By Michael Church
HONG KONG, – Talking points from the week in Asian football:
MELONI STRIKE EARNS SHARJAH ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TWO TITLE
Sharjah FC from the United Arab Emirates defeated Lion City Sailors 2-1 at the Singaporean side’s Bishan Stadium on Sunday to win the Asian Champions League Two and claim the club’s first continental trophy.
Marcus Meloni netted seven minutes into stoppage time to secure the winner after Lion City’s Maxime Lestienne had cancelled out Firas Ben Arbi’s 74th minute opener.
Winning the Asian club football second-tier competition earns Sharjah direct qualification to the league phase of the next edition of the AFC Champions League Elite, which will kick off in September.
MELBOURNE CITY, AUCKLAND EDGE CLOSER TO A-LEAGUE GRAND FINAL
Melbourne City moved one step closer to the A-League Grand Final on Friday with a 3-0 semi-final first-leg win over Western United, while Auckland City gained the upper hand against Melbourne Victory the following day.
Auckland, winners of the A-League Premiership in their debut season, secured a 1-0 win over Victory with Logan Rogerson scoring the only goal at Melbourne Rectangular Park.
German Ferreyra, Yonathan Cohen and Mathew Leckie were on target for City in their win over Western United. The return legs in both fixtures will be on Saturday.
SUZUKI STRIKES AS KASHIMA ANTLERS EXTEND J.LEAGUE ADVANTAGE
Kashima Antlers extended their lead in Japan to four points on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Shimizu S-Pulse after second-placed Kashiwa Reysol lost 3-0 to Machida Zelvia.
Yuma Suzuki scored the only goal of the game to lift Kashima to 37 points from 17 matches. Kyoto Sanga are third, six points behind the leaders, after beating Yokohama F Marinos 3-0.
JEONBUK PULL LEVEL WITH LEADERS DAEJEON AT K LEAGUE SUMMIT
Jeonbuk Motors pulled level on points with leaders Daejeon Citizen in South Korea on Saturday as a brace from Jeon Jin-woo gave Gus Poyet’s side a 2-0 win over Anyang FC.
Daejeon slipped up with a 3-0 defeat by Suwon FC on Sunday but continue to top the standings on goals scored, the initial tiebreaker used when teams are level in the league.
Defending champions Ulsan HD are third following their 1-1 draw with Gangwon FC.
SHENHUA MOVE TWO POINTS CLEAR IN CHINESE SUPER LEAGUE
Shanghai Shenhua opened up a two-point lead over Chengdu Rongcheng in the Chinese Super League on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Dalian Yingbo.
Joao Teixeira, Liu Chengyu and Saulo Minero were on target as Shenhua picked up their 10th win in 13 matches.
Chengdu were held 1-1 by Qingdao West Coast while third-placed Beijing Guoan drew 1-1 with Qingdao Hainiu.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
