Evergrande 'invasion' flops as Sydney send champs packing

Milos Dimitrijevic’s late winner stunned China’s Guangzhou Evergrande on Wednesday as the super-rich AFC Champions League title-holders were sent packing 2-1 by a determined Sydney FC.

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Evergrande boast one of Asia’s most potent and expensive strike-forces, but Dimitrijevic’s 88th-minute clincher and Ricardo Goulart’s penalty miss made it an away trip to forget.

Evergrande had raised hackles by tweeting a mock-up of a naval invasion of Sydney Harbour, with the title “Jackson Landing” -— referring to 42-million-euro (US$45.6 million) striker Jackson Martinez.
But it was Graham Arnold’s side who torpedoed the visitors as Evergrande ended the second week of competition bottom of Group H with just one point from two matches.

“Before the game the coach told us, let’s try to shock Asia to win this game, and I think we did it and I hope we will keep going,” Dimitrijevic said.

Sydney began strongly before a noisy crowd dominated by red-shirted Guangzhou supporters, swelled by Evergrande’s giveway of more than 9,000 free tickets to the local expat Chinese community.

But Sydney, assembled for a fraction of the cost of Evergrande, constantly took the game to the Chinese giants and they forged a shock lead when Robert Stambolziev scored on 17 minutes.

The Guangzhou defenders failed to clear the ball from the danger area before a downward header from Shane Smeltz found Stambolziev, who stabbed the ball home.

The defending champions had a chance to hit back almost immediately, when record signing Martinez of Colombia was pulled down by Sebastian Ryall for a penalty.

But Brazilian playmaker Goulart’s poorly struck spot kick was well saved by home goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic, diving sharply to his right.

However, Evergrande levelled only three minutes later when Goulart released Huang Bowen, whose goal-bound shot cannoned in off lunging defender Rhyan Grant.

Goulart looked to have a good claim for a penalty nine minutes from the end when he was apparently held back by Grant as he tried to wriggle his way clear in the box.

But ultimately Serbian substitute Dimitrijevic was the Sydney star as his shot squirmed beneath Guangzhou goalkeeper Zeng Cheng in the 88th minute.

Elsewhere Pohang Steelers, who held Evergrande 0-0 last week, beat Urawa Red Diamonds 1-0 through Jun Ho-Son’s first-half penalty to go top of Group H.

In Group G, Shanghai SIPG gave Evergrande further cause for regret when offloaded striker Elkeson fired their Chinese rivals to a 2-1 win over Suwon Bluewings.

In West Asia, Qatar’s El Jaish handed inaugural AFC champions Al Ain their second defeat in eight days to top Group D with six points.

Moroccan striker Abderrazzaq Hamedallah struck in the 49th minute in Doha and Yasser Essa consolidated in the 79th to give El Jaish a 2-0 lead before Saeed al-Kathiri’s 86th minute header proved ensured some consolation for the UAE side who dominated the first session but failed to find the target.

In another Group D match, Uzbekistan’s Nasaf defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli 2-1 in Karshi with Bobur Abdukhalikov and Makhsud Karimov on target in the second half.

Mohanad Aseri struck in the 71st minute to pull one back for Al Ahli. The Uzbeks thus avenged their defeat by the same scoreline in Jeddah last week.

In Group C, UAE side Al Jazira fell to a 1-0 home defeat against Iran’s Tractorsazi Tabriz with Bakhtiar Rahmani netting the winner in the 31st minute.

It was Rahmani’s third goal in two AFC Champions League games this season as Tractorsazi Tabriz notched up back-to-back wins over Al Jazira to go top.

In a late Group C game, Saudi side Al Hilal thrashed Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor 4-1.
Source: AFP