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Kuala Lumpur: Match Day 4 of the AFC Champions League ended on Wednesday with two more teams – both from Korea Republic – confirming their places in the Round of 16.
Seongnam Ilhwa made it four in a row in Group E to go through while Suwon Bluewings made sure of their advance in Group G.
Results from Groups A and C served only to tighten up the race for R16 spots in those pools, offering fans plenty of excitement and tension for the remaining two rounds of the group stages.
Group A
Only two points separate first and third place in Group A after leaders Esteghlal, of Iran, drew 1-1 away to Qatar’s Al Gharafa and Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli scored a 2-0 away win over Al Jazira, of UAE.
Esteghlal have eight points, one ahead of Gharafa and two in front of Ahli while Jazira are out of the picture with just one point.
Iraqi star Younis Mahmoud had given Gharafa a 1-0 lead before the interval but Mehdi Salehi equalised for the visitors on 58 minutes. Esteghlal had beaten the Qataris 3-0 on MD3.
Brazilian striker Victor was the hero for Ahli. He scored a goal in each half with Jazira down to 10 men following the second-half sending off of midfielder Sultan Al Menhali.
Group C
In the most congested group of the competition, only three points separate top from bottom with Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab leading on seven points ahead of Uzbeks Pakhtakor (six points), Sepahan, of Iran (five points) and UAE’s Al Ain (four points).
Sepahan put themselves back in the running for a top-two place after their 2-0 home victory over Pakhtakor while Shabab beat Al Ain 3-2 at home.
The Iranians left it late against Pakhtakor in Esfahan, Ibrahima Toure and Mohsen Bengar scoring within the last 17 minutes to earn victory.
Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Camacho rounded off a stirring comeback by Shabab with his late winner against Al Ain and revenge for MD3’s 2-1 defeat.
Angolan Flavio gave Shabab the lead after 11 minutes before Jose Sand and an own goal from defender Masead Nada handed the visitors the lead on 60 minutes.
Camacho then set up Flavio for the equaliser before finishing it off himself with seven minutes remaining.
Group E
Korea Republic’s Seongnam Ilhwa made sure of at least a top-two finish in Group E after their 1-0 away victory over China’s Beijing Guoan.
In the other match, Australians Melbourne Victory won for the first time after three straight defeats, beating Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 at home.
Seongnam have 12 points from four games with Beijing on six. Kawasaki and Melbourne are on three points each and still in with a chance of finishing second.
Mauricio Molina scored 15 minutes from the end for Seongnam in a match in which both teams were reduced to 10 men.
Beijing defender Zhang Yonghai was sent off for handball that gave Molina the chance to score from a 20-yard free-kick. In stoppage time, Seongnam’s Sasa Ogenovski was sent off for a second yellow-card offence.
Kevin Muscat breathed life into Melbourne’s 2010 ACL campaign with a penalty on the hour-mark to beat the side who thrashed Victory 4-0 on MD3.
Group G
Suwon Bluewings made it safely through to the last 16 with a 2-0 home victory over China’s Henan Jianye.
The 2008 ACL champions Gamba Osaka, of Japan, beat Singapore Armed Forces 3-0 at home to boost their chances.
Suwon are on 10 points, two ahead of Gamba, who need only a point from their final two matches to join the Koreans in the next round.
Henan can still catch Gamba if they win their final two games and the Japanese team lose theirs.
Jose Mota was again in lethal form for Suwon. He followed up his two goals against Henan from last week with an early strike on Wednesday with Kim Dae-ui adding the second.
Goals from defender Michihiro Yasuda, Shoki Hirai, who scored a hat-trick in last week’s 4-2 over the same opponents, and substitute Ze Carlos were enough to give Gamba an easy win over SAF.
Click here for Match Day 4 Centre where you can find all the previews, reports and reactions, as well as download the pre-match media kits.
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