Asian club final to be Japan against Korea

Teams from World Cup co-hosts Japan and South Korea will contest Saturday's Asian Club Championship final.

Japan's Jubilo Iwata beat Irtysh Pavlodar of Kazakhstan 1-0, and Korean side Suwon Bluewings defeated Iran's Pirouzi 2-1 in Thursday's semifinals.

Former champions Jubilo needed a golden-goal winner from Jo Kanazawa to overcome the well-drilled Kazakhs 13 minutes into the first period of extra time and reach their third consecutive final.

Suwon, meanwhile, scored twice in the last 12 minutes to come from behind against Pirouzi, with Park Kun-ha heading home in the dying seconds to put the Koreans into their first club championship final.

The pair had gone into the semifinals as favourites to reach Saturday's continental showpiece, but neither found their games easy.

Suwon trailed to Pirouzi from the 12th minute when Hamed Kavianpour struck a fine low shot past Korean goalkeeper Sin Bum-chul after good work by Ali Karimi.

Despite dominating, Suwon were constantly denied by top quality shot-stopping from Davoud Fanaee in the Pirouzi goal.

The Iranian international saved a string of efforts from Ko Jong-su, Sandro Cardoso and Seo Jung-won, as Pirouzi fought to hold on to their advantage.

The four-time semifinalists looked to be on course for victory but, with 12 minutes to go, Suwon finally broke through when Seo stabbed the ball home after Denis Laktionov had flicked Ko's corner into his path.

HEADED WINNER
With extra time looming, it was Ko again who provided the killer ball, crossing from the right for substitute Park to head home.

Jubilo were left to rely on a lucky strike by Kanazawa to take their place in the final.

The two-time J. League champions dominated against the club from the central Asian republic, with Japanese international defender Go Oiwa twice going close to scoring following free- kicks by Toshiya Fujita.

The Kazakhs, though, were proving hard to break down and midfielder Alexei Klishin was a constant thorn in Jubilo's side.

The Japanese side finally broke through when Kanazawa latched onto Toshihiro Hattori's pass before cutting in and looping the ball over Yuriy Novikov's head for the golden goal.

Suwon and Jubilo will meet in the final at Suwon Stadium on Saturday, with the winner set to qualify for the Asian Super Cup.