Football: Urawa 4th at Club World Cup after 4-2 defeat to Al Ahly

Japan's Asian champions Urawa Reds finished the Club World Cup fourth on Friday after losing 4-2 to African winners Al Ahly of Egypt in the third-place match.

Urawa leveled to make it 2-2 in the 54th minute through an Alexander Scholz penalty but Yoshio Koizumi scored an own goal on the hour mark before Ali Maaloul scored a free-kick deep in the stoppage time for Al Ahly to complete the scoring in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Manchester City of England, who beat Urawa 3-0 in the semifinals, thumped South American winners Fluminense of Brazil 4-0 in the final to lift the trophy for the first time, with a European side claiming the title for the 11th straight year.

Playing their final game under departing manager Maciej Skorza, Urawa went behind in the 19th minute at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium as keeper Shusaku Nishikawa failed to get hold of Mohamed Hany's shot from distance, allowing Yasser Ibrahim to tap in the rebound.

Al Ahly doubled the lead six minutes later after Japan midfielder Atsuki Ito was caught in possession inside his own box, leaving Percy Tau to sweep home.

Retiring Guinea forward Jose Kante halved the deficit two minutes from the break with a well-taken first-time volley for Urawa after Al Ahly failed to clear Hiroki Sakai's headed ball inside the box, and Scholz converted from the spot to draw level in the second half after Bryan Linssen's header hit Hany's arm inside the box.

But Al Ahly quickly regained the advantage when Maaloul's powerful but wayward shot inside the box hit Koizumi's foot and flew toward Nishikawa, who looked well-positioned but failed to stop the ball from going in.

Nishikawa made amends by saving a 75th-minute penalty from Maaloul, but the Al Ahly midfielder buried a free-kick from the edge of the box late on to also atone for his mistake and put the game to bed.

© Kyodo News