By Michael Church
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Yokohama F Marinos handed 10-man Buriram United from Thailand a 5-0 thrashing on Wednesday as the Japanese side moved up to third in the league phase of the Asian Champions League Elite standings.
Anderson Lopes scored twice after Sasalak Haiprakhon had been sent off for a dangerous tackle on Jean Aziangbe to give interim coach John Hutchison a second win in four games and move last season’s beaten finalists onto seven points.
Former champions Pohang Steelers also picked up their second win of the campaign when the South Koreans handed Shandong Taishan a 4-2 defeat to move into the qualification spots for the knockout rounds.
The first eight finishers in the 12-team leagues in both east and west Asia advance to March’s knockout rounds with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final to be played in a centralised hub in Saudi Arabia in April and May.
Marinos continued their recovery from a heavy 7-3 loss in their opening game of the competition to South Korea’s Gwangju FC to move up the table with a comprehensive win in Yokohama.
Kenta Inoue put his side ahead in the 11th minute with a curling effort as he stepped in from the right and in the 27th minute Sasalak was dismissed for his lunge on Aziangbe.
The red card led to Buriram’s collapse, with Anderson scoring his first from the spot after referee Adel Al-Naqbi awarded a contentious penalty in stoppage time when the ball hit Guilherme Bissoli on the hand.
Two minutes later Buriram goalkeeper Neil Etheridge fumbled Hijiri Kato’s low shot over his own goalline to add to the Thai side’s misery.
Lopes scored on the turn 12 minutes into the second half and Asahi Uenaka netted from close range to complete the rout for Marinos.
Pohang, meanwhile, secured victory at home over Shandong thanks to a second-half goal blitz that saw the Korean club strike three times in 12 minutes to take the points.
Jeong Jae-hee’s free kick had put the hosts ahead but Chen Pu levelled for Shandong at a corner only for goals from Brazilian trio Jorge Teixeira, Wanderson and Oberdan to clinch the win for Pohang despite Bi Jinhao’s stoppage time effort.
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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