in the first half so I brought on Akasaki and Kanazaki. Both have very high focus in the final third. Kanazaki, for one, has scored in many of our latest games.”
With the Sundowns clash looming large, Ishii is more than aware of what must now be done if his charges are to progress even further.
“We only have two days of rest before (we play) Sundowns and so now we will do solidly what we should be doing. We will condition ourselves. We will focus on the weaknesses of today's first-half performance and we will improve on that for the next match,” he said.
“Against Sundowns, the first five to ten minutes will be very important. So, whether we press or try to kill their spaces and block, we will discuss this and we will make a game plan. I watched their videos and the forwards are very agile so we will try to slow them down.”
NEXT MATCH: MAMELODI SUNDOWNS v KASHIMA ANTERS – December 11
Photos: FIFA / Getty Images
Source: the-afc.com