Luiz Felipe Scolari has failed in his bid to steer Bunyodkor into the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League. The Uzbek took a 3-1 lead into the second leg of their last-eight tie with Pohang Steelers, but the Korea Republic outfit won 4-1 on the night following extra time to clinch a 5-4 aggregate success.

Bunyodkor were down 3-0 after a Kim Jae-Sung strike and a Denilson brace, and staring at defeat when Victor Karpenko hauled them out of trouble with a 90th-minute goal to take the match to extra time. However, with Rivaldo ineffective, Pohang deservedly booked their place in the last four when Stevica Ristic rose above two defenders to head the deciding goal on 102 minutes.

The defeat will be hugely disappointing for Brazilian Scolari, who was enticed to Tashkent in June and after being fired by Chelsea and is now reportedly the highest-paid coach in the world, pipping Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan.

Pohang's reward is a semi-final against Qatar's Umm Salal, who beat FC Seoul 4-3 on aggregate to deny an all-Korean semi.

The Qataris took a 3-2 first-leg lead to Seoul and when Aziz Ben Askar scored for the visitors on 14 minutes, they looked comfortable. Dejan Damjanovic pulled one back for Seoul two minutes later, but that was as far as they got with the match ending 1-1.

Kennedy the hero
Japan's Nagoya Grampus joined Pohang and Umm Salal in the last four, after towering Australian striker Josh Kennedy pounced with three minutes left to give his side a 3-1 victory over fellow J.League team Kawasaki Frontale.

Nagoya, trailing with a 2-1 away deficit from the first leg, levelled the aggregate score when Yoshizumi Ogawa dribbled through midfield on a break and slammed in a 20-metre shot on 26 minutes. Defender Maya Yoshida put the home side ahead on 34 minutes by heading in a long free-kick by Alessandro dos Santos.

But Kawaski pulled one back on the break three minutes later, as Korea DPR striker Chong Tese picked up a through ball from Renatinho and beat a Nagoya defender before beating goalkeeper Koichi Hirono. Kennedy, who moved from Germany's Karlsruhe in June, put the game beyond Kawasaki in the dying minutes, slotting in a rebound off Brazilian Magnum's shot.

"It was a very, very hard battle, a very good game of high quality," said Nagoya's Serbian coach Dragan Stojkovic. "I think that both teams played very well. But finally, I'm very proud about my players, their performace and the result, of course."

It was Nagoya's first win against their rivals in 11 attempts. They will face either two-time champions Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan's Pakhtakor for a place in the final. Those two teams play later in Riyadh, with the scores level at 1-1 after the first leg.