A-League clubs in the Asian Champions League

Tomi Juric’s first leg penalty for Western Sydney Wanderers turns out not to have been just a formality. Thanks to a 2-0 defeat of Sanfrecce Hiroshima on Wednesday at Parramatta Stadium, the Wanderers advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League on away goals.

Second half goals from substitute Shannon Cole and Brendon Santalab secured the aggregate 3-3 score line and sent the Wanderers on to the round of eight at Hiroshima’s expense. Western Sydney, who had lost in the A-League Grand Final in extra time on May 4 and then in Japan to Sanfrecce on May 7, got a win for the first time since beating Central Coast Mariners in the A-League semifinal round on April 27. Though the Wanderers certainly would have liked to have recorded a victory in the Grand Final, winning on Wednesday propels the club into the Champions League quarterfinals where an A-League club (Adelaide United) last played in 2012.

Western Sydney Wanderers are in danger of exiting the Champions League in the Round of 16 after losing 3-1 to Sanfrecce Hiroshima at the Big Arch overnight. Last season, Central Coast Mariners lost its first leg to eventual champions Guangzhou Evergrande before bowing out with a blowout loss in the second leg. The Wanderers did not get the three weeks the Mariners enjoyed between winning the A-League championship and facing Evergrande, however. Western Sydney lost its second straight Grand Final on Sunday May 4 and lost in Hiroshima on Wednesday May 7.

Sanfrecce, which split its two games against A-League competition in the group stage (losing 2-1 in Gosford before defeating the Mariners 1-0 in Hiroshima), scored the game’s first two goals. Naoki Ishihara tallied both in the second half with the first coming in the 51st minute and the second in the 65th. Tomi Juric pulled one back for the Wanderers with his 78th minute penalty but Kosei Shibasaki restored Sanfrecce’s two-goal lead when he scored in the 91st minute.

The debut Champions League run will continue for Western Sydney Wanderers after winning Group H earlier in the week. As the only A-League club left in the competition, the Wanderers have a potentially difficult task ahead both with a strong opponent in J-League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima and the possibility of playing in Japan just three days after the A-League Grand Final. That would, of course, require Western Sydney to beat Central Coast Mariners on Saturday at Pirtek Stadium in the domestic semifinal round. But should the Wanderers advance to the May 4 Grand Final, it would set up yet another busy week of travel and preparation in the first week of May.

Hiroshima, who split its group stage games with the only common opponent for the Wanderers, Central Coast Mariners, reach the Round of 16 as the second place finisher in Group F. Elsewhere on the East Asia side of the tournament, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors will play Pohang Steelers, competition holders Guangzhou Evergrande will face Cerezo Osaka and last year’s runner-up FC Seoul will play Kawasaki Frontale.

A year after reaching the Champions League’s Round of 16, Central Coast Mariners are out at the group stage level. A 1-0 defeat in Japan at the hands of Sanfrecce Hiroshima left the Mariners in third place in Group F and marks Western Sydney Wanderers as the only A-League side to advance to the knock out rounds. In fact, by finishing second in the group, Hiroshima will play the Wanderers beginning in early May with a quarterfinal position on the line. FC Seoul won the group, beating Beijing Guoan 2-1 in Korea on Wednesday.

Two crushing losses on Match Days 5 and 6 kept the Mariners from advancing. After allowing a last second own-goal against FC Seoul last week, it was a red card and a deflected free kick that bested the A-League’s championship holders. Brent Griffiths was sent off with a straight red card following a tackle outside the box in the 70th minute. The substitute had only replaced Eddy Bosnar in the 68th. The resulting free kick by Tsukasa Shiotani took a deflection off of Satoru Yamagishi, leaving Liam Reddy helpless. Reddy had been in fine form prior to the concession, making several big saves including on Yogiro Takahagi’s earlier free kick.

Western Sydney Wanderers scored in the seventh minute and then poured in a barrage of goals in the final fifteen to destroy Guizhou Renhe and top Group H of the Champions League. The massive margin of victory was enough to lift the Wanderers to first place on goal difference, leaving Western Sydney clear by four goals of Kawasaki Frontale, though both were tied on twelve points. Frontale defeated Ulsan Hyundai in Japan, 3-1, eliminating the Koreans. The Wanderers now await the second place finisher from Group F, which could be any of the four clubs involved - FC Seoul, Central Coast Mariners, Beijing Guoan or Sanfrecce Hiroshima - depending on how Wednesday’s games turn out.

Shannon Cole opened scoring in the seventh minute giving Western Sydney something to work with at Parramatta Stadium. But it took until the 75th minute for the Wanderers to finally secure the game. Renhe, who were missing two players due to red card suspensions from Match Day 5, brought just three substitutes to Australia and used only two of them. Late in the game, fatigue set in, especially as Western Sydney brought in reinforcements. Labinot Haliti scored in the 75th and was followed by substitute Aaron Mooy’s 81st minute penalty. Another substitute, Shinji Ono, scored in the 85th minute before defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley finished off the extraordinary thirteen minutes with an 88th minute goal.

Melbourne Victory’s nice run through a very difficult Champions League group came crashing to an end on Tuesday night in Korea thanks to a 0-0 draw at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in Jeonju. With Guangzhou Evergrande taking all three points from Yokohama F. Marinos in China, the Victory slipped to third thanks to the second tie-breaker. Melbourne finished level on points with Jeonbuk but thanks to draws in both encounters, the head-to-head tie-breaker with the Green Warriors was not enough to determine who advances to the Round of 16. On goal difference, the Victory finished on 0 while Jeonbuk had a +1, mostly thanks to a Match Day 1 defeat of Yokohama F. Marinos, 3-0. Evergrande and Jeonbuk will represent Group G in the knockout rounds.

The Victory fell short of the knockout rounds for the fourth time, having previously gone out in the group stage in 2008, 2010 and 2011. This year’s effort, despite coming from an immensely strong group, represents Melbourne’s highest point total and closest margin of elimination.

Central Coast Mariners were headed for an important nil-nil draw against FC Seoul on Wednesday night in the Champions League’s Match Day 5. Instead, a John Hutchinson own-goal in injury time gave the Korean visitors an 1-0 win at Central Coast Stadium and dropped the Mariners back from first place to last in Group F. Combined with Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s late comeback at Beijing Guoan in the group’s other game on Wednesday, Central Coast will need a victory in Japan next week in order to guarantee advancement to the Round of 16 for a second consecutive season.

Prior to Match Day 6, Central Coast will host Adelaide United in an A-League Elimination Final on Saturday April 19. Should the Mariners win, they would have to quickly fly to Hiroshima for the Sanfrecce match at the Big Arch on Wednesday April 23 before returning to Australia to play either Western Sydney Wanderers or Brisbane Roar as early as Saturday April 26.

In their debut Champions League campaign, Western Sydney Wanderers need only a draw in their final group stage game to advance to the Round of 16. An impressive 2-0 defeat of Ulsan Hyundai at the Big Crown Stadium in Korea on Tuesday night secured top billing in Group H through five rounds. Mark Bridge scored on the hour and Brendon Santalab finished the job with his goal ten minutes from time.

Thanks to Kawaski Frontale’s 1-0 win in China against nine-man Guizhou Renhe, the Wanderers will enter Match Day 6 level on points with their Japanese counterparts but in first place on goal difference. When Western Sydney host Renhe on Tuesday April 22 at Parramatta Stadium, the Chinese side will be without captain Sun Jihai and Zvjedan Misimovic, each of whom were sent off against Kawasaki on Tuesday.

Three points on Tuesday night at Docklands kept the possibility alive of Melbourne Victory advancing through to the Round of 16 in this year’s Champions League. Mark Milligan scored in the 2nd minute and James Troisi added a second in injury time to give the Victory an important win against competition holders Guangzhou Evergrande in Group G. The night’s results, including Yokohama F. Marinos’ win over Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in Japan leaves all four clubs equal on seven points with only goal difference separating them.

Evergrande, who scored four unanswered in the second half to defeat the Victory 4-2 in China in late February were without its top two goal scoring threats, Alessandro Diamanti (calf) and Gao Lin (suspension). Diamanti, who scored twice against Melbourne on Match Day 1 and Gao, who scored twice against Jeonbuk in Evergrande’s other win, represented over sixty percent of the club’s Champions League scoring. Their absences were keenly felt as the Victory took the early lead and never surrendered.

In order to progress into the knockout rounds of the Champions League, Melbourne Victory needed a result in Japan against Yokohama F. Marinos. After an early penalty it looked like that scenario could unfold but three unanswered goals gave the hosts a comfortable 3-2 win at the Yokohama International Stadium on Wednesday night. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors surprised Guangzhou Evergrande with a 1-0 win at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium in the evening’s other match, leaving the Victory three points out of a qualifying position.

James Troisi gave the visitors early hope when he calmly converted a seventh minute penalty after Jason Geria was taken down in the box. But that was it for the Victory until the dying moments of the game, as the Japanese hosts took control midway through the first half. Sho Ito, who just joined Yokohama from Shimizu S-Pulse, chipped Lawrence Thomas after bringing down a long ball in the 21st minute, leveling the score. Six minutes later, Thomas was at fault as he failed to hold a cross from the left and after a poor clearance attempt by the Victory defense, Kosuke Nakamachi drilled a shot into the lower right corner for a 2-1 Yokohama lead. Shingo Hyodo finished off the game in the 89th minute with a nice turn and shot across the face of goal. Jimmy Jeggo managed to slip a goal past Tetsuya Enomoto in the final seconds but it wasn’t enough to keep the Victory from dropping points in a vital game.

Once again Western Sydney Wanderers scored first, but on Tuesday night in Japan, it was Kawasaki Frontale who finished on top thanks to two late goals in the Champions League. Frontale got goals from Kengo Nakamura and Ryota Oshima in the final sixteen minutes to overcome Labinot Haliti’s first half opener at the Todoroki Athletics Stadium just south of Tokyo. Guizhou Renhe surprisingly defeated Ulsan Hyundai 3-1 on Tuesday in Group H’s other game.

Haliti, who scored in the third minute on Match Day 3, which was enough to give Western Sydney all three points against Frontale at Pirtek Stadium, tallied his opener in the 24th minute in Kawasaki. But on Tuesday night, the Wanderers could not ward off the talented J-League side, yielding those two late goals. As it happens, due to the third tiebreaker of goals scored, Western Sydney do remain clear of Frontale in second place, as the clubs are tied on points (six) and goal difference (-1).

Central Coast Mariners went from bottom to top of Champions League Group F with a 1-0 win over Beijing Guoan at Central Coast Stadium on Tuesday. The second half goal snagged all three points and provided a bounce past the other three teams in the group, each of whom is currently on five points. The Mariners have six points through four games. FC Seoul held Sanfrecce Hiroshima to a 2-2 draw on Tuesday in Korea in Group F’s other game.

A fortnight ago, the Mariners were defeated 2-1 at the Workers Stadium with only an extremely late Nick Fitzgerald penalty to show for their efforts. In the return leg, though only 3316 turned out to see the home side play, Central Coast held it together and relied on Liam Reddy for a massive save on a 67th minute Guoan penalty. Reddy dramatically denied Zhang Xizhe six minutes before Marcel Seip scored a brilliant goal for the Mariners.

A two-goal deficit proved too much for Central Coast Mariners on Wednesday night in China. The only A-League club to advance past the Champions League group stage a year ago, the Mariners slipped to fourth place in Group F after losing 2-1 to Beijing Guoan at the Workers Stadium in the Chinese capital. Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat FC Seoul 2-1 on Wednesday in Japan to move into second place in the group.

Darko Matic set up Guoan’s opener just before halftime, feeding Shao Jiayi in the 45th minute. The hosts doubled the lead just after the hour when Peter Utaka got around Liam Reddy and scored from a tight angle. Substitute Isaka Cernak drew a late penalty, which was subsequently converted by Nick Fitzgerald, but it was not nearly enough to steal a point in Beijing.

For the third time in as many Champions League games, Western Sydney Wanderers scored a goal in the first ten minutes. And for the second straight game, the Wanderers made that early goal stand in a 1-0 victory. On Wednesday night at Parramatta Stadium, Western Sydney held off Kawasaki Frontale thanks to Labinot Haliti’s third minute goal and added three more points to an impressive debut Asian campaign. Ulsan Hyundai and Guizhou Renhe drew 1-1 in Korea in Group H’s other Wednesday game.

Kwabena Appiah and Tomi Juric combined to set up Haliti in a remade Wanderers line-up. Tony Popovic was forced to make changes with five games in barely more than two weeks, and those changes paid off against Kawasaki. Juric came closest to doubling the lead when his overhead shot was dramatically saved by Yohei Nishibe in the second half, but it was Western Sydney’s defensive mettle that was most impressive over the duration of the game.

Three points at so-called Melbourne Rectangular Stadium keep Melbourne Victory afloat in the highly competitive Champions League Group G. Kosta Barbarouses scored in the ninth minute to give the hosts a 1-0 win over Yokohama F. Marinos on Tuesday night, keeping the A-Legaue side within reach of knock out stage qualification, at least for now. Guangzhou Evergrande cruised past Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the group’s second game on Tuesday.

Despite Barbarouses’ early goal, which came complements of a Jimmy Jeggo through ball, the Victory were the inferior side for most of the night. The Marinos, second place finishers is last season’s J-League campaign, held the majority of possession and created most of the best chances in the game. That included a 54th minute free kick sent off the crossbar by substitute Jungo Fujimoto and a late shot from Saitō Manabu. Yet for all the control of the game, Yokohama could not find what would have been an important equalizer.

Mark Bridge secured Western Sydney Wanderers’ first three Champions League points on Wednesday night in Guiyang, China. A 1-0 defeat of Guizhou Renhe at the Olympic Center Stadium kept the Chinese Super League’s fourth place finisher in last place in Group H while allowing the Wanderers to slip into second place on goals scored. Ulsan Hyundai defeated Kawasaki Frontale in the group’s first match.

The game’s only (allowed) goal came when Bridge tapped in from close range at the back post. Shannon Cole’s corner was headed on target by Daniel Mullen, who made his Wanderers debut in Guiyang. The header was saved but Bridge was on hand to score what amounted to the match-winner. Labinot Haliti later had a goal called back on a close offside ruling after Cole sent him through with a lobbed through ball.

The K-League’s all-time leading scorer nearly derailed Melbourne Victory’s spell in Group G of the Champions League on Wednesday night at the Etihad Stadium. But Kosta Barbarouses’ late goal kept the Victory relevant heading into Match Day 3, providing a 2-2 draw against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Yokohama F. Marinos were held to a 1-1 draw against Guangzhou Evergrande in the group’s other game.

Jeonbuk’s Leonardo hit the crossbar before the half-hour so it was Nick Ansell who scored the only goal of the first half, knocking in a Jesse Makarounas free kick in the 31st minute. Yet just like Match Day 1 when Melbourne took a half-time lead against Guangzhou Evergrande, the Victory managed to cede significant ground and ultimately the lead in the second half.

After conceding a humiliating goal and watching Sanfrecce Hiroshima honor the three-year anniversary of the devastating tsunami of 2011, Central Coast Mariners finally got on the board and back into Group F of the Champions League. Two Mile Sterjovski goals were the first for the Mariners in this campaign and were just enough to take all three points on Tuesday night at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford. With a draw between FC Seoul and Beijing Guoan at the Workers Stadium, the Mariners finish Match Day 2 in second place.

Defender Tsukasa Shiotani slipped through the Mariners defense completely unmarked and sent a header into the ground in the 21st minute. Despite having Seung-Yong Kim stationed on the far post, the ball bounced over the Korean’s attempted headed clearance and embarrassingly into the net. Hiroshima marked the 3/11 anniversary with a celebration that has now gone viral:

Last season’s A-League premiership winners could not have asked for a better start in their Champions League debut. A first minute goal at home against the K-League’s runner-up looked like it might propel Western Sydney Wanderers to a dream result and launch a good run at the knock out rounds. Instead, Ulsan Hyundai scored twice later in the first half and again mid-way through the second to secure an important 3-1 defeat of the Wanderers at Pirtek Stadium.

Brendon Santalab was the beneficiary of a Shinji Ono through ball in the first minute and did not waste the chance, providing the Wanderers’ first ever goal in Asian competition. Ono nearly had his hand in a second Western Sydney goal but Nikolai Topor-Stanley could not quite direct his header on target in the 16th minute. Moments later heavy rains began and Ulsan quickly recovered.

Melbourne Victory took an improbable two-goal lead into halftime against the reigning Asian champions in China on Wednesday night. Twenty-six minutes later not only was the lead gone but Guangzhou Evergrande had gone ahead for good. In the end, the Victory dropped a 4-2 decision at the Tianhe Stadium in its first Champions League game since 2011.

Huang Bowen scored first for Guangzhou, just before the hour, with Diamanti scoring on his Evergrande debut just six minutes later. With the score even, the hosts went for the kill and Elkeson delivered in the 71st minute, scoring on a shot that ricocheted off of Nick Ansell and past Nathan Coe. Diamanti scored his second five minutes from time to add insult to injury and give the Victory a poor goal difference after just one game in the very difficult Group G.

Central Coast Mariners were the first of the three A-League clubs to kick off its 2014 Champions League campaign with a game at FC Seoul on Tuesday night. The Mariners were outclassed and finished with just ten men in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the 2013 finalists at the Sangam Stadium. Osmar Barba Ibanez and Yun Il-Lok scored for the hosts before Marcel Seip was shown red with the game already out of reach in the 84th minute. The Mariners, who escaped Group H in last year’s competition after taking just one point from the first two games, are in a familiar position after losing this year’s opener.

Seoul’s opener came from the spot after referee Fahad Almirdasi awarded a penalty for contact between Josh Rose and Sergio Escudero. The Mariners protested the penalty on the field and afterward in a press conference, but Osmar’s conversion left Central Coast behind during a spell of strong play. Seoul made it two ten minutes after halftime when 21-year-old Korean international Yun Il-Lok finished off a fine sequence to beat Liam Reddy and finish off the Mariners.

Melbourne Victory joined fellow A-League clubs Western Sydney Wanderers and Central Coast Mariners in the 2014 Asian Champions League group stage by defeating Muangthong United 2-1 at Simonds Stadium in Geelong. The come-from-behind affair brought second half goals from James Troisi and Leigh Broxham to send the Victory back to the group stage for the first time since 2011.

The Thai visitors surprised Victory fans in Geelong by scoring first through Mario Ǵurovski in the 22nd minute. The strange goal came directly from a corner and put the home side in a difficult position. That position was made more frustrating when Mark Milligan’s penalty was saved in first half injury-time by Muangthong goalkeeper Visanusak Kaewruang.

Melbourne Victory have learned its opponent for the Asian Champions League qualifying playoff. On February 15, the Victory will host Thai Premier League side Muangthong United at Kardinia Park in Geelong after the Twin Qilins defeated Hà Nội T&T 2-0 on Saturday. Mario Gjurovski and Jay Bothroyd scored for Thailand’s 2013 runners up to reach the final qualifier next weekend.

The winner of the Victory-Muangthong game will drop directly into the Asian Champions League’s treacherous Group G. Already placed in the competition’s toughest group are ACL holders Guangzhou Evergrande of the Chinese Super League, Yokohama F. Marinos of the J-League and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of the K-League. Indeed, the opener for whichever club survives the game in Geelong will be away to Evergrande at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou on Wednesday February 26. Muangthong finished with just a single point in its group stage appearance in 2013.

It’s been three years since Melbourne Victory were in the Asian Champions League. On February 15, the three-time group stage entrants will try to make it four in hosting a qualifying playoff at Kardinia Park in Geelong. While the Victory do not yet know their specific opponent, they do know it will be one of five teams who will compete earlier in February to determine who travels to Australia with a group stage position on the line.

Muangthong United (Thailand), Pune FC (India), Hanoi T&T (Vietnam), Tampines Rovers (Singapore) and South China AA (Hong Kong) are the potential foes for Melbourne as they seek to return to the continental competition where they were regulars between 2008 and 2011. Should they advance, the Victory would drop into the very difficult Group G with Champions League holders and Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande, Jeonbuk Motors (Korea) and Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan).