NAM STAYS RED HOT
Korean helps Lekhwiya top Asian Champs League group
SOUTH Korean midfielder Nam Tae-Hee was the hero for the second week in a row as Qatar’s Lekhwiya bounced back from a goal down to beat Iran’s Esteghlal Kouzestan 2-1 on Monday.
That allowed the Qatari giants to move top of Group B in the Asian Champions League.
Lekhwiya, who won the Qatar Stars League for the fifth time last week, fell behind in the ninth minute when Cameroonian forward Aloys Nong slotted home off a cross from Hassan Beit Saeid.
But Nam, who scored the titleclinching winning goal against Al Ahli last week, was the hero once again as he scored a goal and provided the assist for Almoez Ali to net the winner.
Nam found the net in the 35th minute, scoring from the top of the box after a neat pass from Ali.
The roles were reversed in the 43rd minute when Ali scored from close range after receiving a pass from Nam following a corner.
Djamel Belmadi’s Lekhwiya thereafter kept Kouzestan under pressure but were unlucky not to add to their tally, with Nam and Ali accounting for most of the missed chances.
The win took Lekhwiya to eight points from four matches, while Kouzestan dropped to second on seven. Saudi Arabia’s Al Fateh and the UAE’s Al Jazira, who played out a goalless draw, are third and fourth, respectively.
Meanwhile in Group D, Qatar’s Al Rayyan and Iran’s Persepolis also featured in a goalless draw in Tehran with the hosts missing a number of chances.
Striker Mehdi Taremi was guilty of missing a penalty on the stroke of half-time, chipping his shot over the bar following a foul by Al Rayyan left-back Mosaab Kheder.
Ali Alipour had a fine opportunity to give Persepolis the lead with just 10 minutes remaining but misdirected his header.
The misses almost came to haunt Persepolis but Al Rayyan’s Sebastian Soria rattled the post with the game already deep into injury time.
In the late match, Saudi giants Al Hilal pipped the UAE’s Al Wahda 1-0, with Carlos Eduardo scoring from the penalty spot in the 24th minute.
The win helped Al Hilal jump to the top of Group D with eight points from seven matches, while Qatar’s Rayyan are second with seven.
Al Wahda have lost three of their four matches and are at the bottom of the pool with just one point. AFP