Agencies/DohaSouth Korean pro Nam Tae-Hee struck in the 75th minute to give top Qatari club Lekhwiya a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli in their Asian Champions League Group C match at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday.Nam’s goal brought some cheer to Qatari fans after both Al Rayyan and Al Arabi lost their opening encounters on Tuesday, as Lekhwiya, established in 2009, sounded a warning to their rivals in the lucrative tournament.Nam, who joined the Qatar Stars League champions in late 2011 and has already scored four goals for them in eight games, was in fine form and found the net with a cracker of a shot from 40 metres out that swerved in at the last moment giving the Al Ahli goalkeeper no chance.Lekhwiya’s group also includes the United Arab Emirates’ Al Nasr and Iran’s Sepahan and they are scheduled to play their next match against the Emiratis on March 21.Meanhile, Qatar’s Al Gharafa played out a goalless draw with the UAE’s Al Shabab in Dubai yesterday. Bruno Metsu’s side were however lucky to come away with a point as Al Shabab missed several chances, especially in the second half.Earlier, big-spending Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande kicked off their AFC Champions League campaign in style, thumping last year’s beaten finalists Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea 5-1. Elsewhere, a stunning injury-time overhead kick from Brazilian striker Hevertinho earned 2010 champions Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma of South Korea a 2-2 draw with Japan’s Nagoya Grampus. It may be Asia’s continental showpiece club tournament, but it was South American players who were making the biggest impact.
Evergrande’s Brazilian striker Cleverson Gabriel Cordova and Argentinian midfielder Conca each scored twice at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium, with another Braziliain, Luiz Guilherme da Conceicao Silva, adding the fifth. “This is not the end, it is just the beginning. There are still five matches to play and we have to be ready for all of them,” said Guangzhou’s Korean coach Lee Jang-Soo. “We have very good foreign players and that was very important for us and helped us win.” Jeonbuk were 3-0 down in the Group H clash before Jeong Shung-Hoon’s exquisite back-heel in the 70th minute gave them a glimmer of hope. But three minutes later Conca’s superb 25-yard strike put the match beyond reach and Silva added the fifth two minutes after that, drilling the ball below the goalkeeper from the edge of the area. In Nagoya, Hevertinho’s spectacular overhead effort—the last kick of the game—rescued a point for Chunma against Grampus in Group G. The Brazilian striker, whose full name is Heverton Duraes Coutinho Alves, had given the Korean side the lead two minutes after half-time.