Beijing soar, Brisbane floored in Asia

BRISBANE: Beijing Guoan reached the AFC Champions League round of 16 on Tuesday but Australia’s Brisbane Roar crashed out with a 2-1 defeat to Urawa Red Diamonds.
The Chinese side qualified top of Group G with a 1-1 away draw with South Korea’s Suwon Samsung, who finish second but also go through to the knockout stage.
In the final round of group games, Brisbane needed a big win to have any hope of advancing, but they were continually prised open at the back before Shinzo Koroki opened the scoring on 24 minutes.
Keita Suzuki’s deft through-ball put Koroki clear and the captain rounded it off with a smooth finish into the bottom right of the home side’s goal.
Yuki Muto drove another nail into Brisbane’s coffin after half-time when he received a peach of a pass on the far post and blasted home on 57 minutes.
With 20 minutes left, Brisbane pulled one back through Andrija Kaluderovic, who buried his shot after Devante Clut let the ball run past him and into the box.
But with Beijing drawing with Suwon, there was no hope for Brisbane who suffered further disappointment after going out of the A-League finals series last week.