Week in Asian Football: Thrills, Spills, and Titles!

This week's Asian football saw Machida Zelvia lead the J.League after triumphing over Yokohama, while Shenhua's lead in China was cut to one point. Gangwon FC closed in on K League leaders Ulsan Hyundai. China advanced in World Cup preliminaries. Tony Popovic exited Melbourne Victory as head coach.

Talking points from the week in Asian football:

MACHIDA BEAT YOKOHAMA TO MOVE TWO POINTS CLEAR IN JAPAN Machida Zelvia opened up a two-point lead over Kashima Antlers in the J.League with a 3-1 win over Yokohama F Marinos on Saturday, Gen Shoji, Shota Fujio and Hokuto Shimoda scoring in the win over Harry Kewell's side.

Kashima were held 1-1 by Albirex Niigata on Sunday, while Gamba Osaka moved up to third with a 2-1 win over Kashiwa Reysol. SHENHUA'S LEAD IN CHINA CUT TO ONE POINT

Shanghai Shenhua saw their lead in the Chinese Super League trimmed to a point after they were held 1-1 by Chengdu Rongcheng on Sunday. Jiang Shenglong's own goal gave Chengdu a fourth-minute lead before Cephas Malele equalised 12 minutes later to keep Shenhua on top ahead of neighbours and defending champions Shanghai Port, who beat Tianjin Tiger 3-0 on Friday.

GANGWON FC CLOSE IN AFTER ULSAN THROW AWAY TWO-GOAL LEAD Gangwon FC moved to within a point of K League leaders Ulsan Hyundai after second-half goals from Yago Cariello and Yang Min-hyeok sealed a 3-1 win over Suwon FC.

Defending champions Ulsan threw away a two-goal lead against FC Seoul to draw 2-2. Seoul's Stanislav Iljutcenko scored twice in the second half to earn his side a point. CHINA's WORLD CUP HOPES STILL ALIVE DESPITE SOUTH KOREA LOSS

China squeezed into the third round of Asia's preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup by the narrowest of margins despite losing 1-0 to South Korea in Seoul. Indonesia, North Korea, Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan also confirmed their progress to the next round, with the Chinese qualifying as runners-up in Group C behind the South Koreans after Thailand could only register a 3-1 victory over Singapore.

POPOVIC LEAVES MELBOURNE VICTORY AFTER FIFTH FINAL DEFEAT Head coach Tony Popovic left Melbourne Victory after three years during which he rescued the four-times A-League champions from the doldrums and steered them back into title contention, the club said on Wednesday.