SEOUL, South Korea -- Melbourne Victory's chances of reaching the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League for the first time were damaged on Tuesday after being held to a 0-0 draw by Suwon Bluewings.
The Australian club have been eliminated from the group stage on all four previous attempts.
Victory have five points from three games in Group G but, at the halfway stage, are second after Shanghai SIPG defeated Gamba Osaka 2-1.
"Would I have liked a couple more points?" Melbourne coach Kevin Muscat said. "Without doubt, but I'm not going to knock the effort that that group gave tonight."
Both goals for Shanghai, led by former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson, came from Brazilian striker Elkeson.
Jeonbuk Motors moved to the top of Group E after a 2-0 win over Vietnamese club Binh Duong. Ricardo Lopes put the South Koreans ahead at the end of the first half and Lee Dong-gook added his record 30th goal in the competition at the end of the second.
Also, big-spending Jiangsu Suning were held to a 0-0 draw at FC Tokyo.
The top two teams from each of the eight groups will advance to the second round.