Melbourne Victory’s hopes of making the second round of the AFC Champions League are over after the 2008-09 Hyundai A-League champion could only manage a 0-0 draw against Beijing Guoan at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne.
In a match which never hit any great heights, each side had only a few chances to steal the points. Beijing had the better of the match but settled fro a draw knowing a similar result at home to Kawasaki Frontale will be enough to get it through to the last 16.
It marks the end of the road for Melbourne which has four points from its five matches. It is now impossible for Victory to get through given it has an inferior head to head record against Beijing, which is three points clear of it.
Beijing had several chances to snatch the lead in the first 15 minutes, with Yan Xiangchung cutting a swathe through the defence and forcing an urgent clearance from Mathew Foschini inside the first minute.
Soon after, Joel Griffiths powered through a gap in the defence and aimed a shot at Mitch Langerak, but the Melbourne keeper was equal to the task. Beijing’s Australian headed just over the bar soon after while on 15 minutes, he set up Huang Bowen, only for the midfielder to shoot wide.
Langerak was called on again on 18 minutes when a superb cross from the right found Griffiths at the far post. He knocked it back to Valdo, but his header went straight at Melbourne’s young stopper.
Having weathered the early storm, Melbourne set about creating its own chances and on 21 minutes, when Nik Mrdja shot from range, Yang Zhi fumbled. Robbie Kruse was there to capitalise, but was unable to get past the keeper who survived a penalty appeal from the home side.
As the half wore on the chances dried up and apart from a couple of optimistic shots up either end from Huang Bowen and Evan Berger, there were few threats on a 0-0 half-time scoreline.
Melbourne created few chances early in the second half when Nick Ward’s cross forced an unconvincing parry from Yang, while Kruse’s dangerous cross went unmet.
But it was the visiting side doing much of the attacking and Darko Matic blasted over after Griffiths failed to get a shot away, while Griffiths should have opened the scoring on the hour when afforded an open header but nodded it wide. Huang was also one on one with Langerak, but shot straight at the keeper.
Melbourne had a good chance from the dead ball when Leigh Broxham’s free kick found Rody Vargas but the defender’s touch went wide. Substitute Marvin Angulo then prompted an excellent save from Yang with a powerful long-range effort on 76 minutes, Melbourne’s best effort of the match.
Huang tested out Lanbgerak again close to full-time, but the Melbourne stopper was equal to the task. Melbourne gave Luke Pilkington his club debut but that was a rare highlight on a night where the Australian side’s hopes of progression were officially extinguished.
Melbourne Victory 0
Beijing Guoan 0
Crowd: 6394 at Docklands Stadium
