October 9, 2024
This year sees the first ever AFC Champions League for Women, with 21 sides taking part. The format of the competition had the champions of the top 8 countries in the FIFA World rankings exempt to the main competition, with the 13 other entrants playing a preliminary stage to produce four qualifiers for the main competition, which has three groups of four, with each group to play its matches in a centralised venue.
A pilot competition featuring 8 sides, the AFC Women’s Club Championship, had been held in 2023, and was won by Urawa Red Diamonds, beating South Korean side Incheon Red Angels 2-1 in a final played in Saitama. Earlier in the competition they had beaten Taiwanese side Hualien 6-0.
As Japan were ranked 7th in the world and the highest rated country in Asia, with Taiwan 40th and 8th best, their champions entered at the main stage and were drawn together in a group also containing Vietnamese champions Ho Chi Minh City, and Indian side Odisha, who had qualified from the preliminary stage by beating Etihad of Jordan and Lion City Sailors of Singapore. All the matches in the group were being played in Ho Chi Minh.
Urawa began their campaign with a 17-0 thumping of Odisha whilst Taichung were beaten 1-3 by the host side
Taichung Blue Whale
These diaries extensively covered Taiwan’s Mulan Premier League in 2020 and 2021 when it was one of the first leagues to commence after the Covid Pandemic. One game a week had an English language commentary on the CTFA YouTube channel, and the league’s Twitter account helpfully produced a guide to the league, and although it was nearly all in Chinese hieroglyphics, the names of all the registered players were also given in Roman script, making it relatively easy to follow matches and the league in general.
Unfortunately, the English language social media coverage ceased in 2022, making it much harder to understand what was happening in the league.
Taichung Blue Whale are based in Taichung, the second largest city in Taiwan, located in the centre of the island with a population of nearly 3 million.
In 2020, despite the goals of Michelle Pao and Lee Hsiu Chen they could only finish in second place in the 6-team league and the League Cup as in their head to head encounters, Hualien were able to exploit their weaknesses at the back.
Taichung though bounced back to win the 2021 title in a season abbreviated to just 10 league games. International striker Lai Li Chin ( 20 caps ) and Japanese midfielder Maho Taneka both scored five goals and veteran Thai striker Pitsamai Sornsai ( 120 caps/40 goals ) scored four times as Taichung finished three points ahead of Hualien. Sornsai has now been converted to a centre-back to extend her career.
Forward Su Yu-Husan ( 8 caps ) scored 14 goals for Blue Whale in the 2022 season but Taichung could only finish 9 points behind Hualien, but in 2023 they lost only once in 15 games to win the league by 6 points ahead of Hang Yuan.
The 2024 Mulan Premier League has four rounds to go before the conclusion of the season, and Taichung are in a three-way battle for the title, being level on points with Kaohsiung and two points ahead of Hang Yuan. Thai forward Saowalak Pengngam ( 20 caps ) was their top scorer with 8 goals.
Urawa Red Diamonds
Urawa Red Diamonds are also known for sponsorship reasons as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Red Diamonds Ladies. Under the same ownership as the men’s side of the same name, they are located in Saitama, which is around 30km north-west from the centre of Tokyo and play at the 21,500 capacity Urawa Komba Stadium. The men’s side used to play at this ground, but now play at the 63,700 capacity Saitama Stadium.
The twelve team Japanese WE League became fully professional in 2021 and is in its fourth season. Urawa won the last two competitions and were runners-up the time before that. Prior to the creation of the WE League, Red Diamonds had finished champions in the Nadeshiko League, so have been National champions in three of the last four seasons.
In 2023/24, Urawa finished eight points clear of INAC Kobe Leonessa. Their top scorer with 20 goals was midfielder/winger Kiko Seike ( 22 caps ), who has since signed for Brighton and Hove Albion in England’s WSL for an undisclosed fee and scored a hat-trick on her debut against Everton. The Red Diamonds average attendance last season was 2,447.
Urawa have only played three matches in their 2024/25 with two wins and a defeat. The loss came in a 0-1 home reverse to INAC Kobe Leonessa
Red Diamonds had 11 different scorers in their 17-0 victory over Odisha. Midfielder Miki Ito was on target four times, and Yuzuho Shiokoshi ( 5 caps ) claimed a hat-trick in the opening 30 minutes.
All of the Reds’ squad are Japanese although defender Rion Ishikawa ( 3 caps ) was the only member of the most recent Japan squad. Keeper Sakiko Ikeda has won 20 caps, and midfielder and captain Hanaw Shibata won one cap.
Matchday Information
The match was being played at the 14,400 capacity Thong Nhat Stadium, which is home to both the men and women’s sides of Ho Chi Minh City.
Thundery showers during the day meant that the 15.00 local time kick-off ( 9am UK ) was pushed back to 15.15 . However, there were still puddles all over the pitch but at least it had stopped raining. Perhaps the conditions were ideal for Blue Whales ! The temperature was around 31 degrees.
Given the result of the first round of games, none of the major UK bookmakers were offering odds on this game !
The match was being streamed live on both The AFC Hub YouTube channel and onefootball.com.
Both sides made six changes to their starting line-ups for the first group matches.
As their name suggests, Blue Whale were in all blue, whilst surprisingly, the Red Diamonds were wearing white shirts with black shorts and white socks.
The referee was from China, with assistants from Australia and Mongolia and the fourth official from Uzbekistan.
Around 30 Urawa boisterous fans had made the journey to support their side, with about a dozen Taichung fans, although the camera tended to focus on one elderly gentleman standing on his own banging a drum to encourage the Blue Whales.
Match Report
Urawa applied some early pressure, but Taichung’s defence stood firm and won a goal kick and twice caught Red Diamond attackers offside. Even at this stage, playing passing football was difficult due to the pitch conditions and passes were regularly being held up in the water.
In the fourth minute, Reds full back Yume Endo decided to hack off a long ball so that the first corner of the match went to Taichung. The delivery from Liu sailed harmlessly onto the roof of the net.
Ririka Tanno then went on a run for Urawa but just when looking likely to get clear, the ball stopped in a puddle and Li was able to clear.
A Urawa right-wing cross went across the 6 yard line, and when Tanno retrieved the ball, her cross from the left was too close to keeper Tsai, who made a straightforward catch. With 12 minutes played Maehara turned on the edge of the area, but her left footed attempted went over the bar.
A minute later, Endo scooped the ball over the Taichung left back for Ito to hit first time from inside the right-hand side of the penalty area, but the fierce drive on the half-volley across goal hit the inside of the post and rebounded out to be hoofed cleared by Huang.
A scramble inside the 6-yard box ensued from the corner before Goto poked the ball wide from close range.
The game was turning into a battle in midfield in the conditions and Urawa were trying to play short passes to each other in the air rather than on the pitch. Taichung were closing them down well, and playing safety first football, opting to put the ball out of play under pressure rather than trying to play risky possession football, and if in doubt, played it long to avoid any mistakes close to their goal.
After 21 minutes, the lively Tanno beat Li on the left, but again the cross was easy for the keeper. Seven minutes later a chip intended to go over the Blue Whale back line was headed off for a corner by Huang, from which another scramble occurred. Three shots were blocked before Taichung could clear.
Flowing play continued to be next to impossible and another scramble occurred near the half-way line when the ball got stuck in a puddle.
With 38 minutes played, a rare excursion into the Reds half saw Taichung win a free kick on the right hand side of the pitch but Urawa keeper Fukuda made an athletic catch to claim Liu’s kick.
With the first half coming to a close, Urawa stepped up the pressure. Tsai made another good catch, this time from Akimoto’s cross, and then punched away another ball lumped into the danger zone.
In a rare break by Taichung, Liu’s optimistic 30-yard effort went well wide. Taichung then won their second corner, which was headed away, but Ito was judged to have fouled Sornsai just outside the area. Playmaker Liu sent the free-kick a few feet over the bar.
It remained goalless at the interval and although Urawa had looked the better side and dominated play, a combination of determined defending and the pitch had prevented them from converting this into goals.
Urawa created a decent chance one minute into the second period, when Ito sent a left footed shot from the edge of the area just high and wide of the left-hand post. They were then a little fortunate to win a free-kick just outside the Taichung area on the right hand side when Shiokoshi and Liu challenged for a header. There seemed to minimal contact, if any.
Shiokoshi then whipped the free kick across the face of the goal but Goto was prevented from reaching the cross by a shirt pull by Shen who hauled the Reds player to the floor. It was a clear penalty and Shiokoshi stepped up to send Tsai the wrong way from the spot. 0-1 after 56 minutes.
Five minutes later Shen had to be alert to head a long cross-field ball off for a corner, from which predictably there was another scramble in the penalty area, before Tanno lifted the ball to Ito on the left but a scooped cross was captured by keeper Tsai. Ito tried again a couple of minutes later but this time from the right, but her chip towards the far top corner was gathered by Tsai at the second attempt.
Taichung created a half-chance in the 66th minute. Liu played a through ball from the half-way line for Jingxuan to run onto but under pressure from Goto, the midfielder put her attempt from 14 yards wide.
Back at the other end, a low corner from Shiokoshi was cleared at the near post by Sornsai before Urawa doubled their lead. Shibata ran at the Blue Whale backline and her chip put Tanno clear, and her first time left footed shot went across the face of the goal and nestled just inside the far post. 0-2 with 69 minutes played.
Two minutes later a similar move put substitute Fujisaki clear on the left by Ito, but from a much tighter angle, Tsai was able to make the save with an outstretched leg.
Urawa keeper Fukuda was almost embarrassed when a long ball skidded off the surface and struck her on the leg. A couple of feet either side of her and it would have been a fluke goal for Taichung !
The remaining 15 minutes was all Urawa, and it was simply a question of how many more they would score, but the answer was nothing.
Tanno shot narrowly over the bar and was then crowded out when shaping up to volley from 8 yards. The same player then saw a low left-footed drive pushed away at the post by the keeper diving to her right. Takeuchi then shot into the side netting from long range, although the keeper stood and watched it go harmlessly wide, and Shibata shot over from 20 yards. In added on time a cross-cum-shot from Fujisaki drifted just wide of the far post.
At the final whistle, Urawa had deservedly won the game. On a different day in better conditions, they probably would have won by a greater margin as the pitch was a huge leveller, and Taichung fought manfully to keep them at bay.
The match was played in a very good spirit, with players regularly sharing their water bottles with the other side, and players being helped from the floor by an opponent.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thkwhc_0mek
Taichung Blue Whale : Tsai – Shen, Li, Sornsai, Wu ( Pengngam ), Huang – Liu ( Lin ), TC Chen ( Jilan ), Yaxuan, Jingxuan ( Intamee ) – JW Chen ( Nien )
Urawa Red Diamonds : Fukuda – Endo, Goto, Okamura, Akimato ( Akari ) – Maehara ( Shimada ), Ito ( Fujisaki ), Shibata, Tsunoda ( Takeuchi ) – Shiokoshi ( Nishio ), Tanno
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