JEDDAH: With one foot in the final, Al-Ittihad wrapped up its preparation on Tuesday for the decisive semifinal second leg match Wednesday against Nagoya Grampus of Japan in the AFC Champions League.
Ittihad takes a 6-2 advantage into the away match as it goes for a spot in the final of Asia’s premier club competition in which the Saudi giant won back-to-back titles in 2004-2005. Nagoya Grampus enjoys the support of the home crowd but it has to work doubly hard to overturn a four-goal deficit following Ittihad’s crushing victory in the first leg at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium in Jeddah.
In 2004, Ittihad reached the final after defeating Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea in the semifinal first leg 2-1 in Jeddah and drawing 2-2 in South Korea in the second leg.
In 2005, Ittihad returned to the final after beating Busan of South Korea 5-0 in South Korea and 2-0 in Jeddah.
Ittihad’s Argentine coach Gabriel Calderon has focused on increasing the fitness level of his players for the match.
The players promised to take the game seriously putting behind them the strong result they achieved in Jeddah. Calderon is not taking chances and knows that the Japanese team will not quit.
Ittihad was in a similar situation in 2004 when the team lost in Jeddah 3-1 against Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma FC of South Korea. At that time, the South Korean team did not take Ittihad seriously and took it easy in the second leg in South Korea. That’s when Ittihad took advantage of their fragile play and crushed them 5-0 to take the title.
Ittihad star player Muhammad Nur has vowed to take the game seriously and qualify for the final match in order to bring honor to Saudi football.
