Machida Zelvia’s former high-school coach said his team “faced a lot of mental pressure” after the Japanese upstarts suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the Asian Champions League final.
Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli became the first club in more than two decades to win back-to-back Asian Champions League titles when they won 1-0 in extra time in Jeddah on Saturday.
Al Ahli were reduced to 10 men midway through the second half when defender Zakaria Hawsawi was shown a straight red card but they snatched the winner through substitute Feras Al Buraikan in the 96th minute.
Machida boss Go Kuroda, who spent almost three decades coaching one of Japan’s top high-school sides, said playing in front of nearly 60,000 all supporting Al Ahli was the difference.
Because of the way the competition is structured, the latter rounds of the competition all took place in Jeddah, handing Jeddah-based Al Ahli a significant advantage.
“It was a completely away environment for us,” said Kuroda, whose side were making their debut in Asia’s top club competition and were in non-league just over a decade ago.
“The players faced a lot of mental pressure and they tried not to get overwhelmed,” he said, according to the Asian Football Confederation website.
He added: “We tried to come back but couldn’t. We were near, but yet still so far away.”
Kuroda hopes Machida’s fairytale run can be the start of something even bigger for the team from Tokyo’s suburbs, who had never played in Japan’s top league until 2024.
“It’s a great achievement that we became finalists. Experience is of course important,” he said.
“We gained a lot (by) reaching this stage of the competition, for us staff and the players. We will take this and look to step forward with this experience.”
bur-pst/abs
