 Suwon BlueWings defender Mato Neretjak of Croatia, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring the side’s second goal against Sydney FC in their group match of the AFC Champions League in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. The BlueWings won 3-1. / Yonhap |
By Yoon Chul
Suwon BlueWings and Jeonbuk Motors reached the round of 16 in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Tuesday.
The Motors, currently leading Group G, beat China’s Shandong Luneng 2-1 in a road game thanks to former Korean national team striker Lee Dong-gook’s two goals. Suwon secured a 3-1 home win against Sydney FC in Group H.
The BlueWings, winners in 2001 and 2002, are tied with Japan’s Kashima Antlers on nine points with one group game left but are currently top on goal difference.
As Sydney FC and Shanghai Shenhua only have five points, the BlueWings and Antlers will progress to the next round regardless of the results of the final group matches.
Jeonbuk continued its recent run of form, collecting 12 points, the most among all teams in the Asian Champions League with Cerezo Osaka behind them on nine.
At Shandong stadium, Lee scored in the 31st minute and hit the game winning header in the 52nd after Zhou Haibin had equalized for Shandong five minutes before halftime.
Lee Seung-hyun’s broke down the left and his cross found Lee Dong-gook to secure the win.
At Suwon World Cup Stadium the BlueWings went ahead when Ha Tae-goon’s header found the net in 33rd minute and Mato Neretljak doubled the lead shortly after the restart.
His free kick in front of the 18-yard box looped over the wall and into the top right corner of the net in the 49th.
The home side then conceded a goal to Bruno Cazarine four minutes later to give the visitors hope.
With 10 minutes left Yeom Ki-hun’s rifled home from the right to make sure of the three points.
![[INTERVIEW] Ahn Hyo-seop wanted to share dedicated love with 'A Time Called You'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/cb0026a0ef9e445fb850c720b307e5cd.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
