Top spot was up for grabs in Group H. Adelaide have managed to take top spot despite losing 1 – 0 at home to Shandong Luneng. Pohang Steelers, meanwhile, will join them in the knockout stages even though they ended up on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller against Japanese side Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Having one the away clash in China, Adelaide were favourites to win at home and take first place. There was however talk that Adelaide tend to get better results away from home, and that is how it turned out.

Shandong defended for much of the game, but a second-half counter-attack saw Li Wei skip past Adelaide defender Robert Cornthwaite before firing in the only goal of the game.

“It was a game that I thought we dominated,” said caretaker Adelaide coach Joe Mullen at full-time. “I think they only had one chance on goal. Although we conceded we still had plenty of time after that but we just couldn’t capitalise.”

Sanfrecce Hiroshima 4–3 Pohang Steelers

Pohang needed a result today to avoid meeting Kashima in the round of 16 clash. Sanfrecce however had other ideas and being a great form at the moment delivered a 7 goal thriller.

The hosts took the lead with less than a minute on the clock as Kohei Shimizu tapped in from close range. Kim Jae-sung then bought the Steelers level just three minutes later as both teams finally settled. Lee headed home just after half an hour to reclaim the lead for Sanfrecce and when Shinichiro Kuwada put them two ahead just before the break, it looked as if the Japanese outfit would make it three out of three; especially when Alexandro missed a spot-kick for the Steelers minutes later.

However, Kim Jae-sung pulled one back a few minutes into the second-half before Shin Hyung-min equalised from outside the box on the hour mark. Then, with just nine minutes left, Steelers defender Kim Tae-su brought down Koji Nakajima in the box, earning himself a red card. Hisato Sato stepped up, but instead of drilling the ball home he elected to pass his penalty to the onrushing Tomoaki Makino who sealed the victory.