Tianjin Teda became the first team from Group E to qualify for the last 16 of the 2011 AFC Champions League thanks to a 3-0 win over Jeju United at Tianjin Teda Stadium on Wednesday.
Argentinian striker Luciano Olguin headed the hosts in front seven minutes in before Wu Weian doubled the advantage when he tucked home a rebound midway through the first-half.
Cao Yang converted a penalty 19 minutes before the final whistle to seal a comfortable victory for the runners-up of the Chinese Super …

Melbourne scored first through Adrian Leijer on 12 minutes but Sota Nakazawa, with his second goal of the campaign, leveled things just before half time.
Tellingly, both goals came from defenders as the result of corners in a match where both sides’ attackers wasted plenty of chances.
Melbourne began the match playing much of the attacking football and Carlos Hernandez provided the first threat, flashing a free kick past the goal in the third minute.
The Costa Rican continued to provide much of Melbourne’s impetus and he was involved heavily in the build-up …

Brazilian forward Adriano scored twice to highlight Gamba Osaka’s 3-1 win over Jeju United, helping the J.League side climb to second in Group E of the 2011 AFC Champions League at Expo ’70 Stadium in Osaka.

Melbourne Victory resuscitated their 2011 AFC Champions League dreams with a 2-1 win over Group E leaders Tianjin Teda at Docklands Stadium.
The home side scored two goals in three minutes on the stroke of half-time to secure their first win in this season’s competition and provide interim coach Mehmet Durakovic his maiden success in charge, although Surat Sukha was sent-off with eight minutes to go.

It was a result Durakovic will look back on fondly after Victory trailed 1-0 following Chen Tao’s fantastic solo effort for the Chinese visitors after 37 …

Tianjin Teda 1-1 Melbourne Victory
Tianjin Teda earned a 1 – 1 draw with Melbourne Victory to maintain top spot in Group E of the 2011 AFC Champions League.
Victory came close to a first goal just two minutes in when Adrian Leijer was just inches away from tapping home. Yu Dabao looked to reply three minutes later, only to see his fierce 30-yard shot fly over the crossbar.
In the 11th minute, Chen back-heeled to Wu Weian down the left and the latter clipped an inviting centre across the face of the …

Tianjin Teda now leading Group E with a narrow 2 – 1 victory over Gamba Osaka.

Melbourne Victory has lost its second ACL clash in a row and now faces a very difficult task to progress into the knockout rounds of the tournament. Korea’s Jeju United where by far the better team on the night winning 2-1.

Tianjin Teda 1-0 Jeju United
A second half strike by Yu Dabao’s was the clincher in a very tight contest between Tianjin Teda and Jeju United.
Jeju United from Korea Republic made their debut appearance and looked to dominate the game but were caught out by a classic counter-attack on the 55 minute mark by Tianjin Teda.
Jeju came close to the opener in the 16th minute when a chipped ball over the defence found Kim Eun-jung unmarked in the penalty box. Eun-jung volleyed the ball over with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Teda’s …

A favourite as always to progress into the knockout stages of the tournament. Gamba are a regular in the ACL Champions League. 2011 Division 1 season is yet to start (due 5/3) and so teams will have been in preseason and playing practice games coming into the group stages of the ACL Champions League. Match fitness might be an issue for some of the players. Gamba had a very successful 2010, achieving 2nd position. In 2010 ACL they were knockout by eventual winners Seongnam in the first knockout round. This is however a very tough group but you would expect Gamba to be a serious contender for 1st place n Group E.

Chinese champions Beijing Guoan progressed into the second round thanks to 2-0 victory over Kawasaki Frontale. With Korea’s Seongnam Ilhwa already winning the group, Fontale had set up a winner-takes-all clash against Guoan.
Beijing Guoan 2-0 Kawasaki Frontale
Frontale needed a win to make it into the 2nd round of the ACL for the 3rd successive year. Goals either side of halt-time from Joel Griffiths and Valdo ensured the Japanese would make an early exit.
Griffith’s goal was created following a defensive error by Yusuke Tasaka. The Australian showed a cool head inside …

Kawasaki Frontale have battled back from the brink to give themselves a shot at qualification for the last 16 of the AFC Champions League. The J-League side visit Beijing Gouan on the final matchday only one point behind the Chinese Super League team and the winner of that tie will take their place alongside Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the knockouts.

Frontale were off to a flyer and were two goals to the good by the 20 minute mark. Hiroyuki Taniguchi opened the scoring after five minutes and Yusuke Tasaka doubled the lead 15 minutes after. That was the way it remained until the 79th minute when Renatinho added a third for a rejuvenated Kawasaki, who lost to Melbourne in their last outing.

With all games in Match Day 4 of the AFC Champions League completed, two more teams have 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.

Group A

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.

Younis Mahmoud gave Gharafa a 1-0 lead before the interval but Mehdi Salehi equalised for the visitors on 58 minutes.

Melbourne Victory skipper Kevin Muscat has come to the rescue of Melbourne Victory by scoring a 60th minute penalty to restore some respectability to his side’s Asian Champions League campaign in a 1-0 win over Kawasaki Frontale.
On the same ground he missed a spot-kick in Victory’s A-League grand final penalty shootout loss to Sydney FC 10 days earlier, Muscat slotted home Victory’s second-half winner against the Japanese side at Etihad Stadium.
Victory goalkeeper Mitch Langerak was outstanding for his side – pulling off four vital saves to deny the wasteful visitors.
They …

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 …

Kawasaki scored three goals in the first 20 minutes to convincingly beat Melbourne Victory 4-0 for their first Group E win in the AFC Champions League.

Jong Tae-se, Masaru Kurotsu and Renatinho scored in the third, 11th minute and 22nd minutes respectively while Hiroyuki Taniguchi completed the victory with a goal in the 90th minute.

Sasa Ognenovski made a triumphant return home as the defender opened the scoring and Korean outfit Seongnam Ilhwa recorded a crucial 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory in AFC Champions League Group E.

Ognenovski slid home the opening goal of a scrappy match in the 40th minute before Yun Young-sun then made sure of the result with the second five minutes from full-time.

Kawasaki substitute midfielder Wang Changqing scored twice as Beijing Guoan maintained their 100% start in Group E with a 3-1 win over Kawasaki Frontale in the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.

Australian striker Joel Griffiths produced a cool finish to open the scoring for Beijing after 37 minutes before Kosuke Kikuchi hit back for the home side just three minutes later.

Beijing Guoan’s Joel Griffiths scored the winner as his side won 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory in the opening round of Group E of the AFC Champions League last night.
Former Newcastle Jets star Griffiths left his mark early in the 2nd half with a beautiful strike to give Beijing Guoan a well deserved victory.
Griffiths controlled a low cross from the right and beat goalkeeper Mitch Langerak with a low shot.
The goal followed a period when of domination from the Vhinese outfit who were playing at home in freezing conditions. Earlier …

Group E is made up of the following ACL teams.

Seongnam (KOR) – K League is in off season but Seongnam finished 2009 in 4th. With success and experience in the ACL Champions league, I would expect a strong performance this year.
Melbourne (AUS) – Melbourne didn’t do anything spectacular 2 years ago when they first and last participated, but their domestic form is strong and they have shown a lot of consistency in performance this year. They are in a tough group and it will require a strong performance to …

Melbourne Victory has named a 25-man squad for its upcoming Asian Champions League 2010 campaign, promoting six players from its National Youth League side.

Aziz Behich and Luke Pilkington, who both recently made their Hyundai A-League debuts, have been elevated alongside fellow Melbourne Victory Youth players Diogo Ferreira, Petar Franjic, Stephen Hatzikostas and goalkeeper Sebastian Mattei, while Celeski could return to action if Melbourne Victory progresses to the Round of 16.