BEIJING — Late strikes from Pablo Batalla and Yu Dabao gave Beijing Guoan a 2-0 win over Urawa Red Diamonds as it took a firm grip on its AFC Champions League group Tuesday. Argentinian midfielder Batalla was on target 12 minutes from time before Yu got the clincher in the 84th as Beijing made it three wins from three in Group G. It took a moment of quality to break the deadlock when Batalla latched on to Shusaku Nishikawa's poor, punched clearance and chipped the stranded goalkeeper. And Batalla also created Beijing's second when his cutback found Yu on the edge of the box and the Chinese forward fired home. At the halfway stage in the group, Gregorio Manzano's men in green are provisionally six points clear of Brisbane Roar and Suwon Bluewings, who play Wednesday. But there was disappointment for other Chinese sides as Guangzhou R&F lost 1-0 at home to Seongnam FC, and Shandong Luneng went down 2-1 at Kashiwa Reysol. Guangzhou, provisionally third in Group F, now has work to do if it is to emulate its illustrious city rival Evergrande. Naoki Wako's injury-time winner shattered Shandong, which slipped to four points back from leader Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Kashiwa in Group E. Lee Dong-Gook scored in each half as Jeonbuk thrashed Binh Duong 3-0 to leave the Vietnamese side rock-bottom on zero points in the same group. Iranian champion Foolad Khouzestan extended its undefeated record in the AFC Champions League to 11 games after sharing a 0-0 draw with last year's runner-up Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia. The Group C stalemate, though, does mean that Foolad is yet to post a win in the 2015 edition after it recorded a third consecutive tie having also split the points with Al-Sadd of Qatar and Uzbekistan's Lokomotiv. Al-Hilal, too, had been looking for a response to its defeat a fortnight ago to Al-Sadd in Doha but Greek coach Giorgos Donis, appointed earlier this month, is still yet to enjoy a victory on the continent with his new club. In late matches Lekhwiya SC of Qatar edged FC Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan 1-0 and Al-Sadd thrashed Lokomotiv Tashkent of Uzbekistan 6-2. Lowest-ranked team advances In Bhutan, the lowest-ranked team in world soccer won again Tuesday and advanced to the second round of World Cup qualifying. Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom ranked 209th by FIFA, beat Sri Lanka 2-1 at home in the second leg and advanced 3-1 on aggregate. Chencho Gyeltshen scored both goals for Bhutan. In the next round, Bhutan could end up facing Asian powers like Japan, Iran or South Korea. Also, India was held to a 0-0 draw by Nepal in Kathmandu but advanced with a 2-0 aggregate victory, and East Timor beat Mongolia 1-0 in Ulaanbataar to advance 5-1 on aggregate. — Agencies
