(AFP) Tuesday 29 May 2012
Adelaide
United extended their dream run into the AFC Champions League
quarter-finals, while Bunyodkor stunned former winners Seongnam Ilhwa
Chunma.
Australia's
Adelaide, who were forced to come through qualifying, squeezed into the
last eight with a 1-0, backs-to-the-wall victory over Japan's Nagoya Grampus, as Bunyodkor won by the same margin in Seongnam.
Goalkeeper
Eugene Galekovic was the hero for Adelaide, the 2008 runners-up, as he
made three remarkable saves to protect their lead after defender Jon
McKain scrambled the ball over the line in the 41st minute. Galekovic
brilliantly kept out a header from Nagoya's Australian international
striker Josh Kennedy in the 33rd minute. He then pulled off another
fabulous one-handed stop to deny Takahiro Masukawa on 63 minutes, and
tipped a blazing volley from substitute Mu Kanazaki over the bar 12
minutes later.
"The gods were shining on
us tonight big-time," Reds coach John Kosmina admitted. "We rode our
luck a little bit and we weren't on our game, but we got out of it what
we put in."
A place in the last eight is a major fillip for Adelaide, who lost the 2008 final to Japan's
Gamba Osaka, after a dismal A-League season in which they finished
second-last and suffered a sharp drop in attendance. They now go into
the two-legged quarter-finals in September, with their opponents to be
decided by a draw next month.
Meanwhile
Uzbek champions Bunyodkor had defender Hayrulla Karimov to thank as he
converted a 52nd-minute penalty after an infringement by Seongnam's Lim
Jong-Eun.
The demise of Seongnam, the
2010 winners, leaves just one South Korean club still in the competition
in the shape of Ulsan Hyundai, who play J.League champions Kashiwa
Reysol on Wednesday.
Wednesday's other
match features Marcello Lippi, who will try to lead his new Chinese club
Guangzhou Evergrande into the quarter-finals against FC Tokyo in just
his third game in charge.
Last week three
Saudi teams reached the quarter-finals - two-time winners Al Ittihad,
Al Hilal and Al Ahli - along with Sepahan of Iran.
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