Melbourne Victory joins Shanghai in 2nd round; Suwon exits

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Melbourne Victory scored twice in the first 17 minutes and held off Gamba Osaka 2-1 to secure a place in the second round of the Asian Champions League on Tuesday.

Melbourne finished second in Group G behind Shanghai SIPG, which was already assured of first place ahead of its 3-0 loss to two-time continental champion Suwon in South Korea.

Suwon's hopes of progression depended on a win at home and a loss for Melbourne.

Kim Gun-hee opened with an early penalty for Suwon, and scored again in the 55th, three minutes after Min Sang-gi.

In Melbourne, Besart Berisha's 13th-minute penalty and Archie Thompson's well-time finished from Kosta Barbarouses' cross gave the Victory a buffer. The hosts wasted a series of scoring opportunities before Ademilson kept the contest alive with scrambling goal in the 85th.

Melbourne hung on to finish with nine points, level with Suwon but had the tiebreaker courtesy of an away goal in their head-to-head matches.

It was Melbourne's first trip to the knockout stage in five ACL campaigns.

"It's a big achievement," Victory coach Kevin Muscat said. "It's great for the football club and we've managed to create some history for a couple of times this year."

Australia will have two teams in the second round for the first time after Sydney FC topped Group H despite finishing the stage with a 1-0 loss at big-spending Guangzhou Evergrande. Guangzhou, the 2015 champions, scored through Gao Lin in the second minute and withstood a strong challenge from Sydney to finish a disappointing campaign with a win.

Urawa Reds finished second after being held to a 1-1 draw by Pohang Steelers, which was last in the group.