Moroccan striker Hicham Aboucherouane scored a late goal to steer Al-Ittihad to the AFC Champions League quarterfinals after a 2-1 victory over Al-Shabab on Wednesday. Al-Shabab will join Dammam's Al-Ittifaq which also was eliminated from the competition following a 2-1 defeat against Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam. Alexander Geynrikh's last minute free-kick sent Uzbeks into the quarterfinals as he sealed the win in a crucial time. Prince Tagoe put Al-Ittifaq ahead in the 33rd minute while Zaynitdin Tadjiyev equalized for the visitors in the 79th minute. Earlier on Tuesday, Al-Hilal was edged from the last 16 after Umm Salal of Qatar won on penalties 4-3 at the King Fahd International Stadium. Now, Two-time winner Al-Ittihad is the only Saudi side in the quarterfinals of the competition which saw all the four Saudi teams passing to the knockout stage. At the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Abdul Aziz Al-Saran snatched an early after 17 minutes after he took an advantage of Al-Ittihad goalkeeper's error inside the box. Osamah Al-Harbi equalized for Al-Ittihad just one minute after the break before as headed Mohammed Noor's right edge cross to the left side of Waleed Abdullah. In the 94th minute, Aboucherouane found himself in a face to face clash with Al-Shabab goalkeeper before the Moroccan striker blasted the ball to the far left side. With this win, Al-Ittihad avenged its 4-0 defeat against Al-Shabab in the King's Cup two weeks ago. Another Uzbekistan club Bunyodkor made the quarterfinals. It beat Piroozi Athletic 1-0 in Tehran. Rivaldo's first-half penalty won it for Bunyodkor, a semifinalist last year. He was fouled by Piroozi's Nabiollah Bagheriha and converted the spot kick four minutes before halftime. Bunyodkor goalie Murotjon Zukhurov made a flashy dive to palm away Bagheriha's header just before halftime, but it was one of Piroozi's few chances in a match dominated by Bunyodkor, the Uzbek champion which was undefeated in its home league. Afterward, Piroozi coach Nelo Vingada, a Portuguese, said it was his last match in charge, as he'd resigned two days earlier. The East half of the draw doesn't play until June 24, when it will be Nagoya Grampus (Japan) vs. Suwon Samsung Bluewings (South Korea), Gamba Osaka (Japan) vs. Kawasaki Frontale (Japan), Kashima Antlers (Japan) vs. FC Seoul (South Korea), and Pohang Steelers (South Korea) vs. Newcastle Jets (Australia). Japan beat Chile 4-0 Forward Shinji Okazaki scored twice to lead Japan to a 4-0 victory over Chile in the opener of the three-nation Kirin Cup football tournament on Wednesday. Venlo midfielder Keisuke Honda's shot in the 20th minute was saved by goalkeeper Miguel Pinto, but Okazaki quickly hit the rebound into the net. Only four minutes later, Okazaki received a pin-point cross from captain Yuji Nakazawa and fired home his second goal of the day, after beating two defenders. “The first one was a rebound and the second one was a nice cross. I'm really happy that I was able to score. We are determined to beat Uzbekistan in the World Cup qualifier, keeping the momentum,” said Okazaki. __
