Guangzhou pegged back by Melbourne 2nd string

MELBOURNE: Fabio Cannavaro’s seven-time Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande were held to a 1-1 draw by an under-strength Melbourne Victory who withstood intense pressure in the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale gave themselves a qualification lifeline as they fought back from a goal down at home with nine minutes remaining to draw 2-2 with South Korea’s Ulsan FC.

In a high-tempo encounter in Melbourne, the two-time Asian champions had to settle for a point after Huang Bowen’s 24th-minute strike was cancelled out by Jai Ingham’s goal two minutes later. The Chinese powerhouse edged to the top of Group F after two wins and draw, a point ahead of South Korea’s Daegu FC and Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima who clashed in the later game.

In Kawasaki, Leandro Damiao fired home an 81st-minute equaliser to revive Frontale’s fading hopes of progress to the last 16 in Group H. Star striker Yu Kobayashi opened the scoring for the home side after a corner in the eighth minute, but the Koreans struck back twice before half-time through Park Yang-woo’s effort at the far post and Junior Negrao’s run and shot.

Kawasaki piled on the pressure towards the end with Kobayashi guilty of the miss of the match in the second minute of stoppage time when he found himself unmarked with the goal gaping from six yards, but somehow hit the post. Ulsan remain top of Group H on eight points — with Shanghai SIPG and Sydney FC clashing in a later match — while Kawasaki are bottom on four.

With Melbourne Victory having little chance of qualification after three previous defeats in the group, coach Kevin Muscat opted to rest the likes of Japan superstar Keisuke Honda and big Swedish striker Ola Toivonen. Experienced former Socceroo James Troisi was also missing through injury.

Despite Cannavaro putting out the same XI that thrashed Victory 4-0 in China this month, the Melbourne young guns more than held their own.Storm Roux almost gave them a shock lead after barely 60 seconds when he had a free header from a corner, only for the ball to graze the bar.The visitors started finding space and Brazilian Paulinho shrugged off two defenders and his clever cutback found an unmarked Huang, who had a simple tap-in.