JEDDAH: The two Saudi representatives, Al-Hilal and Al-Nasr, defeated Al-Gharrafa and Esteghlal, respectively, in round two matches of the Asian Champions League Tuesday. While Al-Nasr came from behind to inflict a 2-1 win on Iran's Esteghlal to go top of Group B, Hilal snatched a 1-0 victory over host Al-Gharrafa of Qatar. Striker Farhad Majidi put Esteghlal in the lead in the 21st minute, but skipper Hussein Abdul-Ghani leveled the score for Nasr 15 minutes after the break. Substitute striker Sa'ad Al-Harthi put Nasr one better 10 minutes before time. The team had earlier tied with Pakhtakor Tashkent of Uzbekistan. Hilal's Swedish midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson succeeded in scoring the lone goal of the match in the 19th minute to give hope to the Blues following their loss to Sepahan of Iran in the first round encounter. With three points, Hilal is second behind Group A leader Esteghlal, which has secured all the points from its two encounters. The second Group A match was a one-sided affair, with Iran's Foolad Mobarekeh Sepahan dishing out a 5-1 drubbing to Al-Jazira of the United Arab Emirates. Elsewhere, Korean champion FC Seoul took control of its group with a 3-0 win over Hangzhou Greentown in a reduced program due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. All matches in Japan have been suspended until further notice following the devastation in the country, meaning the Group F game between Nagoya Grampus and Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates was postponed. Fellow South Korean side Jeju United came from a goal down to beat Melbourne Victory 2-1 in Group E at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne. Both sides were eager to put opening-day defeats behind them and Melbourne took the lead through Danny Allsopp in the 37th minute. But Park Hyun-bem's 41st minute effort drew last year's K-League runner-up level and it completed a memorable win when Lee Hyun-ho scored the winner against the run of play with just six minutes remaining. Jeju coach Park Kyung-Hoon said the Koreans were back in the running. “That first result against Tianjin set us back but we've worked hard to fight back and we got a great result here,” he said. China's Tianjin Teda beat Gamba Osaka 2-1 at home to move to the top of Group E with two wins out of two. Cao Yang's second-half penalty clinched a hard-fought victory at the Tianjin Teda Stadium. Chen Tao's spectacular long-range strike put the host ahead midway through the first-half before Lee Keun-ho canceled it out on the half-hour mark with a close-range shot. AFC Tuesday reaffirmed the postponement of all AFC football activity on Japanese soil until further notice, including Wednesday's match between Kashima Antlers and Sydney FC in Group H.
