Attacking mentality key to Ulsan success

Ulsan Hyundai coach Kim Hogon hailed his team's attacking approach after they put one foot in the AFC Champions League final with an emphatic win in Tashkent. Kim's team shrugged off the early setback of going a goal down to breeze past Uzbek champions Bunyodkor 3-1 late on Wednesday, making them favourites to finish the job in the semi-final's return leg next week. "I said before the game we would play with an attacking style and the players played aggressively and a 3-1 win makes it a lot easier for the second leg," said Kim. "Even though it was a difficult away match the players wanted to win. But even though we have won 3-1, we will make sure we are prepared to play well again in the second match." Jovlon Ibrokhimov put Bunyodkor 1-0 up after just five minutes, but goals from Rafinha, Kim Shinwook and Lee Keunho handed the K-League team victory in front of Bunyodkor's stunned fans at Jar Stadium. Ulsan also profited from a late penalty miss by Jasur Khasanov as they took a big step towards becoming the fourth Korean side in four years to contest the Asian club final. Bunyodkor coach Mirdjalal Kasimov admitted he was taken aback by the scale of the loss, especially after Ibrokhimov had got them off to the perfect start with his sizzling low drive. "I did not expect such a big defeat. I did not expect we would lose as we started very well and we had our chances," said the Uzbek legend. "But we handed the win to Ulsan as we made a lot of mistakes. We made many mistakes in defence." Jeddah opponent awaits Ulsan and Bunyodkor are bidding to reach the 10 November final against either Saudi Arabia's two-time Champions League winners Al Ittihad, or their Jeddah city rivals Al Ahli. Al Ahli will take a slim 1-0 advantage into next week's second leg at their shared Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium thanks to a second-half goal from in-form striker Naif Hazazi on Monday. But Al Ittihad coach Raul Caneda, who led the team to a 22-game unbeaten streak after arriving in February, pledged a more ambitious approach in the decisive fixture next Wednesday. "We made a slow start to the game and Al Ahli were good in the first half while we had a better performance in the second period," said the Spaniard. "For the second leg, we will not play defensively and hopefully we can put in a better performance and get a good result in order to make it all the way to the final." From FIFA