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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Almost a quarter of billion dollars worth of Brazilian talent will be on the field in Shanghai on Wednesday as two Chinese Super League teams meet in the second round of the 2017 Asian Champions League.

Big names such as Hulk, Oscar, Alex Teixeria,Ramiresand Elkeson have all helpedShanghai SIPG and Jiangsu Suning progress past the group stage to set up the first-ever all Chinese meeting in the tournaments history.

With two-time winner Guangzhou Evergrande also in the last 16, China has more teams in the second round than ever before, with all three teams that started the tournament surviving the first round. It is another sign of the growing strength of the big spending Chinese league.

We will have to be at our best when we play Jiangsu, said Shanghai coach Andre Villas-Boas ahead of the first leg, which takes place on Wednesday with the return match in Nanjing a week later. We know all about their quality and they know all about us. We have been playing well and we will have to continue that form.

The two teams come into the game in very different situations. Hulks fifth league goal of the season helped the team to a 3-1 win in Fridays Shanghai Derby at Shanghai Shenhua. The three points put SIPG second in the table behind Guangzhou.

Jiangsu, runner-up in the league in 2016, may have won its group with two games to spare but has been struggling at home.

After ten games of the season, Jiangsu is bottom of the 16-team league with just one victory, and speculation is growing in the Chinese media that the teams coach Choi Yong-soo is in serious trouble.

We havent been getting the results in the league but our form in the Asian Champions League has been good this season, said Choi, who led FC Seoul to the 2013 final. It will be a tough game against Shanghai but if we can get a good result there in the first leg we will have a good chance of going to the next stage.

Despite the growing challenge from Chinese teams, Guangzhou Evergrande remains the only club to bring the trophy back to the country.

Under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guangzhou, which has won the last six Chinese Super League titles, is looking to become the first club to win three Asian Champions League tournaments. The first two came in 2013 and 2015.

Guangzhou was less impressive than Jiangsu or Shanghai in the group stage but leads the standings in China. It faces a tough task against Japanese champion Kashima Antlers, with the first leg at home.

Elsewhere in the eastern zone, the tournament is divided into two geographical regions that come together only in the final, Thai champion Muangthong United is preparing for the first knockout game in its history, against Kawasaki Frontale of Japan.

The 2007 champion, Japans Urawa Reds, travels to the South Korean island of Jeju to face Jeju United.

The pick of the ties in the western zone sees 2016 finalist Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates meeting Esteghlal of Iran.

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Brazilian stars on show in all-Chinese Asian clash - Washington Times - Washington Times

NBCSports.com

Milbury, Jones would start Murray over Fleury for Penguins in Game 4 NBCSports.com Team USA was dominant during the preliminary portion of the World Hockey Championship, but they dropped their first knockout game to Team Finland on Thursday afternoon. The Score breaks down the main reasons why Team USA fails to play for gold ... Anaheim Ducks Hockey - Ducks News, Scores, Stats, Rumors & More - ESPN - ESPN.comESPN.com all 437 news articles »

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Milbury, Jones would start Murray over Fleury for Penguins in Game 4 - NBCSports.com

NBCSports.com

PHT Morning Skate: Why does Team USA keep falling short at the Worlds? NBCSports.com Team USA was dominant during the preliminary portion of the World Hockey Championship, but they dropped their first knockout game to Team Finland on Thursday afternoon. The Score breaks down the main reasons why Team USA fails to play for gold ...

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PHT Morning Skate: Why does Team USA keep falling short at the Worlds? - NBCSports.com

Whats the story?

With rain almost playing spoilsport, the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders went until the wee hours of Thursday morning. The cut-off rulethat allowed the game to be played till 1:30 amwas lambasted by Nathan Coulter-Nile, the star for the KKR side.

KKR pacer Coulter-Nile brought it to light thata nasty concussion sidelined him for the latter stages of the regular season in the IPL, after the player-of-the-match performance in the eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In the match against Rising Pune Supergiant, Coulter-Nile was welcomed to the crease with an icky blow on the grillfrom a Dan Christian short ball and did not play the following three games as he was diagnosed with a concussion.

Also read:IPL 2017, Eliminator: SRH vs KKR, Player Ratings

Speaking of the match going on till late, he said: I think there is so much time, rules probably need to be looked at, I mean its 2 am, you cant be playing cricket at 2 oclock.

When asked about how things went for him post that game, he said, "It was a tough one, I'd never had a concussion before so I didn't know what to expect or what was going on."

"I was just really tired, headaches, I got a bit sick but there wasn't rehab or anything like that, I just had to lay in bed and wait to get right. I wasn't playing this morning, but I woke up and felt pretty good so I put my hand up for selection and the coaching staff went with me.

Coulter-Nile has been through an injury-plagued few years, the concussion being the latest intrusion. In his first IPL match this season against Daredevils, his figures were 3-22, which was his first spirited performance in almost a year.

The fast bowler had not been able to cement himself in Australias playing XI when they toured Sri Lanka and was mostly confined to training tracks during the Tests. He was sent home during the ODI series of the same tour as he was diagnosed with what was a bone stress fracture.

Against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Coulter-Nile picked up three wickets, restricting them to 128, which after rain, revised KKRs target to 48 off six overs.

Coulter-Niles appearance for KKR in the eliminator was his first since theirloss to RPS in early May. It was a timely return for the pacer, who came back making a statement, taking 3-20.

He bagged the wickets of crucial players, Kane Williamson and Vijay Shankar. Not only was he handy with the ball but also showed how good an athlete he was by taking a stunning diving catch in his follow-through dismissing Chris Jordan.

He considers himself a tad bit lucky for he claims most of the credit for the wickets he grabbed goes to the pitch since the wicket wasntone where batsman could hit freely.

After outperforming the Sunrisers in the Eliminator, the Knight Riders will be facing the Mumbai Indians in the 2nd Qualifier at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on the 19th of May. Coulter-Nile will be the aggressor with the ball for KKR and will be hoping to continue in the supreme form that he is in at present.

It indeed has been abumpy year or so for Coulter-Nile. However, his return has been exemplaryand he will be hoping the rough patch has passed him by. The KKR skipper, Gautam Gambhir and the team management including Coulter-Nile in the playing XI after he said he was well and up for the tie hours before the game commencedonly goes to show how much they needed the talented bowler for the knockout game.

Considering his present form, a clinical performance is expected from the speedster in the game(s) ahead for the Knight Riders.

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IPL 2017: KKR's eliminator hero Nathan Coulter-Nile not amused by cut-off rule - Yahoo Cricket

2 hours ago. Updated 2 hours ago.

Rising Pune Supergiant and Kings XI Punjab will square-off in a winner takes all knockout game for the fourth and final play-off berth in an Indian Premier League encounter in Pune on Sunday, PTI reported.

Supergiant are currently on 16 points from 13 games with a net run-rate -0.083 while Kings XI Punjab are on 14 points from equal number of matches but have a comparatively better run-rate of +0.296.

When the two teams square off on Sunday, the equation is pretty simple for Glenn Maxwells team. A win is all that they need to qualify as it will take them to 16 points with a superior net run rate. The Punjab outfit doesnt have to look at any other results.

For Pune, it will be a challenge facing KXIP, whose campaign gained momentum during the business end of the tournament.

Time: 4 pm Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune TV: Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony ESPN and their HD Channels Head-to-head since 2016Played: 3 RPS: 1 Kings XI: 2

I stayed relaxed throughout the first phase of the tournament. I have enjoyed a lot. Now, we are on a winning run and have the chance to finish in the top-two. The best thing is that we are not dependent on one or two guys. Majority of our players have performed.

- Steve Smith, Rising Pune Supergiant.

Squad: Steve Smith (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ashok Dinda, Mayank Agarwal, Faf du Plessis, Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Dan Christian, Lockie Ferguson, Imran Tahir, Jaskaran Singh, Usman Khawaja, Saurabh Kumar, Ben Stokes, Washington Sundar, Milind Tandon, Manoj Tiwary, Adam Zampa, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishwar Pandey, Rahul Tripathi, Shardul Thakur.

In the last three games, whatever we were doing batting/fielding, the target was the attitude should be of nothing to lose, execute in batting, bowling and fielding, play the natural game, then we will see what happens, we have defeated KKR and MI (and) we will try to play against Pune as we played in these two games.

- Wriddhiman Saha, Kings XI Punjab.

Squad: Glenn Maxwell (c), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Armaan Jaffer, Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Arman Jaffer, Anureet Singh, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Pradeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, T Natrajan, Matt Henry, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Gurkeerat Mann, Rahul Tewatia, Darren Sammy, Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik, Ishant Sharma.

Originally posted here:
Preview: 'Winner takes all' as Pune host Punjab in virtual knockout game for final play-off berth - Scroll.in