K-League teams win in AFC’s 2nd week
Published: 16 Mar. 2011, 19:16
Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal beat Al Gharafa 1-0, dealing a setback to Bruno Metsu, who was making his debut with the Qatari club after being fired from the country’s national team.
In very cold conditions in the Korean capital, Seoul made the most of its chances to beat China’s Hangzhou Greentown 3-0. Elsewhere, Jeju United won 2-1 away at Australia’s Melbourne Victory, giving the Korean side its first points of the campaign. In China, Tianjin Teda beat 2008 Champions League winners Gamba Osaka 2-1.
Gamba Osaka players could have been excused for having their minds elsewhere as Japan struggles to cope with the aftermath of last Friday’s horrific earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese clubs were still fulfilling their away fixtures while home games both in the Champions League and the domestic J-League have been indefinitely postponed due to the disaster.
Nagoya Grampus had been due to host Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, but that was cancelled, as was Wednesday’s game between the Kashima Antlers and Australia’s Sydney FC.
Seoul went ahead against the run of play in the 17th minute when the Hangzhou defense failed to clear a speculative ball forward and Montenegrin international Dejan Damjanovic pounced on a rebound in the area to score. The Chinese club looked capable of getting an equalizer playing more precise football but Seoul scored twice in nine minutes in the second half to wrap up the contest. Ou Kyoung-jun made it 2-0 in the 71st before Colombian substitute Mauricio Molina scored the third.
The game in Melbourne was a clash between two teams that lost their Group E openers and were eager to make amends.
The Victory went ahead through striker Danny Allsopp in the 37th minute but Jeju deservedly equalized just four minutes later through midfielder Park Hyun-beom.
The winner came in the 84th minute when striker Lee Hyun-ho got on the end of a cross, providing a boost to the Champions League campaign for last year’s K-League runners-up.
AP
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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