<
>

Guangzhou Evergrande beat Club America, Sanfrecce Hiroshima win

Paulinho scored in the final minute of stoppage time on Sunday as Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande beat Mexico's Club America 2-1 to advance to the semifinals of the Club World Cup.

Paulinho's header from a corner kick in the 93rd minute allowed Luiz Felipe Scolari's team to secure a showdown with tournament favourites Barcelona on Dec. 17 in Yokohama.

Club America dominated for most of the second half until substitute Zheng Long equalised in the 80th minute, taking a pass from Gao Lin and beating Club America goalkeeper Moises Munoz with a shot from 15 metres.

Oribe Peralta gave Club America a 1-0 lead 10 minutes after the break with a header from a Dario Benedetto cross.

"My goal is to win against Barcelona," Scolari said after the game. "My job is to convince my players of the possibility to win. Today my players fought hard and won so we should have a giant dream for the next match."

Barcelona forward Neymar is injured and is doubtful for the Club World Cup.

"Even without Neymar, Barcelona has many great players," Scolari said. "They are a perfect team. So not having Neymar is a slight advantage for us but they are still a great team."

Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat TP Mazembe 3-0 in the Club World Cup in Sunday's other game.

Tsukasa Shiotani gave Sanfrecce the lead a minute before half-time. Kazuhiko Chiba headed in a corner in the 56th minute and Takuma Asano added the third 12 minutes from time.

Sanfrecce's reward is a meeting with South American giants River Plate on Wednesday.

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.