Brazilian Juninho opened the scoring shortly before the break when he drove home a powerful free-kick before SAF were reduced to 10 men in the 57th minute when defender Ivan Loric was shown his second yellow card.

Jose Mota then sealed the win with 17 minutes remaining when he curled a left-foot shot into the roof of the net.

"It was a tough match today," said Suwon coach Cha Bum-kun.

"The opponents showed great improvement from last year. They are more organised with players getting into dangerous positions."

SAF coach Richard Bok had no qualms with the result but felt his side good have perhaps got something from the game had they not conceded before the break.

"I was quite happy with our performance today," he said. "We defended well until they scored that very good goal in injury time of the first half. If we had gone into the break 0-0, it could have been a different game."

Meanwhile, Gamba Osaka were left searching for their first win at the tournament after being hold to a 1-1 draw by Henan Jianye at Expo '70 Commemoration Park Stadium.

Zhang Lu put the Chinese visitors ahead in the fourth minute when he pounced on a loose ball after goalkeeper Atsushi Kimra had failed to hold Daillo Amadou's attempt.

Gamba secured a point though when Lucas scored from the spot in the 35th minute after the Brazilian had been fouled in the area.

Lucas and Ze Carlos had chances late on but Henan goalkeeper Zeng Cheng denied them both.

"We gave away the first goal and that made the game hard to us," said Gamba coach Akira Nishino.

"We played at a good tempo and tried various things in the final third, but their defence was solid. When they played defensively it was hard for us to break through."

Henan manager Tang Yaodong was thrilled with the result as his side maintained their unbeaten start to the tournament.

"I'm really excited," he said. "Our team and I are all satisfied with this result.

"The points we have collected so far are different as we played against a different opponent and one was played at home and the other one was away, but so far we are on the right track."