Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande yesterday came from behind and scored twice in the last 10 minutes to stun their CONCACAF counterparts Club America and reach the Club World Cup semi-finals.
The Chinese side, led by former Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, could even afford to miss an open goal when they were trailing 1-0 on their way to earning a dream tie against European champions Barcelona on Thursday.
The Mexicans appeared to be on course for a comfortable win when Oribe Peralta headed them ahead early in the second half.
However, Zheng Long equalized with 10 minutes left and former Tottenham Hotspur and Brazil midfielder Paulinho headed a dramatic winner in stoppage time.
Scolari, who was in charge of the Brazil team beaten 7-1 by Germany on home soil in last year’s World Cup semi-final, has not lost a match since taking over at Guangzhou in May.
Guangzhou were boosted by four Brazilians, including former Real Madrid and Manchester City forward Robinho, in the lineup.
Goalkeeper Li Shuai kept America at bay as they poured forward in the first half, although Guangzhou mounted some dangerous attacks of their own.
America went ahead after an intense spell of pressure when Mexico forward Peralta met Dario Benedetto’s low cross with a diving header at the near post, but they then lowered the tempo.
Guangzhou sounded a warning when a corner was headed across the goal and Feng Xiaoting, unmarked at the far post, miscued the ball with the goal at his mercy.
However, Richard Goulart got away down the left and found Gao Lin with a low cross into the center. He laid the ball back for Zheng, who drilled it past Moises Munoz.
Encouraged by that, Guangzhou went in search of the equalizer and it came when America’s defense lost concentration and Paulinho headed in.
In yesterday’s late match, TP Mazembe’s dreams of reaching another FIFA Club World Cup final were quickly extinguished when the African champions lost 3-0 to Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima in their quarter-final.
Tsukasa Shiotani and Kazuhiko Chiba both scored following corners and Takuma Asano added the third as Hiroshima, who qualified as champions of host nation Japan, earned a tie against South American champions River Plate on Wednesday.
Five-time African champions Mazembe made history on their last appearance in the tournament five years ago when they eliminated Brazilian side Internacional to reach the final, where they lost to Rafael Benitez’s Inter.
The team from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fielding players from Ivory Coast, Mali, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana and only one from their own country, made a bright start, weaving some neat passing patterns in midfield, and they had an early chance to get ahead.
Mbwana Samatta got clean away from the defense, but dallied over his shot and gave Chiba time to scramble back and tackle.
Shiotani broke the deadlock from close range in the 44th minute when Mazembe got into an awful mess at a corner, leaving him with an easy job to tap into the net.
The team known as “The Almighty” again got it wrong at a corner, allowing Chiba to easily outjump his marker and head in the second from another corner just before the hour
There was no way back after that and Asano completed the scoring when he headed home to finish off a counterattack in the 78th minute.
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