Grouped with Japan and South Korea, how far can Taishan go in the AFC Champions League?ICphoto
Losing 2:3 to Thai Premier League side Pathum United in the play-offs, Shanghai Port, temporarily ranked No. 1 in the Chinese Super League (CSL), ended their AFC Champions League journey in near disgrace, leaving the outside world sweating for the other CSL teams.
Now, the AFC Championship has returned to normal, "long time no see" of the AFC Championship, the Chinese Super League and how to deal with it?
knock out (i.e. to beat in a competition)
It's not just the seaport that's affected
Before the play-offs begin, Shanghai and Hong Kong have to win. This is not only because of Hong Kong's home games, but also because Hong Kong are currently top of the Chinese Super League, while the Pathum League is only eighth in the Thai Premier League.
First in the Super League versus eighth in the Thai Premier League seemed like a no-holds-barred duel. However, reality taught Seaport a hard lesson. Guoan veteran Sergeyev crossed the Seaport defense with ease and crushed their hopes of advancing to the AFC Champions League with a hat trick.
After the match, many fans turned their backs on the pitch to express their dissatisfaction with Hong Kong's performance. Yankovic, the current head coach of the national soccer team, watched the match with the angry fans. Apparently, he came to investigate the performance of the international players.
As the only team with points in the Super League, Seaport has a lot of good international players. In the national football training in June, Seaport had 7 players selected. Among them, Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Guangtai and Yan Junling are the absolute mainstay of the national team, and Xu Xin and Wei Zhen are not less frequent.
Meanwhile, Pathum United also has a large number of Thai international players. Statistically, Pathum United has a total of five players on the Thai national team roster for the month of June.
It can be said that the match between the two teams simulates, to some extent, the match between the national soccer team and Thailand.
However, in this battle, Seaport's backline consisting of four international players, Yan Junling, Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Guangtai and Wang Shenchao, was easily penetrated by Baton Rouge United. Baton Rouge's excellent ability to advance and move the ball made it impossible for Seaport to defend.
The loss at the harbor was a wake-up call for the national football team. Although the national soccer team has already won 66.7 percent of its matches against Thailand in terms of historical battle records, the Thai team has also brought bad memories to the national soccer team.
If the Jankovic-led national football team is not well prepared for the coming match against Thailand, it is likely to repeat the mistakes of the seaport team.
Facing the AFC Champions League
Super League teams need to get their minds right
The fact is that Seaport's loss to Baton Rouge United had more psychological issues than just the athletic aspect of the game.
Seaport is currently leading the second place in the Premier League, topping the league table with 12 points. With seven rounds left in the league, it is almost certain to win the second league title in the team's history. At the same time, they are looking to compete for the FA Cup title this season.
Under these circumstances, preserving the league and the FA Cup has become the "top priority" of this season's seaport, and the AFC Champions League seems to be dispensable on the front line.
Harbour coach Javier, who has been estranged from some of his foreigners for a long time, sent out only two foreigners, Oscar and Lucas, to start the match against Batangas United, as usual. This is proof enough that Seaport is not giving extra attention to the AFC Champions League.
Now that the AFC Champions League has returned to full normalcy, Super League teams need to adjust their mentality and prioritize the AFC Champions League as soon as possible.
Difficulty escalation
Who can break out of the group stage
From the 2021 season, the AFC Champions League expands to 40 teams. For Chinese Super League teams, this season is a real trial run for the expanded AFC Champions League, and the group line has become extremely brutal.
According to the tournament system, the 20 teams from the East and West Asian halves will be divided into five groups. The first place in each group, as well as the best second place in the East and West Asian halves, can advance to the round of 16. The group stage is more difficult to break through than it was before the expansion.
Despite the difficulties, striving for the best results was the only option for all the teams.
In recent years, due to the poor performance of Chinese Super League (CSL) teams in the AFC Champions League, the number of places for CSL teams in the expanded AFC Champions League has dropped from "3+1" to "2+2". If the Chinese Super League's technical points in the AFC continue to fall, the number of places in the AFC Champions League for the Chinese Super League will be further reduced.
For domestic players, the AFC Champions League is one of the few ways to play with intercontinental and even world-class players besides the national team. Only by participating in the AFC Champions League, can we avoid the "closed door" as much as possible, so that the players can more intuitively feel the changes in Asian soccer and even world soccer.
On the afternoon of the 24th, the grouping of the AFC Champions League group stage was announced. From the grouping, Zhejiang has a great chance to break through in the group stage by avoiding the traditional Japanese and Korean powerhouses. Taishan will compete with Japanese powerhouse Yokohama Mariners. Wuhan Sanzhen made a poor signing and are in a precarious qualifying situation as they are divided into a group with Pohang Tie and Urawa Red Diamonds, the two teams that won the AFC Champions League. Regardless of whether the signings are good or bad, neither team can afford to take it lightly and learn from the lessons of the harbor.
Since the end of last year, the Saudi league has brought in a large number of top players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema and Neymar. West Asia has become much more competitive, with Saudi Arabia almost locking up a spot in the AFC Champions League final. If a Chinese Super League team makes it to the final, then players have more opportunities to talk directly to these top players. The more teams that receive experience in the AFC Champions League, and the more players that improve at a high level, the more hopeful Chinese soccer will be.
