J. League champions Gamba Osaka held off a second-half fight back to edge China's Dalian Shide 3-2 while JEF United Chiba beat South Korea's Ulsan Huyndai by the same scoreline at the East Asian "A3" Champions Cup in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Quick-fire goals in the first half from veteran defender Satoshi Yamaguchi and Brazilian striker Magno Alves gave Gamba a 2-0 lead after 19 minutes and Magno Alves' second early in the second period looked to have killed the day's opening game off at a sparsely populated National Stadium.
Goals from Zou Jie and Wang Sheng put the Chinese C-League champions right back in the game and Miodrag Tantelic almost snatched an equalizer in injury time but Gamba held on to avenge their 2-0 defeat the last time the two teams met in the Asian Champions League in April.