JEDDAH, 22 September 2004 — Saudi Premier side Al-Ittihad of Jeddah advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Champions League with a 2-1 aggregate after a 1-0 victory over Dalian Shide of China in the home leg of the clash yesterday. The teams had drawn 1-1 in the first leg.
Already enjoying the away goal advantage, Ittihad had to wait till the 22nd minute of the second half to seal their passage into the last four of the event.
At the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal stadium here last night they played to a packed defense in the first half to thwart the Chinese attack and then sneaked in a winner in a resurgent second session.
Both teams could not score in the first half and goal moves were far and few between with the rival defense standing out. Also with the teams resorting to a protracted midfield struggle the rival goalkeepers were called upon on few occasions to beat back the weak efforts.
But Ittihad came with a different plan in the second session and after taking the midfield advantage early in the half, strung out some good moves. Dalian survived two close calls in the first ten minutes of the session with both Mohammed Noor and Chico shooting over the crossbar.
But Ittihad were not to be denied. In the 22nd minute Ridah Tukr showed fine opportunism to score. With the Dalian goalkeeper making a weak clearance, Ridah pounced on the loose ball and ran in to shoot into an untenanted net.
In the 27th minute Noor showed fine control to pass the Dalian defense and the goalkeeper but he delayed in taking the shot and the Dalian keeper recovered to thwart him.
Three minutes later, Hamza Idries was left clear but his shot went straight to the goalkeeper, who cleared it out of danger.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Chonbuk Motors knocked out champions Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates in the quarterfinals with a 5-1 aggregate victory.
Korean FA Cup winners Chonbuk won the second leg 4-1 in Jeonju, having beaten last year’s winners 1-0 in Al Ain last week.
Nam Kung-do opened the scoring in the 53rd minute with Brazilian-born striker Paulo Rink adding a second in the 69th. Al Ain’s Rami Yaslam pulled one back for the visitors with two minutes left before Andre Gomes and Park Dong-hyuk scored in injury time to send Chonbuk into the semifinals.
