ACL Last 16 Preview: Urawa Reds vs Jeju United

After beating Urawa Reds 2-0 in the home tie, Jeju United will travel to Japan for the second leg of their last 16 match-up. The 2-0 advantage gained from the home game certainly puts them in a favourable position, however, they will need to be at their best to stop a dangerous Urawa side who will be desperate to avenge the first leg defeat.

Previous Meetings

The first leg saw Jeju score early through Marcelo before doubling their lead with a razor sharp counter attack in the 90th minute. However, the 2-0 scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story as Jeju’s keeper, Kim Ho-jun, had to be at his best to keep Urawa out. In total, he made seven saves which does show that Urawa have the ability to score goals.

Team News

Jeju should have a full strength team available for the game. I would expect a pretty similar lineup to the last game, although after his goal Jin Sung-wook could potentially start over Magno.

The Adversary

Urawa are currently around the top of the J-League table although they seem to be in a pretty poor run of form. They can score goals though and its goals that they need. For a more in-depth look at Urawa I'd take a look at this article.

Prediction

Jeju don't need to win so I'd expect them to sit back and try to hit Urawa on the counter. Luckily for Jeju fans, as we found out in the last game this is a strategy that Jeju are actually very good at.

However, Jeju were a little lucky not to have conceded in the previous game and I'd imagine that Urawa will be even more desperate to score at home.

Becasue of this, I think it will be close and that both teams will score. But I also think that win, lose, or draw, Jeju will have enough to go through.

Urawa Reds 1-1 Jeju United