Oscar fluffs his lines as Silva bullet sinks SIPG
SAITAMA, Japan — Bigmoney midfielder Oscar squandered two penalties as Shanghai SIPG lost 1-0 to Urawa Red Diamonds on Tuesday — the Chinese team’s first defeat in this year’s Asian Champions League.
After SIPG fell behind to Rafael Silva’s 44th-minute strike, $64 million signing Oscar looked set to maintain SIPG’s unbeaten record in Group F when he won a 64th-minute penalty.
But, after a stuttering run-up, the Brazilian’s spotkick was palmed onto the bar by Shusaku Nishikawa.
Twelve minutes later, a handball in the area gave Oscar another chance from thespot,butthe25-year-old blazed badly over.
The result means the Japanese side replaces SIPG at the top of Group F on away goals scored in matches between the two sides, after SIPG’s 3-2 win in Shanghai last month.
Alex Teixeira, another expensive Brazilian import, fared much better as he scored a goal and set up the other two in Jiangsu Suning’s 3-0 victory over Japan’s Gamba Osaka.
Teixeira slammed in a third-minute opener when he robbed Japan international Yasuhito Endo and surged forward before blasting his shot past Masaaki Higashiguchi.
The former Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder teed up compatriot Ramires four minutes later with a dangerous ball into the box which the ex-Chelsea star steered past Higashiguchi.
Teixeira rounded out his evening just before halftime with a pinpoint freekick onto the head of defender Hong Jeong-Ho, who made it 3-0 as Jiangsu stayed top of Group H with 12 points from four games.
Below them in the same group, Australian side Adelaide United resurrected its hopes of reaching the last 16 with a 3-1 away win over South Koreans Jeju United to climb off the bottom of the standings.
And in Group F, last year’s semifinalist FC Seoul kept its campaign alive with a 3-2 victory over 2014 champion Western Sydney Wanderers, courtesy of a double from Dejan Damjanovic.
“I’m really happy and finally we won,” Montenegrin striker Damjanovic said of his team’s first win of the campaign.
“I am 36 soon and I came to Korea to finish my career, but you never know. My contract finishes in November but my first option is Seoul.”