Evergrande, FC Seoul book last-16 berths

Posted Thursday, April 25, 2013 by Foxsports.com

Guangzhou Evergrande secured their place in the last 16 of the AFC Champions League despite losing 3-2 at Urawa Red Diamonds, who kept alive their own hopes as well.

Guangzhou scored first and last, Lucas Barrios netting in the 37th minute and Luiz Muriqui slotting home three minutes from time, but in between Urawa struck three times in 13 second-half minutes to take the victory.

Shinzo Koroki (52 minutes), Yuki Abe (63) and Marcio Richardes (66, penalty) were the men on the mark for 2007 winners Urawa, who move onto seven points from five games with the win.

That leaves them third in Group F, two points behind Jeonbuk Motors and three behind leaders Evergrande, who are now certain of a spot in the next round due to their better head-to-head record against Urawa.

Two-defending Chinese champions Evergrande also lost Linpeng Zhang to a late red card against Urawa as they slumped to their first defeat of the group stage.

In Wednesday's other match Jeonbuk kept up their chase for a top-two finish with a 2-0 home win over eliminated Muangthong United, Lee Dong-gook breaking the deadlock with a 57th-minute penalty and Park Hee-do doubling the lead just a minute later.

Jeonbuk, the 2006 winners and runners-up in 2011, now need just a point from their last match against Evergrande to secure a last-16 spot.

FC Seoul also ensured their place in the next phase after beating Jiangsu Shuntian 2-0 away from home.

Ko Yo-han's 31st-minute opener and Kim Ju-young's 72nd-minute second secured the points for Seoul who are now guaranteed to finish top of Group E.

The race for second place remains open though with each of three other teams in the group still in contention after Buriram United drew 1-1 at home with Vegalta Sendai.

Osmar Barba's goal eight minutes into the second half looked set to give Buriram the victory but a dramatic 90th-minute equaliser from substitute Takayuki Nakahara - just 60 seconds after he replaced Naoya Tamura - earned Vegalta a point.

That result leaves Buriram and Vegalta level on six points heading into the final round of matches, with Jiangsu two points further back.

Wagner Ribeiro struck a hat-trick as El Jaish secured a top-two berth in Group A with a 3-0 win over already-qualified Al Shabab.

Wagner netted in the third, 82nd and 90th minutes to help El Jaish move onto eight points in the group and, with third-placed Tractorsazi losing to Al Jazira, they are now assured of a place in the last 16.

Tractorsazi started the day a point behind El Jaish but were beaten 2-0 by Al-Jazira, for whom Ricardo Oliveira (seven minutes) and Subait Khater (90) netted the goals.

Al-Jazira are now three points behind El Jaish but cannot overtake them due to their inferior head-to-head record against the Qatari side.

Group B will go down to the final round of matches after leaders Lekhwiya were beaten 3-1 by Al Shabab Al Arabi.

The Qatari side had led through Youssef Msakni late in the first half but their hopes of sealing a place in the last 16 quickly evaporated thereafter.

Essa Obaid equalised seconds after the restart before substitute Ciel tapped in no 77 minutes to give the hosts the lead.

Sebastian Soria then saw red for an elbow before Edgar made it 3-1 in injury time.

Al Ettifaq moved up to second in the group with a 2-0 win over Uzbek champions Pakhtakor.

Yahia Al Shehri's spectacular long-range effort fired the Saudis ahead before Jamaan Al Jamaan curled in the second moments before half-time.

Wednesday's AFC Champions League Results

Group A

El Jaish 3-0 Al Shabab

Al Jazira 0-2 Tractorsazi

Group B

Al Shabab Al Arabi 3-1 Lekhwiya

Al Ettifaq 2-0 Pakhtakor

Group E