Asian Football Friday Round-up

Chinese Super League

Guangzhou Evergrande began the defence of their Chinese Super League title in style with a 5-1 home victory against Shanxi Zhongxin.

Brazilian attacking midfielder Elkeson made a fine debut following his close-season move from Botafogo with two goals in the second half, after both teams drew a blank in the opening 45 minutes.

Dario Conca put Guangzhou ahead in the 50th minute, Elkeson doubled the lead after 61 minutes, and Lin Gao added a third two minutes later.

Elkeson had his second of the day in the 72nd minute, and Luiz Muriqui put them 5-0 ahead two minutes from the end, with there just enough time remaining for Zhu Jiawei to grab a consolation.

Beijing Guoan beat Shanghai SIPG 4-1, with goals from Zheng Lang, Joffre Guerron, Wang Xiaolong and an Wang Shenchao own goal. Wu Lei briefly cut Shanghai SIPG's deficit to 2-1 midway through the first half before the visitors were overwhelmed by their hosts.

Elsewhere on the opening day of the season, Jiangsu Shuntian edged Wuhan Zall 2-1. Siarhey Krivets and Ke Sun put Jiangsu Shuntian two goals clear with goals in the 55th and 66th minutes, with Li Wei pulling a goal back after 69 minutes.

Guizhou Renhe took the lead after 31 minutes in their home tussle with Qingdao Zhongneng, with Zvjezdan Misimovic netting, but Gustavo equalised after 65 minutes and Bruno Meneghel grabbed a last-minute winner for the away side.

UAE League

Second-placed Bani Yas lost ground in the UAE League title race today as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Al Wahda.

Mohammed Jaber put the hosts ahead just after the half-hour mark, but Nawaf Mubarak's own goal seven minutes later ensured the seventh-spotted visitors left with a point.

The result kept Bani Yas eight points behind leaders Al-Ain after 18 games.

Elsewhere, Grafite netted a hat-trick as Al-Ahly Dubai climbed to third with a 6-3 victory at Dubai SC.

Luis Jimenez started the rout in the 26th minute and Grafite bagged two goals in as many minutes just before half-time to all but secure the points.

Further goals after the interval from Jimenez and Ricardo Quaresma made it 5-0 to the away team and Grafite swiftly completed his treble just moments after Mohammed Ibrahim had pulled one back.

Yousuf Hassan and Richard Porta got on the scoresheet in the final seven minutes to make the scoreline a little more respectable for the hosts - but the result had long since been decided.

Ajman moved above Dubai SC and into 10th place thanks to their 3-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Al-Ittihad Kalba. Boris Kabi and Driss Fettouhi set the visitors on their way and Talal Abdulla's own goal on the stroke of half-time sealed matters.

Finally, Bruno Correa's equaliser 18 minutes from time earned sixth-placed Al-Nasr a 1-1 draw at third-bottom Al-Sha'ab, who had taken a 54th minute lead through Noel Kaseke.