South Americans shine to keep Hebei head of Asian CL queue
Hebei China Fortune’s South American stars came up trumps to move it a step closer to qualifying for next year’s Asian Champions League with a 3-0 win over Chinese Super League champion Guangzhou Evergrande on Sunday.
Brazilian Aloisio bagged a brace, with Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi also on the scoresheet, as Hebei kept hold of third place in the CSL ahead of Fabio Cannavaro’s Tianjin Quanjian with one match left.
Hebei has 52 points, one more than Cannavaro’s outfit, which kept the pressure on Manuel Pellegrini’s team with a 4-1 thrashing of relegated Liaoning Whowin.
“Now the decision is in our hands,” said Pellegrini. “If we can win against Shandong Luneng, we can qualify for the Asian Champions League without worrying about the results in the other matches.
“It will mean so much to our long-term development if we can finally secure it.”
The top three teams in the CSL qualify for the continental championship, with Guangzhou progressing directly to the group phase while second-placed Shanghai SIPG and the team in third enter qualifying.
Scoreboard
The game against Hebei meant little to a Guangzhou side that clinched a record seventh straight league title last week and which was without coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who was serving the second of a three-game touchline ban.
Hebei’s triumph meant Guangzhou R&F’s hopes of finishing in the top three came to an end despite Dragan Stojkovic’s side recording a 3-2 win over Tianjin Teda.
R&F is fifth, three points behind Hebei, but with an inferior head-to-head record it cannot move ahead of the team from Qinhuangdao.
Meanwhile, Shandong’s hopes of climbing into the leading three positions were also sunk when Guizhou Zhicheng handed Felix Magath’s team a 3-0 defeat that left the former champion in sixth, six points behind Hebei.
SIPG picked up its first win in three games with a 4-2 victory over Henan Jianye with Hulk scoring twice as Andre Villas-Boas’ side begin to focus its attention on its meeting with second-division side Shanghai Shenxin in the final of the Chinese FA Cup next month.
SIPG, which has spent $175 million on foreign talent in the past two years, is guaranteed to finish in second place, an improvement of one position from last season.
Carlos Tevez was on target as Shanghai Shenhua thrashed relegated Yanbian Funde 5-1 with Freddie Guarin scoring twice and the other goals coming from Giovani Moreno and Zhu Jianrong.
Fabio Capello’s Jiangsu Suning defeated Beijing Guo’an 1-0 while Changchun Yatai recorded a 3-1 win over Chongqing Lifan.