Group E

Kawasaki Frontale 3-0 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma

Kawasaki Frontale have given themselves a great chance of advancing by beating Seongnam 3 – 0 at home. They now travel to Beijing Gouan on the final matchday only one point behind the Chinese Super League team, with the winner progressing alongside Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.

Frontale were two goals ahead by the 20 minute mark. Hiroyuki Taniguchi opened the scoring after five minutes and Yusuke Tasaka doubled the lead 15 minutes after. It remained 2 – 0 until the 79th minute when Renatinho scored the third.

Melbourne Victory 0-0 Beijing Gouan

Melbourne earned their first draw and fourth point of the group stage. The 1 point however, wasn’t enough to keep them in contention. Beijing missed the chance to go three points clear of Kawasaki and instead face the Japanese in a winner takes all shootout on matchday 6.

Group F

Changchun Yatai 0-1 Kashima Antlers

Kashima scored in the first half through Shinzo Koroki to see off Changchun Yatai on matchday five in the AFC Champions League. Shinzo pounced upon a Samuel Caballero error in the 37th minute to put it past the goalkeeper.

Kashima have an unbeaten record so far in the competition and will be a great match-up in the round of 16 where they will either face Pohang Steelers or Adelaide United.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 8-0 Persipura Jayapura

Persipura Jayaspura received another hiding in Match Day 5. The Indonesian minnows were hammered 8-0 by K-League outfit, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

Eninho, Park Won Jae and a Lee Dong Gook penalty put the hosts well in the clear by half time. Eninho and Jung Jin Seo added the fourth and fifth goals just after half-time before 3 goals in the space of 10 minutes made it eight.

Jeonbuk are set to face the winners of Group H in the last 16 should they fail to claim all three points at Kashima on matchday 6. Persipura remain pointless with a goal difference they surely can’t be proud of.

Group A
AFC Asian Champions League Group A was settled today, with Esteghlal securing their qualification with a home win over Al Ahli while a hat-trick from Brazilian Araujo meant that Al Gharafa now also progress.

Esteghlal 2–1 Al Ahli

Esteghlal booked their spot in the round of 16 thanks to a 2-1 victory over Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

Mehdi Salehi put the hosts ahead after 25 minutes, shooting past Yasser Al Mosailem in the Al Ahli goal. Brazilian Victor Simoes equalised from the penalty spot ten minutes later before Amirhossein Saghedi headed Esteghlal into the final 16 right on half-time.

Al Gharafa 4-2 Al-Jazira

Former Cruzeiro striker Araujo has been a revelation since joining the Cheetahs in 2007 and he was the hero again this evening, striking a hat-trick to sink UAE League outfit Al-Jazira and sending Al Gharafa into the knockout stages.

The Brazilian headed his first on 11 minutes, leaping to nod home a Juninho cross, and then doubled the lead five minutes before the break. Any hope Al-Jazira had of a comeback were quickly quashed when the Brazilian hitman completed his hat-trick a minute after the break, latching onto a mistake from Jazira goalkeeper Ali Kashief Housani. By the time Otman El Assas made it four shortly after the hour mark, the game was already up. Former Betis striker Rafael Sobis pulled one back for the visitors before Ali Albloushi grabbed a second consolation in the final minute.

Group B
Hassan Amin’s scored the only goal of the game in the 71st minute to give Al Wahda an unexpected win over group leaders Zobahan.

Al Wahda 1-0 Zobahan

Al Wahda hasn’ had a good tournament so far sitting last in Group B. Iran’s Zobahan, meanwhile, have been one of the stand-out performers of this season’s competition, having achieved an unexpected double over Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Bunyodkor.

The hosts made a thrilling start to the game and should have had the game won at half-time. They finally scored in the 71st minute thanks to a fine solo effort from Amin to clinch a bit of pride for the 2007 semi-finalists.

Al-Ittihad 1–1 Bunyodkor

Bunyodkor were hoping for an improved performance this week after 2 straight defeats. Scolari knew defeat would all but eliminate them. The hosts went ahead through a 37th minute penalty, however, Aziz Haydarov’s equaliser just after the hour was enough to clinch a point and save the day. All will now be decided on matchday six when Bunyodkor host Al Wahda and Al-Ittihad travel to Iran to face Zobahan.