Neither side broke the deadlock in the opening half. However, the tide turned and in the 70th minute of the second half, Jeddah National opened the scoring with a header from Ivan Toni, assisted by Mahrez to make it 1-0, and then in the 74th minute, Mahrez assisted again to make it 2-0 for Jeddah National, and in the 92nd minute, Kakou scored a brace for Al Ain, but they were unable to equalize. Al Ain pulled a point back, but in the end they were unlucky not to equalize with a 1-2 defeat.
Victory was the order of the day for the Jeddah Nationals, who made it five wins in a row to move past Riyadh Crescent to the top of the West Asian zone table with 15 points. With a 13-point lead over ninth-placed Persepolis, they locked up a place in the last 16 three rounds ahead of schedule, becoming the first team to advance to the knockout rounds of this season's AFC Champions League.
Tehran Independence take on Tashkent Cotton Farmers in a battle of ups and downs.
Both sides looked cautious on offense and defense in this matchup. Tehran Independence had 60% of the possession and took five shots, three of which hit the target, while Tashkent Cotton Farmers had the same number of shots but failed to score a single goal. In the end, both sides shook hands and the score was fixed at 0-0.
Four exciting matches will be played in the East Asia Region today, as follows: Ulsan Hyundai vs Shanghai Harbor (18:00), Kobe Victory vs Chuo Coast Mariners (18:00), Shandong Taishan vs Johor Bahru (20:00), and Buriram United vs Kawasaki Frontale (20:00).
Shanghai Harbour will face South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai, the only team in East Asia to start the season with four consecutive defeats and zero points, with the Chinese Super League champions expected to take all three points. In addition, Shandong Taishan will have their home finale while manager Choi Kang-hee is sidelined.
