Evergrande poised for Asian knock-outs
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 10, 2013
Marcello Lippi's Guangzhou Evergrande knocked Thai strugglers Muangthong United out of the AFC Champions League and moved to within a whisker of the last-16 with a 4-1 win on Tuesday.
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Unstoppable Muriqui scored twice to fire Evergrande to victory. |
Brazilian forward Muriqui scored twice in the late stage of the first half before Sarawut Masuk reduced the deficit for Muangthong but goals from Zheng Zhi and Feng Xiaoting ensured there was no doubt over the destiny of the three points on offer.
Marcello Lippi's side notched up their third win in four matches and remain unbeaten in Group F on 10 points and are just one point away from a place in the knockout stage.
"I am satisfied with the team's performance," said Lippi. "We were organised, competitive and fully concentrated throughout the game. "Muangthong played well in some parts of the game and tried their best as they were playing at home."
The Chinese Super League and FA Cup winners were never likely to be troubled by Muangthong, their 4-0 victims at home last week, and it was no surprise when Muriqui, fed diagonally by captain Zheng Zhi, stabbed the opener with the outside of his boot on 40 minutes.
Three minutes later the Brazilian doubled Guangzhou's advantage with a carbon-copy goal, only this time with the assist from Dario Conca and the ball curling into the same corner with the inside of his right boot.
Guangzhou were briefly troubled after half-time when a botched clearance rebounded into the path of Muangthong's Sarawut Masuk, who steered home a leaping header to pull one back. But Zheng restored the two-goal cushion shortly afterwards, before defender Feng Xiaoting added gloss to the victory when a free-kick into the box was parried to his feet with four minutes to go.
Bottom team Muangthong now have no prospect of reaching the last-16, as one of the top two in the four-team group, while Guangzhou will expect to rubber-stamp their qualification in two weeks' time against Japan's Urawa.
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