Gamba Osaka 0-2 Adelaide United
Sergio van Dijk came off the bench to score his first goal of the campaign as Australia’s Adelaide United beat Gamba Osaka 2-0 on Wednesday to win Group E and set-up a meeting with Nagoya Grampus in the last 16 of the AFC Champions League.
Van Dijk, making his fourth substitute appearance of the campaign, broke the deadlock at Expo ’70 Stadium five minutes after the hour mark before an own-goal from Gamba substitute Akihiro Sato with two minutes remaining ensured Adelaide completed the double over the …

GAMBA OSAKA (JPN) v ADELAIDE UNITED (AUS) (0 – 2) (FT)
BRISBANE ROAR (AUS) v BEIJING GUOAN (CHN) (1 – 1) (FT)
ULSAN HYUNDAI (KOR) v FC TOKYO (JPN) (1 – 0) (FT)
BUNYODKOR (UZB) v POHANG STEELERS (KOR) (1 – 0) (FT)
NASAF (UZB) v ESTEGHLAL (IRN) (0 – 2) (FT)
AL RAYYAN (QAT) v AL JAZIRA (UAE) (3 – 4) (FT)
BANIYAS (UAE) v PAKHTAKOR (UZB) (2 – 0) (FT)
AL ITTIHAD (KSA) v AL ARABI (QAT) (3 – 2) (FT)

Adelaide United 0-0 Bunyodkor
Adelaide United qualified for the last 16 of the AFC Champions League for a third time in five years after sharing a goalless draw with Uzbekistan champions Bunyodkor in Group E.
The 2008 finalists enjoyed the better chances and dominated possession at but failed to find a breakthrough against a Bunyodkor.
But with Pohang Steelers beating Gamba Osaka 2-0, Adelaide maintained their three-point lead over third-placed Bunyodkor to advance due to a better head-to-head record against the Uzbek side after posting a 2-1 win in Tashkent at the start …

Adelaide United 1-0 Pohang Steelers
Australia’s Adelaide United scored in the final minutes of the game to move clear at the top of Group E of the AFC Champions League with a 1-0 win over Korea Republic’s Pohang Steelers.
Whilst Adelaide had lost their first encounter two weeks ago in Korea, Adelaide goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic was at his best this time round with a superb save to push away No Byung-jun’s downward header in the early stages of the game.
With No’s header the only real chance of a tight opening 45 minutes, …

Gamba Osaka 3-1 Bunyodkor
Following two losses, Gamba Osaka finally got itself some points, winning their first game with two penalties from Brazilian striker Rafinha and a third by former AFC Player of the Year Yasuhito Endo.
New coach, Matsunami who had already earned a draw in the J League match over the weekend was confident his changes would begin to show in terms of results. The home win over Uzbekistan champions Bunyodkor was well deserved.
Captain Endo gave his side the lead after just 14 minutes before two goals in the second …

Adelaide United 2-0 Gamba Osaka
Daniel Mullen scored twice as Adelaide United earned their second win of the 2012 AFC Asian Champions League tournament beating Gamba Osaka 2-0 in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Mullen’s first-half headers ensured the 2008 AFC Champions League finalists followed up their impressive 2-1 win in Uzbekistan over Bunyodkor with another disciplined display.
Adelaide made a strong start and after the impressive Dario Vidosic was denied by Gamba goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya, the home side went one up after after just 17 minutes.
Mullen’s initial header rebounded off the crossbar, then Nigel Boogaard kept …

Gamba Osaka V Pohang Steelers (0 – 3)
Jose Carlos Serrao’s opening match as head coach of Gamba Osaka could not have started in worse fashion with the Gamba suffering a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Korea’s Pohang Steelers.
Pohang took the lead in the 19th minute when Shin Kwang-hoon sent in a superb cross on the run from the right hand side of the pitch connecting with Kim Tae-su ho headed home the opening goal.
A few minutes later, Gamba keeper Yosuke Fujigaya gifted Pohang a second goal. Fujigaya attempted to …

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 …