Eriksson's Shanghai held 0-0 in ACL quarterfinal first leg
Sven-Goran Eriksson's Shanghai SIPG could only manage a 0-0 draw in the first leg of its Asian Champions League quarterfinal against Jeonbuk Hyundai on Tuesday at Shanghai.
It was the same story in the other quarterfinal at Abu Dhabi when Al Ain and Uzbekistan's Lokomotiv Tashkent played to a scoreless draw in stifling conditions.
Shanghai invested heavily since securing its place in the quarterfinals in May, bringing Brazilian striker Hulk to the club for an Asian transfer record of 55.8 million euros (then $62 million) from Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg. The 30-year-old Hulk missed this tie with an injury, however, as did Argentinian playmaker Dario Conca.
Eriksson, a former England manager, still had plenty of firepower to deploy - with two-time ACL winner Elkeson and forward Wu Lei both starting.
The 2006 ACL champion Jeonbuk showed why it sits 10 points clear at the top of South Korea's K League Classic, edging a physical first half and coming closest to opening the scoring with Leonardo's effort that struck the post.
Shanghai looked dangerous in the second half, and Lu Wenjun drew a smart save from Kwoun Sun-tae from a free kick just outside the area soon after the restart. Yu Hai and Wu also went close with headers but couldn't find the target.
In the United Arab Emirates, Al Ain was marginally the stronger team in a challenging match played in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Lokomotiv goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov pushed away a goal-bound free kick from Omar Abdulrahman and smothered a late effort from Danilo Asprilla.
In Wednesday's quarterfinals, FC Seoul hosts Shandong Luneng while Qatar side El Jaish takes on Dubai's Al Nasr in Doha.
The second legs are Sept. 13-14.