Football: Scolari fails in AFC Champions League
bid
TOKYO: Former Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari
failed in his bid Wednesday to steer new club Bunyodkor into the
semi-finals of the AFC Champions League, with the Uzbek giants
blowing their chance.
Bunyodkor came into the match against Korean FA Cup holders Pohang
Steelers with a 3-1 first leg advantage, but the money-rich club
were outplayed.
They were down 3-0 after a Kim Jae-Sung strike and Denilson brace
and staring at defeat when Victor Karpenko hauled them out of
trouble with a 90th minute goal to level the aggregate score and
take the match to extra-time.
But with Bunyodkor's star player Rivaldo looking every one
of his 37 years, the Koreans deservedly booked their place in the
last four when Stevica Ristic rose above two defenders to head the
decider after 102 minutes.
It gave them a 4-1 home victory on the night and a 5-4 aggregate
win.
The defeat will be hugely disappointing for Brazil's Scolari, who
was enticed to Tashkent in June and after being fired by Chelsea
and is now reportedly the highest paid coach in the world, pipping
Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan.
Pohang's reward is a semi-final against Qatar's Umm Salal, who beat
FC Seoul 4-3 on aggregate to deny an all-Korean semi.
AFC Champions League quarter-final second leg results:
Pohang Steelers (KOR) 4 Bunyodkor (UZB) 1
(Pohang win 5-4 on aggregate)
Nagoya Grampus (JPN) 3 Kawasaki Frontale 1
(Nagoya win 4-3 on aggregate)
FC Seoul (KOR) 1 Umm Salal (QAT) 1
(Umm Salal win 4-3 on aggregate)
Al Ittihad (KSA) 4 Pakhtakor (UZB) 0
(Al Ittihad win 5-1 on aggregate)