Ittihad kept its hopes alive in Group B after blanking host Al-Wehdah of the UAE 2-0 at Al-Nahayan Stadium while, Al-Hilal shared points with its guest Al-Ahli of the UAE in Group D after a 1-1 draw at King Fahd International Stadium in the AFC Champions League Wednesday. The win put Ittihad in the third place in the group with four points after three encounters. It had lost its first match 0-3 to Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan before it tied 2-2 with its guest Zobahan of Iran. On the other hand, Hilal sits on top of the group with seven points, one point ahead from Al-Sadd of Qatar. The Blues had defeated Al-Sadd of Qatar 3-0 before winning over Mes Kerman 3-1. Ittihad midfielder Mohammed Noor steered his team to a 2-0 away victory over Al-Wehdah to renew hopes of the last championship's runner-up. Noor created the first goal for the Algerian striker Abdul-Malik Ziaya after 17 minutes when he sent a cross from the right to Ziaya who headed into the goal powerfully. Noor sealed his team's first win in the current competition in the third minute of stoppage time after he exchanged the ball with Hisham Aboucherouane. Ittihad could have added at least two more goals had midfielder Saud Kariri was a bit luckier when he headed towards the goal. He had another chance a minute before the break when his free kick just missed the goal. In Riyadh, Eissa Al-Muhayani put Hilal in the lead three minutes after the break before Abdrabou Hosni leveled the score for Al-Ahli of the UAE in the last minute of the match. After the break, Hilal coach, Eric Gerets replaced the ineffective midfielder Mohammed Al-Shalhoub with an energetic Nawaf Al-Abed. It only took Hilal three minutes after the break to score a goal through Eissa Al-Muhayani who received Radoi's long pass in the area. With the match going to end, Gerets replaced two attacking midfielders, Neves and Furaidy with more defensive ones. The replacements indicated the coach was happy with the result and would like to keep it. However, Abdullah Al-Zouri disappointed his coach in the 89th minute when he brought down the advancing Cesar Clederson just outside the box. Ahli midfielder Abdrabou Hosni kicked to shot the ball into the right corner of Hilal goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Deayea. Elsewhere, Kashima Antlers crushed Indonesian minnows Persipura Jayapura 5-0, making it three wins out of three. Jeonbuk Motors beat Changchun Yatai 2-1 in the other Group F game. Australia's Adelaide moved closer to the knockout round with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Japan's Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Group H. Defending champions Pohang Steelers of Korea remained second in the group after a hard-fought 1-0 home win over China's Shandong Luneng. Qatar's Al-Sadd thrashed Iranians Mes Kerman 4-1. Luiz Felipe Scolari and his Uzbek champion Bunyodkor suffered their first defeat of the campaign after two victories as they went down 3-0 away to Iranian side Zobahan in Group B.
