Football
John Duerden, Asia correspondent 8y

Sydney FC score precious away goal in Shandong Luneng draw in ACL

Sydney FC took a small step towards the quarterfinals of the 2016 Asian Champions League with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Shandong Luneng in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash in China on Wednesday night.

The Australians were the happier of the two teams when the final whistle sounded at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

Although David Carney's first half opener had been cancelled out by Diego Tardelli after the break, the Chinese Super League side felt that had done more than enough to win the game and certainly had the chances to do so. It is, however, Sydney who have the away goal advantage, heading into next Wednesday's second leg.

It could have been very different for Graham Arnold's men as Shandong had a penalty after seven minutes. Goalkeeper Yedran Janjetovic rushed off his line in an attempt to rob Wu Xinghan of the ball but succeeding only in bringing the attacker down. The number one redeemed himself, however, by diving left to push Walter Montillo's low shot from the spot around the post to safety.

The hosts were left to rue those early missed opportunities as Sydney took the lead on the quarter hour mark. Riley Woodcock floated over a cross from the left byline and there was Carney arriving at the far edge of the six-yard area. He expertly guide a header back downwards and back across the goalkeeper Wang Dalei.

Just before the half hour, the hosts missed another gilt-edged chance as Tardelli blasted over from close range.

The Chinese Super League team were shaking their heads just seven minutes after the restart as Li Wei fired a fierce swerving strike from well outside the area that crashed off the crossbar with the goalkeeper well and truly beaten. Soon after, Jucilei also went close.

It felt as if a goal was coming and it did in the 55th minute. A corner from the right was headed firmly towards the far post by Jucilei and there was Tardelli to nip in front of his marker to fire into the roof of the net from close range. It was no more than Shandong deserved.

The Chinese side continued to push forward in search of an advantage to take to Sydney but could not breach the resolute Australian backline for a second time.

In the evening's other fixture, Urawa Reds defeated FC Seoul 1-0 at Saitama Stadium.

Urawa took a 14th minute lead, thanks to a large slice of luck. A long cross from the right found Tomoya Ugajin outside the left edge of the area. The midfielder volleyed a cross back into the middle, only to see the ball slice into the net to give the Japanese giants the opener.

Seoul had plenty of chances to get back in the game but their finishing and decision-making wasn't up to the standard of a team who found the target 17 times in the group stage. Ten of those were scored by Brazilian striker Adriano, who was especially wasteful in front of goal

That leaves the South Koreans with a lot of work to do at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the second leg.

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