The 17-time Nadeshiko League champions lead the pack after following an opening day draw with a crucial 2-0 win over Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels on Thursday, meaning their one-point lead over the tournament hosts will become an insurmountable four-point gap should they successfully see off the Australian side.

While a win against Victory will seal a maiden Continental title, a draw would significantly muddy the waters – with Beleza then relying on a favourable result in Saturday’s other match – while a defeat could see Masato Nagata’s side finish as low as third.

Ueki’s header opened the scoring just after half time, before Kobayashi sealed the win in the dying seconds, helping Masato Nagata’s side to leapfrog the tournament hosts and put themselves 90 minutes away from being Asia’s first ever women’s club champions.

With four points from two matches, Beleza’s win means they’ll be able to seal the inaugural club crown with a win over Australia’s Melbourne Victory on Saturday, while the tournament hosts, who are a point behind, could go into their match with Jiangsu Suning with the title already lost.

The Australian club opened the scoring through an early Grace Maher header, before Jiangsu failed to find a winning goal despite creating several chances following Tang Jiali’s near-immediate equaliser.

The result leaves Victory on one point from two matches in the FIFA-AFC Pilot Tournament, while Jiangsu were forced to settle for a second draw in three days after sharing the spoils with Nippon TV Beleza on Matchday One.

Maher opened the scoring in her side’s 1-1 draw with Chinese champions Jiangsu Suning to write her name into the history books and the promising midfielder sees a future where many more players will have the chance to follow in her footsteps.

The praise came after the Malawi international turned in an outstanding performance for the Chinese champions in Tuesday’s 1-1 AFC Women’s Club Championship draw against highly rated Japanese champions Nippon TV Beleza.

The WK League champions found the back of the net twice in each half, with Lee Sea-eun – who bagged two goals in as many minutes just before the hour mark – leading the scoring on a night where Kim Dam-bi and Thais Guedes also left their mark on the final tally.

The win means the Red Angels finish Matchday One on top of the table, while Melbourne Victory sit at the bottom as the only team not to collect a point on the opening day.

Jiangsu’s impressive Malawian striker Tabitha Chawinga wrote her name into the history books with the tournament’s first goal in the seventh minute, but Beleza were level just three minutes later thanks to Mjna Tanaka before a second half arm-wrestle.

The result keeps both sides in title contention with two further matches to play in the competition.