BEIJING — Former winner Guangzhou Evergrande secured a return to the semifinals of the AFC Champions League after an entertaining 1-1 draw with Japan's Kashiwa Reysol in Tuesday's quarterfinal second leg sealed a 4-2 aggregate victory for the Chinese Super League champion. Kashiwa reduced Guangzhou's 3-1 advantage from last month's first leg in Japan after just 13 minutes at the Tianhe Sport Centre Stadium courtesy of a header from Brazilian striker Cristiano. But after midfielder Huang Bowen equalized for the 2013 champion with a stunning volley 15 minutes before half-time, Luiz Felipe Scolari's Guangzhou set up a semifinal meeting with either Japan's Gamba Osaka or Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors despite the best efforts of the hard-working Japanese visitors. Looking to defend a significant advantage from last month's first leg, Guangzhou coach Scolari made just one change to his side with Elkeson replacing Gao Lin after the Brazilian striker made a scoring return from injury in the Chinese Super League at the weekend. And needing to score three goals to keep their qualification hopes alive, Kashiwa coach Tatsuma Yoshida made two changes from the first leg defeat with captain Hidekazu Otani and defender Ryosuke Yamanaka recalled at the expense of Yuta Nakayama and Masato Fujita. South American confederation approves reform plan South America's troubled soccer confederation CONMEBOL has approved a reform plan after it was caught up in the corruption scandal that has swept the sport and plunged governing body FIFA into crisis. CONMEBOL said its executive committee had approved a “comprehensive review of the management model and the organizational structure.” Ernst & Young had been called in to implement the reforms and the audit firm started work at the confederation's headquarters in Asuncion, Paraguay, Monday. CONMEBOL, an influential grouping that includes traditional soccer powers such as Brazil and Argentina, is heavily embroiled in the corruption probe led by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Of 14 soccer officials and sports marketing executives indicted in the United States in May on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges involving more than $150 million in payments, eight were from South America. They included two former CONMEBOL presidents, Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolas Leoz, plus the Venezuelan federation president Rafael Esquivel, the former head of the Brazilian confederation and three Argentine and one Brazilian executives. Figueredo and Esquivel, still being held in a Swiss prison pending extradition proceedings after they were arrested in Zurich on the eve of a FIFA Congress, were both CONMEBOL executive committee members at the time. The core charges in the case focus on the alleged payment of bribes to secure commercial and broadcasting contracts for major tournaments in the Americas. In June, Paraguay's Congress approved a measure withdrawing immunity from the CONMEBOL's headquarters. The building, on a 40-hectare site near Asuncion's airport, had enjoyed immunity from search since it was opened in 1997. — Agencies
