North Korea beat Morocco
Balsa Sekulic shone with a second-half brace to give Persib Bandung a 2-0 win over Australia’s Melbourne Victory in their AFC Champions League Two clash on Wednesday.
The home victory earned the Indonesia side their third Group E win in as many matches while Melbourne remained in second place on four points after falling to their first defeat.
Melbourne failed to capitalise on early opportunities as Keegan Jelacic first had his seventh-minute attempt from the byline blocked by defender Danijel Loncar, the striker then arriving too late in the area to connect to Charles Nduka’s inviting header.
The home side fared no better in the opening 20 minutes, Gakuto Notsuda’s strike from distance was easily collected by Jack and Berguinho steering his header wide of the right post following a corner.
Persib’s Franco Lino missed the inside of the right post by inches in the 25th minute while Sekulic, set loose on the left at the opposing end by Berguinho, saw his attempt on the half-hour mark fly off into the distance.
The Indonesian side’s single shot on target saw them head into the break one better than their counterparts, who failed to gain any headway in the goal-making department.
Persib wasted no time in finding the opening goal after the restart when Sekulic squeezed between two defenders on the right two minutes in and guided his shot beyond a diving Warshawsky into the bottom left.
The striker almost added a second in the 52nd minute with a dipping strike from outside the area but his attempt was palmed over by the alert Melbourne keeper.
Melbourne forced their way into the game three minutes later when Clarismario Santos’s wicked 18-yard shot crashed against the underside, with Nduka’s follow-up effort cleared away by defender Patricio Matricardi.
Warshawsky tipped over Thom Haye’s 30-yard free-kick in the 63rd minute, but Sekulic got the better of him three minutes later when he came in from behind the defence to pick up Berguinho’s pin-point through ball and drill his shot into the bottom left.
Matthew Grimaldi had Melbourne’s first look at goal in the 74th minute but saw his attempt easily collected by Fitrah Maulana while Jelacic shot just wide of the right post in the closing minutes as the clock ended their hopes of a fightback.
Buriram holds Gamba Osaka
A dominant Gamba Osaka had to come from behind to play out a 1-1 stalemate with Thailand’s Buriram United in their encounter on Wednesday.
Eduardo Mancha’s first-half goal was cancelled out by substitute Takashi Usami in the 66th minute to leave the undefeated Japanese outfit on seven points while Buriram, five adrift, were kept waiting for their first win.
Gamba Osaka’s Whelton Felipe fumbled a great chance to put his side ahead in the ninth minute by blasting over in front of an empty goalmouth after connecting with Eli Adam’s cross from the right and with keeper Neil Etheridge focused on Yusei Toshida.
Etheridge made consecutive saves in the 16th minute, first awkwardly spilling Juanpe’s 25-yard strike and, with Toshida pouncing on the loose ball, pulling off a brilliant one-hand second to tip over the striker’s close-range effort.
The visitors were kept on the edge as Gamba Osaka pushed forward but both Shuto Abe and Juanpe went off-target while Ryotaro Meshino wasted Felipe’s good work down the left in the 26th minute by booting over from the centre of the box.
A string of misses followed from the 36th minute – Toshida’s looping header going inches past the right post, Felipe shooting straight at Etheridge from the byline and again Toshida, this time bundling the ball over on the right.
The Thai side, however, produced the opener with their first shot on target in the 39th minute when Mancha slipped the ball in from close range after keeper Jun Ichimuri collided with Buriram captain Ken Dougall in a crowded goalmouth, with the goal confirmed after a VAR review.
Buriram once again netted against the run of play after the break but Guilherme Bissoli’s 49th-minute goal was disallowed for handball following a VAR review.
Gamba Osaka resumed business with three fresh faces, and substitute Usami came to their rescue in the 66th minute when his free-kick from the left floated into the area and was pushed into the net by Etheridge as he attempted to tip it over.
Felipe struck the left post from inside the six-yard box in the 81st minute while Rin Mito’s brilliant try from the left in the same minute was parried away by the Buriram keeper as the home side looked for the winner but had to share points.
Seoul hammers The Cong – Viettel FC
FC Seoul put their campaign back on track on Wednesday as Kim Gi-dong’s side handed The Cong – Viettel FC a 5-0 defeat in Hanoi to secure their first points in Group E of the competition.
Moon Seon-min put the visitors in front in the eighth minute before goals from Anderson Oliveira, Hwang Do-yun, Cho Young-wook and Leonardo Ruiz earned a comprehensive victory for FC Seoul.
The win moves FC Seoul off the bottom of the Group E standings, ahead of The Cong, and the only blemish on an otherwise perfect evening was a 66th minute red card for Yazan Al Arab, who was sent off for a foul on Khuat Van Khang.
FC Seoul were rampant in the opening half, effectively sealing the points by the 34th minute as Kim’s side picked up their first win the competition just days after lifting the K League 1 title for the first time in a decade.
Moon gave the visitors the ideal start, finishing off a move that saw Anderson picked out on the left edge of the penalty area and the Brazilian steered the ball into the centre for the winger to score.
Twelve minutes later Anderson added the second, showing his individual qualities when he controlled Hrvoje Babec’s sweeping pass from the right on his chest before lashing a rising shot beyond Nguyen Van Viet and into the top corner.
Moon was the architect of FC Seoul’s third in the 29th minute, crossing from the right to Leonardo Ruiz at the far post and his header back across the face of goal was directed home as Hwang Do-yun scored with a diving header.
The onslaught continued in the 34th minute with Cho converting from another Moon centre, the ball finding the striker close to the penalty spot and he swept his first time shot into the corner. Cho almost hit a fifth for FC Seoul, thumping the woodwork in the 36th minute.
Pham Trung Hieu went close to pulling one back for the hosts in first half stoppage time when his shot was the wrong side of the top corner but by the ninth minute of the second half FC Seoul had further increased their lead.
Anderson was involved again, feeding Babec as he burst into the area and the Croatian midfielder delivered for Leonardo to score on the turn from the edge of the six-yard box.
Al Arab was dismissed when he needlessly upended Van Khang on the edge of the FC Seoul penalty area to earn his second booking of the match but it mattered little as the visitors cruised to victory.
RESULTS
Kashima Antlers (Jpn) beat Pohang Steelers (Kor) 3-0
Al Wahda (UAE) beat Al Khaldiya (Bhr) 2-1
Al Taawoun (Ksa) beat Al Faisaly (Jor) 2-0
Al Jazira Club (UAE) beat Al Muharraq (Hbr) 4-2
Al Rayyan (Qat) beat Al Nahda (Oma) 4-1
Golgohar Sirjan (Irn) drew FC Arkadag (Tkm) 0-0
Kuwait SC beat PFC Nasaf (Uzb) 1-0
FC Seoul (Kor) beat The Cong-Viettel (Vie) 5-0
Persib Bandung (Ina) beat Melbourne Victory (Ina) 2-0
Gamba Osaka (Jpn) drew Buriram United (Tha) 1-1
