Domingues double puts Kashiwa Reysol on top
There were victories for Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol and China’s Beijing Guoan in group stages of Asian Champions League.
Leandro Domingues scored two goals and set up another as Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol beat Australian side Central Coast Mariners 3-1 to remain at the top in Group H of the Asian Champions League on Wednesday.
Kashiwa stayed perfect with six points in Group H, while the Mariners have one point after an opening 0-0 draw with South Korean club Suwon Bluewings.
In the other group match, Suwon and Chinese team Guizhou Renhe finished in a goalless draw.
Kenta Kano converted a pass from Domingues in the 67th minute to give Kashiwa the lead for good. The Brazilian added another with a clever volley with two minutes remaining.
Patrick Zwaanswijk gave the visitors the lead only eight minutes in but Domingues equalised in the 21st minute.
Central Coast had a chance to pull one back after Domingues’ second goal but Kashiwa goalkeeper Takanori Sugeno saved substitute Michael McGlinchey’s spot kick. It was the fifth penalty in a row the Mariners have failed to convert.
In Group G, Piao Cheng scored in the 79th minute to lift Beijing Guoan to a 2-1 win over J-League champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Lang Zheng opened the scoring in the 21st minute at Beijing Workers’ Stadium but Naoki Ishihara equalised for Hiroshima in the 75th.
In the other group match, Kamoliddin Murzoev scored in the final minute of stoppage time as Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor salvaged a 2-2 draw with South Korea’s Pohang Steelers in Tashkent.
Oleksandr Pishchur put the hosts ahead in the first half but the Steelers erased the deficit on goals from Lee Myeong-ju on the hour mark and Lee Gwang-hoon seven minutes later before Murzoev’s last-gasp equaliser.
Beijing and Bunyodkor improved to four points, two ahead of the Steelers, while Hiroshima remained winless.