Ho Chi Minh City: Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies kicked off their AFC Women’s Champions League 2024-25 Group C campaign in style after cruising 17-0 past India’s Odisha FC at the Thong Nhat Stadium on Sunday.
The AFC Women’s Club Championship 2023 winners were rampant from the start as they took an 8-0 lead into the break to send out a warning of their title ambitions.
The Japanese side wasted no time asserting their dominance with Mei Shimada playing a key role in setting up Ena Takatsuka, whose shot was initially saved by Odisha goalkeeper Shreya Hooda. However, the rebound fell kindly to Yu Endo, who tapped it into the back of the net from close range in the fifth minute.
Odisha were finding it hard to get out of their half and conceded again four minutes later after Miki Ito’s cross from the left found the unmarked Satoko Fujisaki who scored with a low volley.
Urawa maintained their intensity with Takatsuka getting on the scoresheet in the 13th minute, pouncing to slot home the rebound after Hooda had blocked her initial effort.
The Japanese side struck again two minutes later, Smimada laying the ball for Yuzuho Shiokoshi to score past Hooda.
Shimada made it 5-0 in the 17th minute, nodding home a corner with Shiokoshi then taking advantage of Odisha’s poor defending to finish off a rebound just a minute later.
Shiokoshi completed her hat-trick at the half-hour mark when she slotted home Akari Kurishima’s through pass with Shimada heading in their eighth in the 44th minute.
Odisha’s woes were compounded in the second half as Urawa extended their lead through Ririka Tanno (53rd) and Akari Kurishima (54th), while Miki Ito went on to net a hat-trick in the 56th, 59th and 62nd minutes.
Urawa’s pressure led to Maryam Ibrahim conceding an own goal in the 66th minute, with the barrage continuing with strikes from Fuka Tsunoda (68th), Ami Takeuchi (83rd) and Ito (94th).
Urawa will aim for their second win when they play Chinese Taipei’s Taichung Blue Whale Women’s Football Team on Wednesday while Odisha will be desperate to bounce back when they take on Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC.
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