Saudi teams enjoyed a field day as Al-Ittihad and Al-Ettifaq recorded victories in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday. Al-Ittihad rallied to beat Umm-Salal of Qatar 3-1 in Doha while Al-Ettifaq too came from behind to topple Foolad Sepahan of Iran 2-1 in Riyadh. Ittihad, which posted its second straight win, topped Group C with six points and Umm-Salal stayed second with three points. In the other match of the group Al-Jazira of the UAE and Esteghlal of Iran drew 1-1 to remain third and fourth respectively. The win helped Ettifaq share the top spot with Foolad in Group D on three points.In the other match of the group Al-Shabab of the UAE put its campaign back on track by blanking Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan 2-0 which helped it to take third spot. Nadiya Ibrahima gave the host Umm-Salal the lead in the 29th minute at the Qatar Sports Club, but Hamad Al-Montasheri equalized for Al-Ittihad in the 42nd. Ittihad struck twice in two minutes in the second session through Renato Adriano (56) and Hicham Aboucherouane (58). In Riyadh, Hamad Al-Hamad scored the winning goal in the 85th minute for Ettifaq. Rasoul Khateebi gave the visitors the lead in the 45th minute, but Abdul-Rahman Al-Qahtani equalized for Ettifaq. Japan's Kashima Antlers stormed back to their winning ways, beating a 10-man Shanghai Shenhua 2-0 as fellow J-Leaguer Kawasaki Frontale earned a point in Korea with a 1-1 draw. It was a welcome return to form for the Japanese champion who was thrashed 4-1 in their opening match by Korea's Suwon Bluewings then lost in its domestic competition over the weekend. Kashima showed character to bounce back against Shanghai, who was in confident mood after hammering Singapore Armed Forces 4-1 in its opening game. Boosted by the signings of Australian international Mark Milligan and Belarus forward Vyacheslav Hleb, younger brother of Barcelona star Alexander, Shanghai proved to be the better team early on. But it was Kashima midfielder Takuya Nozawa who got the crucial opening goal just before the break when he latched on to a pinpoint pass from Yuya Osako and fired beyond goalkeeper Zhang Chen. Shanghai pressed hard for the equalizer but when Du Wei, captain of the Chinese national team, was sent off for a second yellow card in the 68th minute their heads dropped and Osako sealed the win with 11 minutes to go. Kawasaki Frontale, who won its opening game, grabbed a point against Korean FA Cup winner Pohang Steelers in a game featuring a heavy South American flavor with five Brazilians in action. Choi Hyo-Jin scored the opener for the home team in the 12th minute before Shuhei Terada equalized midway through the half. Despite numerous chances neither side could find the killer punch. Pohang now has two points from two games while Kawasaki have four. The other teams in their Group H, China's Tianjin Teda and Australian outfit Central Coast Mariners, fought out an exciting 2-2 draw. Tianjin went to the break 1-0 ahead after Brazil's Eber struck in the 36th minute. The Mariners got themselves back in the game three minutes after the restart through Adrian Caceres before taking the lead four minutes later when Matt Simon pounced against the run of play. But their lead was shortlived with We Weian drawing Tianjin level just minutes later to hand the Chinese side its first point of the championship. In Singapore, S-League champion Singapore Armed Forces lost their second game in a row, crashing 2-0 to Korea's Suwon, who are the only team in their group to have maximum points. A second-half brace from Edu did the damage, leaving the Singaporens almost certainly out of the running. In West Asia zone matches, Iranian powerhouse Esteghlal snatched its first point of the tournament in a 1-1 draw with UAE hotshots Al
