S. Korea goes to Asia Club c'ship quarters
S. Korea goes to Asia Club c'ship quarters
HONG KONG (Agencies): South Korea's 1994 player of the year Ko Joeng-woon steered Ilhwa Chunma through to the quarterfinals of the Asia Club Championship.
Ko scored both goals in his team's 2-0 win over Malaysian champion Pahang. Seoul-based Ilhwa, Korean champion for the past two seasons, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-2 aggregate win, having won the first leg of this second round tie 3-2 in Malaysia.
Ilhwa had no problems completing the job at home at the Tongdaemun stadium over the weekend. Ko struck in the 32nd and 62nd minutes.
In the other matches, Indonesia's Persib won 3-1 against Pasay City, Philippines, in Manila to go through 5-2 on aggregate. Kopetdag of Turkmenistan thrashed Al Ansar of Lebanon 5-0 in a second round first leg tie in Ashgabat. The second leg is in Beirut on Nov. 5
A fourth-minute goal from Moukhadov put Kopetdag ahead but the home team had to wait until the second half to score again - with goals from Seidiev, Korj, Annadourdyev and Agaev.
The 28 clubs in the championship divided in West and East competitions, with four clubs from each region playing in a quarterfinal round-robin league to produce two qualifiers for the semifinals.
Three of the four quarterfinalists in East Asia are known -- Japan's Verdy Kawasaki, Ilhwa Chunma and Persib. The fourth is almost certain to be holder Thai Farmers Bank, which routed Valencia of Maldives 6-0 in the first leg and plays its away leg in Male on Nov. 11.
Petrokimia Putra
In the Asia Cup Winners' Cup, Indonesia's Petrokimia Putra upset Rajpracha of Thailand 3-2 in their second round second leg match at Gresik, East Java. The two were tied at 7-7 on aggregate, but Petrokimia clinched the quarterfinal berth on goal ruling. The East Javanese scored more goals in its away match.
The Indonesian side will next face Japan's Bellmare Hiratsuka in the quarterfinals.
Bellmare put its disappointing J League form behind it to sink Sabah of Malaysia 5-0 in a second round, second leg tie to go through 7-1 on aggregate. Bellmare joins J League rival Yokohama Flugels in the quarterfinals.
Al Riyadh of Saudi Arabia went through to the quarterfinals beating Homenmen (Lebanon) 5-0 on aggregate, while Iranian league leader Bahman drew 2-2 away to Vostok (Kazakhstan) to win 3-2 on aggregate, and Yangier (Uzbekistan) beat Talaa (Iraq) 2-1 in the first leg of their second round tie. The second leg is in Iraq on Nov. 3.