Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Pohang Steelers, Nagoya Grampus, Umm-Salal, Al-Ittihad, Advance To Semis

The AFC Champions League's quarterfinal round concluded with four games on Wednesday.

At Pohang, South Korea:

Goals from Kim Jae-Sung (46') and Denilson (57', 77') enabled Pohang Steelers to take game two of their two-match set with FC Bunyodkor 3-1, forcing overtime, during which Stevo scored the series winner at 102 minutes to send the hosts into the semifinal round, taking the series 5-4 on aggregate.

At Nagoya, Japan:

In game two of the two match series between Japanese clubs, Ogawa Yoshizumi (27'), Maya Yoshida (35'), and Joshua Kennedy (88') each tallied once as Nagoya Grampus overturned their 2-1 road defeat from last week by defeating visiting Kawasaki Frontale 3-1 in game two and winning the two-match set 4-3 on aggregate.

At Seoul, South Korea:

Aziz Ben Askar's goal at 13 minutes enabled Umm-Salal to gain a 1-1 road draw with FC Seoul. The club from Qater took the two-match set 4-3 on aggregate.

At Jeddah, Saudi Arabia:

Goals from Sultan Al Namare (43'), Amine Chermiti (55'), Hicham Aboucherouane (71'), and Mohammed Noor (77') powered Al-Ittihad to a game-two 4-0 frontier-styled fistbeating of Pakhtakor Tashkent and a 5-1 aggregate win for the two-match set.

The semifinal round is now set.

The two two-match home-and-away series will get under way on October 21 as Nagoya Grampus will travel to Saudi Arabia to take on Al-Ittihad while Umm-Salal will head to South Korea for a game-one encounter with Pohang Steelers.

The return contests will both take place on October 28 in Japan and Qatar.


The winner will face each other in the final which will take place on November 7 at Tokyo's National Stadium.

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