JEDDAH: It proved to be a bad evening for the two Saudi sides — Al-Nasr and Al-Shabab — in action were dumped from the AFC Champions League Wednesday. Qatar's Al-Sadd beat Al-Shabab through a single goal at home, while Iran's Zobahan brushed aside Al-Nasr 4-1. Striker Mohammed Ghazi put Zobahan in the lead in the 28th second of the match before the unmarked Brazilian striker, Igor Jose de Castro, doubled the lead in the fifth minute when he headed a corner kick into the Nasr goal. De Castro made it 3-0 18 minutes after the break, but Kuwaiti striker Badr Al-Muttaw'a managed to break an offside trap to pull one back for Nasr five minutes later. Kicking from nearly 25 yards away, midfielder Shahin Kheiri succeeded in sealing the Iranian side's win in the 75th minute. Nasr administration sacked the team's Croatian coach, Dragan Skocic, after the match and appointed Al-Ra'id's former technical manager Portuguese Eurico Monteiro Gomes to oversee the team in the King's Cup. Al-Sadd, meanwhile, edged Shabab 1-0 to qualify for the quarterfinals. Sadd defender Abdulla Koni scored the winner in the 11th minute of the encounter. Elsewhere South Korean champion FC Seoul and Suwon Bluewings sent Japanese opposition sprawling. FC Seoul hammered Kashima Antlers 3-0, while Suwon put two unanswered goals past J-League winner Nagoya Grampus to join Korea's 2006 Asian champion Jeonbuk Motors in the continental quarterfinals. After Wednesday's games, the marathon competition takes a nearly four-month break before returning for two-legged quarter and semifinals in September and October, ahead of the final in November. King's Cup match The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) announced Wednesday that the Al-Ittifaq vs. Al-Wehdah encounter in the King's Cup for Champions will be held on Saturday, instead of Friday.
