Inaugural champions Al Ain signed off their 2011 AFC Champions League campaign with a 3-1 win over Japan’s Nagoya Grampus, a result ended the visitors’ hopes of topping Group F.
With Grampus and Seoul FC level on 10 points before the game, the Japanese were keen to win and seal a home tie in the last 16 after the Koreans could only draw at Hangzhou Greentown.
But a young Al Ain side led 2-0 at the break and then completed a fine 3-1 win to lift their struggling form and morale ahead …

Two goals from Dejan Damjanovic helped FC Seoul to a 3-0 win over Al Ain on Wednesday that booked the K-League team a place in the second round of the 2011 AFC Champions League.
An early opener from Go Yo-han laid the platform for the Montenegrin international to score a goal in each half and send 23, 623 fans at Seoul World Cup Stadium home happy as the Korea Republic champions reached the knockout stage for the second time in three years.
The only issue remaining …

Nagoya Grampus sealed a place in the round of 16 in the 2011 AFC Champions League after Jungo Fujimoto’s second-half penalty clinched a 1-0 win over Hangzhou Greentown at Mizuho Athletic Stadium in Nagoya.
Without key players Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Mu Kanzaki and Josh Kennedy, Nagoya struggled to find their rhythm, particularly going forward.
Hangzhou failed to create much and their only chance over the first 45 minutes came just before the half-hour mark when Sebastian Vazquez fired a free-kick from midrange that was not good enough to trouble Nagoya goalkeeper Seigo …

Goals from Mu Kanazaki and Kensuke Nagai gave Nagoya Grampus a 2-0 win at FC Seoul to put the Japanese champions on top of Group F in the 2011 AFC Champions League.

After Kanazaki’s first-half opener, the Korea Republic title-holders threw everything at the visitors for much of an entertaining match but a defensive blunder late in the game allowed Nagai to make sure of a valuable three points.

A brilliant strike by youngster Omar Abdulrahman helped hosts Al Ain beat China’s Hangzhou Greentown 1-0 and revives their chances of reaching the knockout stage of the 2011 AFC Champions League.

Victory for the inaugural AFC Champions League winners moved them level with Hangzhou and three points adrift of joint leaders FC Seoul and Nagoya Grampus to give Group F a wide open look with two rounds of matches to play.

J. League champions Nagoya Grampus let slip a first-half lead as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Korean counterparts FC Seoul in their Group F 2011 AFC Champions League clash.

FC Seoul were the most aggressive from the beginning with Mauricio Molina’s movement up front causing problems and the Columbian international went close with a couple of good attempts in the early exchanges.

FC Seoul took control of Group F of the 2011 AFC Champions League with a 3-0 win over Hangzhou Greentown.

Hangzhou Greentown (2-0) Nagoya Grampus
Substitute Ba Li gave Hangzhou Greentown a dream start to their AFC Champions League debut as he scored one and set up another to help the Chinese side stun Japanese champions Nagoya Grampus 2-0 in their Group F opener.
Ba provided the assist for Luis Ramirez just after being brought onto the pitch just after the hour mark before scoring his side’s second five minutes before time when Hangzhou looked desperate to protect their slender lead.
The ACL debutants’ outplayed and outsmarted the visitors, particularly in the …

Winners of the 2010 J League, this is likely Japan’s best hope for 2011 ACL Champions League. Coming off the winter off season all of the J League teams will be slightly rusty but the professionalism of the J League will ensure that each team will be ready for a new domestic and ACL season. Given a J league team hasn’t won the tournament for a few years, pressure will be on to at least have a J League team into the final for 2011.

Group F had already been decided before today’s play, with Kashima Antlers and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors having already qualified for the second round. The two met today to settle who would qualify in top spot and meet Pohang Steelers in the knockout stage.
Kashima Antlers 2–1 Jeonbuk FC
Kashima boss Oswaldo Oliveira signaled his objective in the pre-match press conference that his team was not looking for a draw, despite only needing not to lose to earn the all important advantage of “playing at home next round.”
The Antlers went 2 – 0 …

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.

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 …

A dramatic last-minute strike from substitute Yasushi Endoh saw Kashima Antlers fight back from a goal down to beat Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2-1 at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.

A beautifully crafted goal just before the break from Brazilian star Eninho gave Jeonbuk a first-half lead but Koji Nakata equalised midway through the second period before Endoh snatched the win with just seconds remaining.

Chanchung’s Gao Jian and Johnny Woodly Lambert both hit hat-tricks as Changchun Yatai thrashed Persipura Jayapura 9-0 at Changchun Jingkai Stadium.

Changchun were determined to get their Group F campaign up and running following an opening 1-0 defeat at Kashima Antlers and they did so in emphatic fashion as they thumped the hapless Indonesians.

Croatia’s Kruno Lovrak scored a hat-trick as South Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors eased to a 4-1 victory over Indonesia’s Persipura in Jakarta.

Kim Seung-yong’s scored a 15 minute penalty opening the score. Two minutes later Lovrak doubled Jeonbuk’s lead when he lost his marker and fired home.

Group F is made up of the following ACL teams.

Kashima (JPN) – finished top of the J League in 2009. Will enter this group as the favourite based on that performance. Last year they bowed out in the round of 16 and I am sure looking to go one better this year.
Jeonbuk (KOR) – K League winners in 2009, Jeonbuk would also be a serious contender this year and another favourite to progress from Group F. They didn’t feature last year so will surely be eager to make …

Korea’s FC Seoul have qualified for the second round of the Asian Champions League.
The faced Gamba Osaka who had already qualified and relied upon Chinese champions Shandong Luneng to lose.
As And that is exactly what happened. FC Seol won and Shandong lost.
It wasn’t going according to plan however in the 64th minute as 17 year-old Takashi Usami put Gamba ahead.
Late goals from Dejan Damjanovic and Kim Han-yoon gave the K-League runners-up the points.
It didn’t look like happening for Seoul in the other match either as Shandong raced into a 2-0 …

FC Seoul boss Senol Gunes was thrilled with his side’s 5-1 victory over Sriwijaya on Tuesday but brought a touch of realism about their chances of reaching the knockout phase.
A Dejan Damjanovic hat-trick and Sim Woo-yeon’s brace gave the Korea Republic side a convincing triumph over the lowly Indonesians after they were stunned by Keith Gumbs’ 61st minute equaliser
Three goals in quick succession won the game for the hosts and puts Seoul level on points with Shandong Luneng, who entertain group leaders Gamba Osaka on Wednesday.
The defeat leaves Sriwijaya with …

FC Seoul boss Senol Gunes was left cursing his side’s luck after the Korea Republic team were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Shandong Luneng.

A first-half header from Park Yong-ho put Seoul ahead and the hosts went close to adding to their lead on several occasions.

Seoul were left to rue their wastefulness after 80 minutes, however, as Shandong levelled through Alejandro Cichero to remain in second place, three points ahead of the K-League team in Group F.