Sydney roared into a 2-0 lead with a first-minute strike by David Carney and a penalty by Ufuk Talak midway through the first half.

However, Brazilian midfielder Robson Ponte pulled a goal back on the half-hour mark and Yuchiro Nagai took advantage of a mistake by Sydney goalkeeper Clint Bolton to level the score in the 55th minute.

The large contingent of Reds fans who had travelled from Japan created a rousing pre-match atmosphere but it was the home supporters who had greater cause for cheer early on as Sydney took the lead after only 55 seconds.

Mark Milligan seized on a half-clearance by Keita Suzuki in midfield and picked out the run of Carney, who found space in the penalty area between two defenders and swept the ball past goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki.

Sydney had the better of the early openings and could have increased their lead in the ninth minute when Alex Brosque received the ball on the edge of the Urawa box and fired just wide of the left upright.

The home side did extend their lead on 22 minutes when they were awarded a penalty after Carney went down in the box under challenge from Keisuke Tsuboi and Marcus Tulio Tanaka.

Talay calmly dispatched the penalty kick, sending Tsuzuki the wrong way from the spot.

The Sydney defence effectively stifled the attacks of the Japanese side in the opening half-hour, keeping prolific Brazilian striker Washington well in check.

However, Urawa managed to get back into the game in the 30th minute when Nobuhisa Yamada made a run on the right flank and squared the ball to an unmarked Robson Ponte, who fired a low shot past the diving Bolton.

Just minutes later, Urawa had the chance to level the score when Fabio Nene took the ball off Brosque near the left touchline and passed to Ponte, who shot wide.

As half-time approached, Japan international midfielder Shinji Ono attempted a dipping shot from distance that forced Bolton to dive low to his left to make a save.

The Japanese side raised their game at the start of the second half with Robson Ponte testing Bolton with an attempt from distance.

The Sydney goalkeeper seemed to have the measure of the Urawa attack but then presented the Japanese team with the equaliser in the 55th minute when he spilled a harmless cross by Robson Ponte at the feet of Nagai, who had all the time in the world to stroke the ball into the unguarded net.

Washington went close to putting Urawa ahead three minutes later when he poked Robson Ponte's cross towards goal but Bolton made amends for his earlier gaffe with a good save.

At the other end, Tsuzuki was called into action in the 67th minute, diving low to his left to punch away a superb free-kick by Steven Corica.

With time running out, the visitors increased the intensity of their attacks and went close to a winner with Washington firing over from 15 yards out and Yuki Abe seeing his shot deflected wide by a desperate block by the Sydney defence.

The draw leaves both Sydney and Urawa level on top of Group E with four points from two games.

"Clint is smart enough to know that it wasn't one of his best nights but I said to him, 'Forget it and let's look forward to the next game'," admitted Branko Culina after the match.

"He's the best goalkeeper in Australia and he's saved us on plenty of occasions, so he's entitled to a bad night and hopefully he'll bounce back. Everyone has a bad day sometimes. Unfortunately today was his bad day.

"You can't be too disappointed, although it would have been nice if he didn't have such a night off."

Bolton admitted himself: "It isn't the first time it's happened and it won't be the last, but worse things have happened and I'll move on.

"It's disappointing because we put in a lot of work and played some good football and had them on the ropes, but a couple of soft goals let them back in."

Coach Culina added: "Sydney Football Club is proud of the club and proud of the players and you people involved with the game in Australia should be proud of what we did here tonight."

"It is a sign that we are not too far away from the top teams in Asia.

"I think we did the A-League proud tonight. We showed we had real stars. What it also showed though was that we lack depth and there just isn't enough experience on the bench compared to teams like Urawa.

"We had to use Ruben who hasn't played in weeks and Terry who hasn't played for two months.

"But they brought on an international player off the bench. When you consider it is someone who spends $65million on players against someone who spends $6.5million - the result is not too bad.

"I'm pleased and disappointed. Pleased that we played well in the first half, and pleased with the result, but disappointed that we let slip a two-goal lead."

"Our game plan worked to perfection in the first 20 minutes."

He said: "Our plan was to attack them down the right-hand side in the first 20 minutes where (Reds defender) Nene didn't have the pace or the defensive requirements to put up with (Alex) Brosque."

"We changed Carney and Brosque around for that reason as well - we wanted to confuse them a little bit. But in the end we weren't quite good enough.

"But having said that, we played against a very good side and it didn't help that we were forced to make a couple of changes before half-time."

Urawa coach Holger Osiek added: "We didn't underestimate Sydney. They surprised us with the early goal but they played very well as we knew they would. We have no complaints."