Angry Harry Kewell vows Yokohama F. Marinos will learn from Asian Champions League final drubbing

AL-AIN – An angry Yokohama F. Marinos coach Harry Kewell vowed that his side would bounce back from their thumping defeat in the Asian Champions League final on May 25, and use the experience as “fuel” for the future.

The Japanese side held a 2-1 lead from the first leg against Al-Ain, but lost the second leg 5-1 in the United Arab Emirates and had goalkeeper William Popp sent off just before half-time.

Kewell, who succeeded fellow Australian Kevin Muscat as Yokohama coach in late December, insisted that his team would learn from the 6-3 aggregate defeat in Asia’s premier club competition.

“You use this as fuel, and you make sure it never happens again,” said the 45-year-old former Leeds United and Liverpool winger, who cut a disgruntled figure at his post-match press conference.

“Now we’re in the competition again. Next time, we’ll go that one step further. We’re determined.”

Popp was sent off when he felled the onrushing Soufiane Rahimi deep into injury time of a first half that stretched to an extraordinary 62 minutes.

The goalkeeper’s dismissal was the latest in a string of red cards for Yokohama players in this season’s competition, with the team progressing through the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals despite being a man down at some point during each round.

Kewell was also left fuming at what he called a lack of sportsmanship by Al-Ain, who are coached by former AC Milan, Chelsea and Argentina striker Hernan Crespo.

“We play at a level where sportsmanship is supposed to be high. For me, the referee tonight was poor and he allowed certain things to happen. It was never a penalty,” he said.

“So again, we’re going to use this. We’re going to put this into our season. We’re going to put this into every game now that we play, and we’re going to go forward.”

Two goals from Rahimi, an Alejandro Gamarra penalty and Kodjo Laba’s late double sealed the win for Al-Ain – their second Asian Champions League victory after the inaugural trophy in 2003.

Yan Matheus scored the Yokohama goal five minutes before half-time.

“We as a club, we will lick our wounds,” added Kewell. “We’ll come back stronger. Especially the next time around.”

Crespo, meanwhile, credited his players for ending the club’s 21-year wait to win the competition again.

“We are very proud because this doesn’t just represent the club or the city, but all of the country,” he said.

“We are very happy for that. It is really difficult to describe the emotions.

“We deserve the title. At the beginning, nobody believed in us, but I believed. These players did something special.” AFP, REUTERS