Mariners bury Tianjin Teda

Updated May 01, 2012 22:14:20

Central Coast broke through for its first ever Asian Champions League triumph from 11 starts with a 5-1 thrashing of China's Tianjin Teda in Gosford on Tuesday night.

The Mariners came into the clash sitting last in Group G needing full points in both their remaining fixtures to secure a top-two finish and reach the knock-out stage.

While history was not on the side of the home team, the pain of missing out on an A-League grand final berth was.

Daniel McBreen slammed home a double at the 10- and 20-minute mark to put Central Coast up 2-0 going into the break.

That lead was doubled less than half an hour later after Josh Rose and Michael McGlinchey both found the back of the net with second-half strikes to put the result out of reach for the visitors.

Tianjin Teda's attack has been much maligned this ACL campaign, notching just the lone goal.

The visitors were presented a golden chance to open the scoring on Wednesday after just two minutes when a slip from Alex Wilkinson allowed Sjoerd Ars through on goal.

Fortunately for the Mariners the shot rebounded off the near post and danger was averted.

The home side responded to the early scare in the best possible fashion when McBreen netted the opener in the 10th minute.

It was the ideal way for the evergreen marksman to celebrate his one-year contract extension with the club.

Rejuvenated after a fortnight's break the Mariners were in a menacing mood, and were displaying the type of form that took them to the premiership during the A-League season.

A dominant midfield performance and the combativeness of Pedj Bojic was creating plenty of chances for the strikers and it wasn't long before they took full advantage.

McBreen was on hand to blast home a delightful cross from Bojic doubling his and the Mariners' tally.

Another defensive slip gave Ars another chance, before a strong challenge from Bojic ensured that the home side would retain their two-goal advantage at half-time.

A brilliant strike from Rose off his non-preferred right foot four minutes into the second half gave the Mariners an unassailable 3-0 lead.

Kwasnik went close with two strong chances, but Tianjin's keeper stood tall to deny the striker.

McBreen thought he had done enough to net his hat-trick in the 71st minute but it was not to be with Michael McGlinchey finishing the movement with a well-taken goal.

Still celebrating, Tao Nie caught the Mariners off-guard with a consolation goal.

Just like Matt Simon before him, Amini gave the Mariners fans something special to remember in his farewell game before linking with German side Borussia Dortmund and gave his side's dismal -5 goal difference a shot in the arm with a successful late shot on target.

The midfielder demonstrated perfect technique with a stinging low drive to complete the rout.

Tianjin Teda now brings up the rear in Group G with three points and a -7 goal difference, all but ruling out advancement for the Chinese club.

Central Coast: 5 (D McBreen 10', 20', J Rose 49', M McGlinchey 71', M Amini 85')

Tianjin Teda: 1 (T Nie 72')

ABC/AAP

Tags: a-league, soccer, sport, gosford-2250, nsw, australia, china

First posted May 01, 2012 21:31:07

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Muscat penalty sees off Tianjin

 Published:Wednesday, April 20, 2011 9:49 AEST

Melbourne Victory's Kevin Muscat celebrates with team-mates Leigh Broxham (C) and Archie Thompson (R) after scoring against Tianjin Teda in their AFC Champions League match played in Melbourne on April 20, 2011. The Victory triumphed 2-1.

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Ten-man Victory turns tables on Tianjin

Updated April 20, 2011 21:38:00

Ten-man Melbourne Victory has resurrected its Asian Champions League hopes, beating Group E leaders Tianjin Teda 2-1 at Docklands on Wednesday night.

Two Victory goals in the minute prior to half-time turned the match entirely on its head after the home side trailed.

The win has lifted the Victory back into contention to qualify in the top two of their group and make the round of 16.

Tianjin grabbed an early lead when striker Chen Tao dispossessed Victory skipper Kevin Muscat mid-pitch, ran and finished sweetly in the 37th minute.

It was a deserved lead after the visitors had the better of the first period.

But the Victory stunned the Chinese side in the 44th minute, when Tianjin goalkeeper Zhao Yanming failed to deal with a curling Carlos Hernandez free-kick from 30 metres.

Then a minute later, China national team defender Cao Yang was adjudged to have fouled Robbie Kruse in the box.

Muscat made amends for his error by slotting home the penalty to give his side a half-time lead.

In a niggly match with several melees and nine yellow cards, Victory defender Surat Sukha was sent off for a second yellow card with eight minutes remaining.

The Victory now have a win and a draw from their four matches.

The other Group E match between Japan's Gamba Osaka and Jeju United of South Korea is being played later on Wednesday night.

Melbourne Victory: 2 (C Hernandez 43', K Muscat pen 45')

Tianjin Teda: 1 (T Chen 37')

- AAP

First posted April 20, 2011 21:34:00

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Kruse to start against Tianjin

Posted April 19, 2011 15:02:00

Star striker Robbie Kruse will return to the Melbourne Victory starting line-up, as they seek a much-needed Asian Champions League win over Tianjin Teda on Wednesday night.

The bottom-placed Victory earned their first point in three group matches with a 1-1 away draw against the Chinese side on April 5, when substitute Kruse played a key role in erasing an early deficit.

That performance has given the Victory confidence they can take all three points in the return match at Docklands.

"We'll be going out there for three points straight from the kick-off," Victory's caretaker coach Mehmet Durakovic said.

"We'll be trying to get as many players as we can forward and create as many chances as we can, as much as we get did against Tianjin the other week.

"Hopefully we'll do that and hopefully we get the three points."

Kruse, who did not start in the last match partly because of a heavy pre-match travel schedule, will be pivotal after troubling the Tianjin defence.

"He absolutely did quite well when he came on, and you've got to reward the players for what they've done," Durakovic said.

Durakovic says with Archie Thompson and Isaka Cernak also in the side, there will be an attacking focus.

"We want to push up as much as we can, we want to push Robbie as much as we can forward, we want to push Isaka as much as we can forward, help Archie up there," he said.

"We'll be going with an attacking line-up, hopefully with three up front, so we'll see how we go."

Tianjin will be without their Serbian captain Marko Zoric, who was sent off in the last match for a crude tackle.

- AAP

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