He’s a party pooper
FC Tokyo’s Morishige’s double puts Jiangsu in jeopardy
OSAKA: Masato Morishige scored twice as FC Tokyo stunned mega-rich Chinese club Jiangsu Suning 2-1 to race to the top of their AFC Champions League group.
Morishige’s double, either side of a penalty by ex-Manchester City striker Jo, pushed Jiangsu down to third in Group E with two games left in another mixed week for Chinese clubs.
Big-spending Jiangsu twice broke the Asian transfer record this year in hiring Chelsea’s Ramires and Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk, but they have only one win from four games in the continental showpiece.
The result allowed FC Tokyo to leapfrog both Jiangsu and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the 2006 Asian champions, who finished with nine men in a shock 3-2 loss to Vietnam’s Binh Duong.
Title-holders Guangzhou Evergrande of China are on the verge of an early exit after their defeat on Tuesday, but Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Shanghai SIPG beat Gamba Osaka 2-0 to go top of Group G.
In Osaka, second-half goals from Wu Lei and Lu Wenjun made it three wins out of four for SIPG as the Shanghai club tightened their grip on Group G.
Playmaker Conca nearly fired SIPG ahead in the first half and it was no surprise when they took the lead with a well-worked team goal on 66 minutes.
Argentina’s Conca fed Wu Lei on the edge of the box and the forward exchanged a one-two with Lu Wenjun before he planted the return ball past Gamba goalkeeper Masaaki Higashiguchi.
SIPG cashed in on errors in the Gamba box six minutes later when Wu Lei’s shot was parried by the keeper and only half-cleared to Lu Wenjun, who swung and blasted it home first-time.
Elsewhere, Binh Duong revived their hopes of reaching the last 16 when Nguyen Anh Duc’s late penalty against Jeonbuk handed them their first win in Group E.
Jeonbuk finished the bad-tempered game with nine men after both Kim Chang-soo and Kim Hyungil were sent off as the visitors squandered a 2-1 first-half lead.
Anh Duc scored from the spot in the 12th minute before Jeonbuk took charge with goals from Lee Jong-ho and Han Kyo-won, only for Christian Amougou to make it 2-2 on 35 minutes.
And Anh Duc held his nerve to bury his second spot-kick two minutes from time, resurrecting Binh Duong’s campaign in what is now a tight Group E. — AFP