Shabab beat Al-Rayyan of Qatar 1-0 at home, the other Al-Ittihad was beaten 3-2 by Piroozi of Iran in its away Asian Champions League encounter Tuesday. Shabab defeated Al-Rayyan in a round-five Group D match at the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh thanks to striker Nasser Al-Shamrani's 78th minute goal. The win lifted the Saudi club to second spot in the group with eight points. Zobahan of Iran tops the groups with 13 points after beating Emirates club of the UAE. Al-Ittihad lost 3-2 to Piroozi of Iran in their Group C match. Midfielder Ali Asgari put Piroozi in the lead in the 14th minute before winger Albanian Shpejtim Arifi doubled the score for the home side two minutes later. Ittihad striker Mohammed Al-Rashid managed to decrease the margin five minutes later. However, Asgari succeeded in restoring Piroozi's lead in the 70th minute before his teammate Sekou Berthe mistakenly averted a free kick by Ittihad's midfielder Paulo Jorge into his own net. Ittihad has already qualified for the next round after collecting 10 points. Ittihad will host Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan in the last group encounter. The result of the match will determine whether Ittihad will qualify first or second. On the contrary, Piroozi is third on five points. Uzbek outfit Bunyodkor beat Al-Wehda of the United Arab Emirates 3-2 in the same group. In Group B Al-Sadd of Qatar drew 2-2 with Iran's Esteghlal. Elsewhere K-League sides Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors swept into the Asian Champions League knockout phase Tuesday along with Japan's Kashima Antlers. Suwon beat Sydney FC 3-1 at home to top Group H on nine points, the same number as Kashima, with just one round of matches remaining in the group stage. Two goals from forward Shinzo Koroki fired seven-time J-League winner Kashima Antlers to a 2-0 victory over Shanghai Shenhua in Tokyo. Jeonbuk edged China's Shandong Luneng 2-1 in its away fixture to reach 12 points in Group G, a result that guarantees it will qualify for the last 16. Suwon took control of an open and entertaining match with goals from Ha Tae-goon and Mato Neretljak. While Bruno Cazarine pulled one back for Sydney, a late strike from Yeom Ki-hun gave Suwon a deserved win. The Koreans took the lead in the first half when a free-kick was curled behind the Sydney backline for Ha to nod home from the edge of the six-yard box and five minutes after the restart, Suwon doubled its advantage from a Neretljak free-kick. Sydney immediately pulled a goal back but Suwon settled the contest with 10 minutes to go. Jeonbuk, winner of the competition in 2006, beat China's Shandong Luneng 2-1 through a brace from Lee Dong-gook. Seven-time J-League winner Kashima opened the scoring in their match against Shanghai Shenhua through a Koroki header and doubled its lead when Koroki scored again after Shanghai goalkeeper Wang Dalei failed to hold an effort from Brazilian Fellype Gabriel. Cerezo Osaka kept its Champions League hopes alive with an emphatic 4-0 win away at Arema Indonesia, moving to second in Group G behind Jeonbuk with nine points.
