Jin puts Jeju within touching distance of last-16 AFC berth

Defending champions Urawa now on back foot ahead of second leg

Substitute Jin Seong-uk struck in injury time as Jeju United beat Urawa Red Diamonds 2-0 to seize control of their two-legged AFC Champions League last-16 tie yesterday.

Marcelo Toscano nodded Jeju in front on seven minutes but the hosts had to wait until the dying moments before Jin added the gloss with a fine strike on the counter.

It put Jeju in prime position to oust Urawa, the 2007 champions, in next week’s second leg and further extend what is already their best Asian campaign. The few fans in attendance were rewarded with a first-half onslaught from the K-League Classic leaders, who should have been more than 1-0 up by the break.

Toscano, the mohawk-sporting Brazilian, got the opener on seven minutes when he met Hwang Il-su’s diagonal ball with a firm header. Magno Cruz rippled the side netting, curled another shot off-target and then put a rebound from his own header wide before he was replaced by Jin on the hour-mark. Hwang and Toscano were both denied while at the other end, Yuki Muto had a header cleared off the line.

Urawa again came close on 69 minutes when their Slovenian striker Zlatan Ljubijankic put a header from a corner just wide. Jeju’s Jin had a swerving shot blocked on the line but in the second minute of injury time, he wasn’t to be denied as he broke forward, checked and crashed his shot in off the left post.