Tim Cahill has taken a step towards a trophy and AFC Champions League qualification as a large number of his Socceroos team-mates were rested following international duty

Tim Cahill's Shanghai Shenhua have taken a significant step towards winning the Chinese FA Cup after picking up a draw in the first leg of the final away again Jiangsu Sainty on Sunday.



The Socceroos striker played a full match but was unable to find the breakthrough for his side, who were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw.



But the result means Shenhua need only to win the second leg in front of their home fans at Hongkou Stadium next Sunday to win the FA Cup.

1st leg 0-0 away from home. Disciplined performance and all set up for fire at our place we must win the CHINA CUP pic.twitter.com/0toIr8NFlD — Tim Cahill (@Tim_Cahill) November 23, 2015

Люк Уилкшир подписал контракт с «Тереком» https://t.co/KOX5Ad6pm6 pic.twitter.com/wCvBZY36Hq — FC Terek Grozny (@fcterek) November 18, 2015

Victory would be huge for the club, who haven't won major honours for 17 years.An FA Cup triumph would also see Shanghai Shenhua qualify for next year's AFC Champions League and a potential match-up against an A-League club.Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC and Adelaide United will be the A-League's representatives in the 2016 competition.Elsewhere in Asia, James Troisi played a full game in Al Ittihad's 3-0 loss to Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia.In UAE, Mark Milligan did the same in Baniyas' 1-1 draw with Al Ain, while Brett Holman set up a goal in Emirates' 3-0 win at Al Sharjah on Saturday.Goran Subara (Police United) and Trent McClenahan (Phuket) faced off in Thailand's second tier, while in the Thai Premier League, Matt Smith played 90 minutes in Bangkok Glass' 2-0 loss at Saraburi.Adam Federici was in goals for Bournemouth as they picked up a valuable Premier League point courtesy of 2-2 draw against Swansea City on Saturday.Mark Schwarzer was again an unused substitute for Leicester City who amazingly sit top of the EPL standings following a 3-0 win over Newcastle United.It was an unhappy return to club land for Bailey Wright, who was shown a red card following two bookable offences in Preston North End's 2-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers in the Championship.Chris Herd featured for Chesterfield as they went down 3-2 on their travels to Port Vale also in England's second tier.Alex Cisak was in goals as Leyton Orient claimed a 3-2 victory over York City to retain seventh place in League Two.Brad Smith played his first minutes in Liverpool colours since re-signing with the club, deployed as a second half substitute in their U21 side's 2-0 loss to Benfica.Ryan McGowan set up the opener for Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership but his side went on to lose 2-1 to St Johnstone.Also in Scotland, Jackson Irvine and Scott McDonald went head-to-head with Ross County 3-0 victors over Motherwell.Tom Rogic was withdrawn after 71 minutes in Celtic's stalemate with Kilmarnock but his team retained their six point lead at the top of the table.In Europe, PEC Zwolle claimed a thumping 5-0 away win over Roda JC in the Eredivisie.Former Glory pair Rostyn Griffiths and Daniel De Silva both made appearances for Roda, while Tomi Juric was missing due to the groin injury he picked up against Kyrgyzstan.Defender Trent Sainsbury was rested from the Zwolle squad.James Holland played all but the final minutes in MSV Duisburg's 1-1 draw with Fortuna Dusseldorf in Germany's second tier, while on Sunday Ben Halloran sat on the bench for Heidenheim.Tomislav Mrcela was in the same situation for Lokomotiva Zagreb in their clash with NK Zagreb on Sunday, where Roko Strika was not in the squad.

Luke Wilkshire did not get his debut for Terek Grozny after joining the Russian Premier League club this week, with the Chechnyan outfit drawing 2-2 at Kuban Krasnodar.