Second-half strikes by young defender Aldbulghafoor Murad and substitute Ahmed Alaa Tuesday helped Al Rayyan to a 2-0 win over Emirates at Al Rayyan Stadium, a result that ended the UAE side’s hopes of reaching the last 16 of the 2011 AFC Champions League.
Emirates needed to beat the hosts and hope Zob Ahan could do them a favour against Al Shabab in Iran but two goals in the final quarter of an hour put paid to their aspirations.
Al Rayyan – who fielded a side missing several first-team regulars – finished …

Al Shabab took the upper hand in the battle for second place in Group D of the 2011 AFC Champions League as Nassir Al Shamrani’s crucial goal 14 minutes from time was enough to see off Al Rayyan 1-0 at King Fahd International Stadium.
In a largely uneventful game, the forward broke the deadlock in the 76th minute when he met Camacho’s excellent cross to head home from close range.
Despite turning in an average performance, Al Shabab still dominated much of the match and Al Shamrani should have put his side …

Mohammad Ghazi’s goal 10 minutes from the end of the game gave Zob Ahan a 1-0 win away at Emirates and clinched top spot in Group D of the 2011 AFC Champions League.
Last year’s runners-up recorded their fourth win in five group games, while Emirates’ chances of advancing to the next round suffered a severe blow.
Emirates, second behind Zob Ahan and looking to make it a third consecutive win at home, were without star striker Nabil Daoudi while key defenders Hadef Saif Al Zaabi and Mustafa Al Saedi sat out …

A solitary goal from Esmaeil Farhadi gave Zob Ahan a 1-0 win over Al Rayyan at the Foolad Shahr Stadium to send last season’s runners-up top of 2011 AFC Champions League Group D and on the verge of a place in the last 16.

Emirates stunned Al Shabab and blew Group D of the 2011 AFC Champions League wide open with a 2-1 victory at Emirates Club Stadium.

Hadj Bougueche scored twice as the second-tier UAE club recorded their second victory in this season’s competition to move ahead of Al Shabab – who beat them 4-1 two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia – and into second the table to give themselves every chance of reaching the last 16.

Al Shabab 4-1 Emirates
Alhassane Keita scored two goals to help Al Shabab overrun Emirates 4-1 in Group D clash of the 2011 AFC Champions League.
The home side were stunned after just five minutes when Emirates took the lead. The UAE outfit won possession on the right and Hadj Bougueche crossed towards Daoudi. The Moroccan striker showed good strength to hold off Walid Abdrabh before turning and firing past keeper Waleed Abdulla.
Al Shabab came desperately close to an equaliser just after the half-hour mark when Hassan Muath got inside the Emirates …

Emirates claimed their first victory for the AFC Champions League pushing them into 2nd position in Group D. The final result was Emirates 2-0 Al Rayyan.

Al Rayyan 1-1 Al Shabab
Al Shabab came from a goal down to hold Al Rayyan at Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium as Nasser Al Shamrani’s second-half header clinched a 1-1 draw.
Last year’s AFC Champions League semi-finalists fell behind in the 33rd minute when Brazilian striker Itamar converted from the spot,
But Al Shamrani pounced just before the hour mark to ensure a share of the spoils for the Saudis.
In a Group D clash played in chilly conditions, both teams wasted little time in seeking the early momentum.
In the fifth …

Sitting 3rd at the moment in the Zain Saudi Professional League with 9 wins, 4 draws and 3 loses, Al Shabab are having a good 2010/11 season. Last year Al Shabab topped Group C in the AFC Champions League with 3 wins and where knocked out in the Quarter Finals 1 – 0 by Jeonbuk. Al Shabab will be a favourite with Group D this year and their strong domestic season will give them the confidence to make it through the groups stage.

Mes Kerman 3–1 Al Hilal
Iranian side Mes Kerman have have lost all three away games this ACL season. However, their home form has been great. With Hilal already qualified as group winners, Mes seemed certain to take all three points, they would just have to hope that was enough.
Brazilian Edinho got Mes off to the perfect start just two minutes in, racing down the left before driving a low strike across Hilal ‘keeper Al Daeyea. The lead was however surrendered just six minutes after the restart with a close range …

Group G
Gamba Osaka 2-1 Suwon Samsung Bluewings
A last minute strike by Takashi Usami, assured Gamba Osaka first place in Group G.
Gamba started the game in second position, 2 points behind Suwon, who had also yet to lose a game.
Suwon scored first in the 58th minute through Jose Mota, his fifth goal of the competition.
However, the Koreans were pegged back only three minutes later by Takahiro Futagawa.
Scores remained at 1-1 until injury time when the 17-year-old Usami netted the winner.
Gamba now lead the group with …

Match Day 4 Tuesday of the AFC Champions League 2010 resulted in some upsets and wake up calls for many teams that had a easy road so far.

Group B

Zob Ahan have managed 2 major upsets in a matter of weeks against the Uzbek aristocrats Bunyodkor on Tuesday.

They followed up their MD3 3-0 home victory with a 1-0 win that takes them to the top of the table with 10 points and sends Bunyodkor tumbling down to third, with six points.

Group A
Esteghlal 3-0 Al Gharafa
Al Ahli 5-1 Al-Jazira
Al Gharafa couldn’t compete with Esteghlal today and went down 3-0 in the Azadi Stadium today. Esteghlal striker Farhad Majidi bagged himself two goals today. Majidi put the hosts ahead after a quarter of an hour before doubling their lead ten minutes after the break. Defender Pejman Montazeri then sealed the victory ten minutes from time.
In Group A’s other fixture, Al-Ahli, who so far have leaked five goals in their first two matches, turned things around against Al Jazira scoring 5 goals and …

Quick summary of the results from the remainder of the Matchday 1 games played overnight in Asia’s premier club competition – Asian Champions League.

Group C

Al-Ain 0–1 Pakhtakor Tashkent
Al Shabab 1-1 Sepahan

Group D is made up of the following ACL teams.

Al Sadd (QAT) – the best known Qatari footballing club in the world. Have had six appearances in the ACL championships, only progressing passwd the group stage in 2004, where they reached the quarter finals. Currently sitting 2nd in the Qatar league.
Al Ahli (UAE) – domestically the season hasn’t begin going great for Al Ahli, they sit in he 2nd half of the table. So on current form, and given the lack of experience in ACL, I can’t see them doing …

Saudi Arabian club Ettifaq are well and truly in the knockout rounds of the Asian Champions League after their 4-0 thumping of Bunyodkor.
Prince Tagoe managed 2 goals against last year’s semi-finalists. The Ghanaian striker opened the scoring in Damman after just 16 minutes. From then on there was only going to be one winner and Tagoe added a second just before the break.
Saleh Bashar made it three just after half-time. Waleed Al Rajaa sealed the win against the Uzbeki side, who still have a chance of progressing, but will be …

Source: www.the-afc.com
Ioan Andone’s half-time team talk spurred Ettifaq to an impressive second half performance as the Saudi Arabian side earned a comprehensive 4-1 win over Al Shabab on Tuesday.
Ghanaian striker Prince Tagoe scored a hat-trick – with two of this three strikes coming in the second half – to earn his team a come-from-behind victory that saw them claim all three points in the Group D encounter.
Marcus Assuncao had given Al Shabab the lead in the 15th minute, only for Tagoe to level the scores on the half-hour mark. Two …

Source: www.the-afc.com
Sepahan coach Farhad Kazemi was furious with his charges after their 1-0 defeat at home to Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor which leaves the Iranians in real danger of not making the knock-out stages.
Timur Kapadze scored the only goal of the game in the first half, but according to Kazemi, Sepahan were fortunate to concede just the one goal.
“We made tactical errors and we were lucky not to concede four goals,” he said.
Kazemi was shocked by his team’s the performance given Sepahan were within 15 minutes of beating Bunyodkor in Tashkent two …