Goulart Pereira's hat-trick pushes China team to victory, 3-2, beating defending champion Western Sydney Wanderers in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday. (Photo : www.chinasportsbeat.com)
The Chinese team beat AFC defending champion Western Sydney Wanderers, 3-2, in AFC Champions League Group H on Wednesday, as Brazilian Goulart Pereira does his first hat-trick for the Guangzhou Evergrande leading the China team to victory.
The Brazilian forward did his hat-trick in 64 minutes, rendering La Rocca's 57th minute equalizer and Castelen's injurty time header useless.
Western Sydney team's assistant coach Ian Crook said that the match was a great spectacle, but admitted that their defeat was disappointing.
On the opposite team, coach Fabio Cannavaro seemed to have a good start, considering that Marcello Lippi resigned just last week.
Cannavaro said in the post-match press conference that it was "a very difficult match but I'm happy with my team because we played good football and I really appreciate the character they showed."
Goulart scored a goal in the 19th minute of the game, giving his team a comfortable lead score after Huang Bowen's cross followed Elkeson's header.
Western Sydney missed its best chance to equalize in the 43rd minute of the game, as Nikolai Tapor-Stanley's header narrowly missed the goal.
The Wanderers drew in the 57th minute as La Rocca leapt to reach Rukavytsya's corner and did a superb header toward the far post, giving no chance for the Guangzhou goalkeeper Zeng Cheng to catch.
But then after only two minutes, Guangzhou hit back as Gao Lin raced down the right field and drove the ball near Goulart to beat Australian goalie Ante Covic at his post.
Gao brought the ball down the left field five minutes later and crossed to the center of the box. Spiranovic failed to make it clear, but Goulart beat Covic with his hat-trick completion.
Spiranovic drove the ball to Guangzhou's goal in the 68th minute, only to be cancelled by the referee because it was offside.
Guangzhou escaped from conceding a goal, but goalie Zeng and Kim Young-gwon made collide during defense. Zeng was carried out after 15 minutes of treatment.
In the league's 17-minute stoppage time, Western Sydney was in control and Castelen drove home to narrow the gap in the 96th minute. Alas, it was too late for the Wanderers to level.
Cannavaro said Zeng's injury influenced the match. Apparently, the whole team knew that the Australians are going for the goal in the last few minutes of the game, but the Chinese coach said his team is very much prepared for that maneuver.
