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AFC - Esteghlal's Mehdi Hasheminasab kept a promise to his team's passionate fans and made a point to Iranian national team coach Branko Ivancovic as he sparked the Tehran giants to victory over Uzbekistan's Neftchi this week in the final qualifying round of the inaugural AFC Champions League.

In the wake of Esteghlal's poor recent form in their domestic league, the 31-year-old defender had promised an improved effort against Neftchi as his club seeks to advance to the lucrative group stage of the US$3 million continental competition.

He duly delivered, heading home a corner four minutes into the second half to give Esteghlal a 1-0 lead to take into the second leg in Fergana in two weeks' time.

"I am very happy about that. My happiness is not because I was the one who scored the winning goal but that the team won and the fans were happy," said Hasheminasab, who also had a first half headed effort disallowed for offside.

"God knows how much I love the fans. I know that they are very upset since their team is not playing well these days. If I am a good player today it is because of those fans.

"The Uzbek players played a defensive game and that had made it hard for us. But as the game proceeded we found our rhythm and controlled the game. We should have scored more goals."

Hasheminasab has been pressing for a recall to the Iranian national team and his excellent form against Neftchi could hardly have escaped the attention of national coach Ivancovic, who was in attendance at the Takhti Stadium and joined in the applause after the winning goal.

While Neftchi were losing in Tehran, Uzbek League leaders Pakhtakor enjoyed some better fortune against Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates with a 3-2 victory in Tashkent City.

While Zainitdin Tadjiyev's 75th minute winner sent the 40,000 fans home happy, it proved to be another strong battling away performance by Al Ahli, who came from 2-0 down against their namesakes from Saudi Arabia in the last round to force a 2-2 draw in Jeddah and advance to their meeting with Pakhtakor.

Ali Karimi and Hassan Ali Ibrahim scored for the UAE side to cancel out earlier goals by Anvarjon Soliev and Gochguly Gochguliyev before Tadjiyev's late effort gave the Uzbeks victory. However, Al Ahli will go into the second leg in Dubai knowing that a 1-0 win will be enough to take them into the group stage of the AFC Champions League.

There will also be plenty to play for in Doha in a fortnight's time with Qatar's Al Sadd and Syria's Al Jaish tied at 1-1 after their draw in Damascus. Jomard Moussa¹s 74th minute equaliser kept alive Al Jaish's hopes of advancing to the group stage after Abdulla Obbaid Koni had scored a precious away goal for the visitors in the 32nd minute.

One team that have already confirmed their place in the group stage are Turkmenistan's Nisa, who advanced after their fourth round opponents, Al Arabi of Kuwait, officially announced their withdrawal from the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.

Nisa will face Iranian league champions Pirouzi, Iraq's Al Talaba, and the winner of the Pakhtakor-Al Ahli match during the group stage in March.

In the East, Shimizu S-Pulse of Japan, Taejon Citizen of Korea and Shanghai Shenhua of China all took big steps towards qualification for the group stage with decisive victories.

Shimizu all but qualified after thrashing Hong Kong outfit South China 5-0 at the Hong Kong Stadium. Despite missing stars Ahn Jung-hwan and Alex, the Japanese Emperor's Cup champions simply outclassed their hapless opponents and can already start to look beyond their second leg match at the Nihondaira Stadium to group stage matches against the likes of Dalian Shide of China and Seongnam Ilhwa of Korea in March.

Taejon took advantage of frigid conditions to hand out a 6-0 beating to India's Mohun Bagan at the Daejeon World Cup Stadium. While they can expect a tougher time in Calcutta for the return leg, the Korean FA Cup champions should be able to hold on to their big advantage and advance to a group that includes Thailand's BEC Tero Sasana and Japan's Kashim Antlers.

Shenhua had a hard time breaking down Singapore's Geylang United in Shanghai but the dismissal of Mohammed Noor Ali for a rash challenge a minute before the break proved fatal to the visitors, who conceded three second half goals to go down 3-0.

India's Churchill Brothers and Thailand's Osotspa should have plenty to play for in Bangkok after a 1-1 draw between the two sides in Goa, with Jaihan Kittisak's penalty giving the Thais a precious away goal to take into the second leg.

The AFC Champions League, which was launched in August, replaces the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup and the Asian Super Cup. The winning team will take home a first prize of US$500,000.

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