The recent focus of Chinese soccer has undoubtedly been on the change of venue for the hosting of the National Football League's World Qualifying Tournament. Obviously, with the global epidemic not yet fully dissipated, participation in international tournaments will be challenging. The national soccer team will leave for the United Arab Emirates, while the three teams playing in the Asian Champions League will also start the play-offs and group stage of the tournament. These three teams are about to embark on a new journey in a demanding environment. Rumor has it that Guangzhou may send some of their first team players to the tournament, but that seems unlikely today.
According to the AFC, Guangzhou's Group J matches will be played in a tournament format at Lei Fort Stadium in Buriram, Thailand. Opponents in the same group include Hong Kong Premier League side Jiezhi, Thai Premier League newcomers Thai Harbour, Japan's Cerezo Osaka and the winner of the Successful Play-offs in Melbourne, Australia.
In terms of fixtures, Guangzhou's first round of the group stage will be played on the evening of June 24 against either Cerezo Osaka or Melbourne Success. The final round of the group stage is scheduled for July 9, making it a test to complete six matches in 16 days.
It was originally expected that the three Chinese Super League (CSL) teams would likely send their ladder teams to participate in the tournament due to the clash between the AFC Champions League group stage and the first phase of the CSL schedule. However, the national football team will go to West Asia to participate in the 40-team tournament, most of the international players can not participate in club matches, the original plan to restart the first phase of the Super League on June 21, the tournament has also been disrupted. According to Dai Xiaowei, the Super League could restart on July 20 at the earliest. In the meantime, there is news that Guangzhou may send their remaining first-team players to play in the AFC Champions League group stage, but the likelihood remains low.
Although there are no schedule conflicts, it is still difficult for Guangzhou to send first team players to the tournament. Even if they can return immediately after returning from the match in Thailand, they still need to go through quarantine. When Guangzhou's international players return from the World Cup, they will also not be able to immediately rejoin their coaching staff and teammates, which could affect the team's performance in the Chinese Super League. Given the uncertainty of the epidemic, there is a possibility of a repeat of last year's situation where the team was stranded at the venue after playing the AFC Champions League.
The deadline for registration for the AFC Champions League group stage is June 8, and the club has already submitted the relevant plan to the group. It will be up to the group's senior management to decide which players to send to the tournament, which is expected to be young players. The current plan for the other two teams, including Seaport who will participate in the play-offs, remains to be a second team entry.
