Thursday, May 20, 2004

BANGKOK (AP) Sho Naruoka scored with a deft shot under a heavy downpour Wednesday as Jubilo Iwata beat BEC-Tero Sasana of Thailand 3-2 in the AFC Champions League the final Group E match.

The result at Thai Japanese Stadium did not affect the group positions, with leader Chonbuk Motors of South Korea already qualifying for the next round.

BEC, last season's Champions League runnerup, claimed just one win this year over Shanghai Shenhua of China in February.

"Overall it was very disappointing this year after reaching the final last year," said BEC-Tero manager Ong-arj Kosinkar.

F. Marinos out

South Korean league champions Seongnam Ilhwa became the eighth and final team to book a place in the quarterfinals of the Asian Champions League as they concluded their Group G campaign with a 3-1 away win over Vietnam National Cup winners Binh Dinh on Wednesday.

Seongnam's closest Group G rivals, J. League champions Yokohama F. Marinos, scored a 4-1 victory over hosts Persik Kediri in Indonesia but it was not enough for the Japanese side as they finished second in the group on goal difference and were eliminated from the competition.

Both teams finished the group stage with 15 points from six games but the South Korean side had a goal difference that was four better than Yokohama.

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