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Berlanga pleased with Kashima outcome
YOKOHAMA, Japan - Auckland City FC will face Kashima Antlers in the FIFA Club World Cup playoffs on December 8.
Kashima Antlers defeated Urawa Red Diamonds in a shock upset, beating the regular season champions 2-1 to take out the J.League title on away goals.
Urawa, who won the first leg 1-0, took an early lead through Shinzo Koroki but a double by Mu Kanazaki was enough for Kashima to clinch an overall victory after a 2-2 aggregate scoreline.
Urawa were heavily favoured to take out the championship but a nervous performance and a scrappy transitional match meant Kashima enjoyed its first title since 2009.
Auckland City FC captain Angel Berlanga watched the match from the Navy Blues base in Yokohama and while he said Kashima Antlers were his preferred opponents he urged caution ahead of the game worth $500,000 USD to football's coffers.
AUDIO - Angel Berlanga
"It was a very close match and it could've gone either way at the end.
"Kashima Antlers scored a late second goal and that made it very interesting.
"But its very difficult to take something from finals because normally in finals you don't play the way you want to because there's a lot of excitement and emotion.
"Kashima Antlers are a pretty good team and we have to take care of them," he said.
Auckland City FC coach Ramon Tribulietx travelled to the match with technical analyst Ryan Faithfull and Berlanga is confident the Navy Blues will be fully informed of what to expect from Kashima.
"Ramon will be working on our preparation very hard. He will be analysing the team and give us some clues about how to approach the game.
"Every year we evolve our style of play a bit more. We're a bit better year on year and experience is very important in these type of games.
"We've got players in this squad who have competed at the top level, experienced campaigners and with the additional qualities of younger players in our group like Clayton Lewis I believe the FIFA Club World Cup playoff will be a more interesting game than last year," he said.
Ends
Extra Information
Match Details
FIFA Club World Cup Playoff
Thursday 8 December, 2016
Kashima Antlers v Auckland City FC
Yokohama International Stadium, Japan
Kick-off: 7.30pm local / 11.30pm NZST
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Table
| Position | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | AC | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 7 | 18 |
| 2 |  | WS | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 |  | BU | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 13 |
| 4 |  | ES | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 12 |
| 5 |  | BO | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 12 | 12 |
| 6 |  | MN | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 11 | 10 |
| 7 |  | AU | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 9 |
| 8 |  | TC | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 19 | 6 |
| 9 |  | MU | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 25 | 3 |
| 10 |  | WR | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 2 |
| 11 |  | EB | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 2 |
| 12 |  | HW | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 18 | 2 |
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