JEDDAH, 9 March 2006 — Saudi clubs Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal had a shaky start to the Asian Champions League which kicked off their fourth edition with matches across the region yesterday.

Playing at home to Al-Saad of Qatar, Saudi soccer league frontrunners Shabab were held to a 0-0 draw in a Group D match at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.

Hilal were away to Al-Ain in the UAE where the 2005 runners-up scored a 2-0 victory in a Group B tussle.

Al-Ain scored a goal in each half through Faisal Ali and Brazilian Kelly in front of a partisan home crowd.

Faisal Ali headed a long ball from the right flank from Humaid Fakher for a 42nd minute lead and former FC Tokyo forward Kelly put them further ahead four minutes after the resumption with a spectacular right footed effort set up, once again, by Humaid.

Al-Ain could have come out winners by a bigger margin if they had taken half the chances that came their way in the first 45 minutes, including a spot kick at the half hour mark squandered by substitute Shehab Ahmed.

The next round of matches take place on March 22.

Elsewhere, substitute Kim Hyeung-bum scored twice to give South Korea’s Chonbuk Motors a 3-2 win over Japan’s Gamba Osaka in Tokyo.

Chonbuk came back from 2-1 down to win the Group E clash thanks to goals from Kim in the 71st and 84th minute, when he curled in a superb free kick from the edge of the box.

In the other Group E game, goals either side of the break from Zuo Jie and Ji Mingyi gave China’s Dalian Shide a 2-0 win at Vietnam’s Danang City.

Only 4,000 turned out in Tokyo to see South Korea’s Ulsan Tigers ease to a 2-0 win over Japanese side Tokyo Verdy in Group F.

Goals from South Korea international Choi Sung-kuk in the 57th minute and Brazilian Machado in the 71st minute gave Ulsan the points.

After Thailand’s Tobacco Monopoly and Indonesia’s Arema Malang were kicked out of the competition, the sole quarterfinal spot will be decided by the two games between Ulsan and Verdy.

A similar situation exists in Group G where China’s Shanghai Shenhua comfortably beat visiting Dong Tam Long An of Vietnam 3-1 to move to the brink of the quarterfinals.

Striker Xie Hui fired a superb hat trick for the Chinese Super League side, who played the last 35 minutes with 10 men after the dismissal of China captain Li Weifeng.

Iranian champions Foolad thrashed Kuwait’s Al-Qadisiya 6-0 in their Group A opener in Tehran. Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor kept pace at the top of the group thanks to a 2-0 victory home over Syrian side Al-Ittihad. — With input from agencies