But they will now have to watch as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Shanghai SIPG – featuring former Evergrande stars Elkeson and Dario Conca – lead the Chinese charge in the knock-out stages.

In a tense game of few chances, Tadanari Lee and Christopher Naumoff both had sight of goal in the first half before Shinzo Koroki nearly put Urawa in front in the 78th minute.

WATCH: highlights of the draw between Urawa Reds and Sydney that dumped Guangzhou Evergrande out of the competition

Koroki ran onto a slick backheel from Lee but his low shot was brilliantly saved by Sydney goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic to ensure the game finished 0-0.

China’s Shandong Luneng also progressed from group F after Diego Tardelli’s 10th-minute header from a long-range free-kick was enough to eliminate Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-0.

Group F leaders FC Seoul beat Thailand’s Buriram United 2-1 to confirm their place in the last 16, but Group E will go down to the wire in next month’s final round of pool games.

Only two points separate the top three after China’s Jiangsu Suning beat Vietnam’s Binh Duong 3-0 to go second, and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors displaced leaders FC Tokyo with a 3-0 away win.

In group A, things got interesting with Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad thrashing Iran’s Sepahan 4-0 for their first win in five matches after three draws and one defeat.

A double from Abdulrahman al-Ghamdi and a goal each by Gelmin Rivas and Fahad al-Muwallad saw the Saudis climb to third with six points and they can hope to qualify if they win their last match.

The defeat means Sepahan are out of the tournament while Al Ittihad moved to within two points of second-placed Al Nasr with only one round of group A matches remaining.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Zobahan made the knockouts from group B with a 3-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr with Ehasan Pahlevan finding the target once in each half and Kaveh Rezaei also registering on the scoresheet.

It was Zobahan’s third win in five matches and took them to 11 points in group B, where Qatari side Lekhwiya also made the last 16 cut after beating Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor 2-0 thanks to second-half goals from Karim Boudiaf and Mohamed Munatri.

Lekhwiya are looking to regain some of their pride after being dethroned by Al Rayyan in the Qatar Stars League, with their revival coming at the right moment after they were at one stage at the bottom of the group with two draws and one loss from three matches.

“We came here to take three points,” said Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi. “Our target was to win tonight, so I’m happy with my team’s performance and the important victory. We were better and stronger today than our rival, but we were also lucky.”