NZPA – Waitakere United will
face Iranian club side Sepahan in a Fifa club soccer World Cup play-off on
December 7, after the Asian Champions League title was decided today.
Reigning Japanese league champions Urawa Red Diamonds beat Sepahan 3-1 on
aggregate in the final of the Asian Champions League to claim Asia's berth
in the Fifa World Club Cup, leaving Sepahan to assume the play-off place
that had been reserved for this year's J-League champions had a non-Japanese
side won the Asian title.
Taking a break from their New Zealand Football Championship campaign,
Waitakere United will play Sepahan on December 7 in Tokyo with the winners
facing Urawa in the quarterfinal three days later. The winners of that match
progresses to a glamour semifinal match-up with European Champions AC Milan.
Sepahan's Croatian coach Luka Bonacic was player-coach of Auckland's Central
AFC (now Central United) in the Northern League in the late 1980s for two
years.
