Choi Kang-hee, in his prime, is about to face the challenge of 45-year-old Cowell. Yokohama Mariners will battle Shandong Taishan in the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League.
Cowell, an Australian soccer legend, has played for Liverpool, Leeds United and other giants. He won the 2004-05 Championship, the 2005-06 European Super Cup, the 2005-06 English FA Cup, the 2006-07 Championship, the 2011 Asian Cup runners-up, and made his mark at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
After his retirement, Cowell coached Watford U23 and other English lower league teams.In June 2022, he became an assistant coach at Celtic and on December 31, 2023, he officially took over the coaching reins at Yokohama Marinos. Yokohama Mariners drew 2-2 with Bangkok United in the 1/8 first round of the AFC Champions League.
Choi Kang-hee, a resounding Asian coach. During his tenure at Jeonbuk Hyundai, he led the team to the 2006 AFC Champions League title and was honored as the AFC Coach of the Year in the same year. He then led Jeonbuk to back-to-back K-League titles in 2009 and 2011, and in 2016, Choi was voted AFC Coach of the Year. His coaching career has also involved a number of teams such as Suwon Samsung, the South Korean national team, Tianjin, Dalian and Shenhua.
On May 16th last year, Cui Kangxi officially joined Shandong Taishan. At that time, Taishan was only ranked 9th in the Chinese Super League, with only 1 win, 4 draws and 2 losses in the first 7 rounds, accumulating 7 points.
After Choi Kang-hee took over, Taishan won 14 wins, 6 draws and 2 losses in the Chinese Super League, accumulating 48 points and finishing second by 5 points. During the AFC Cup, Taishan eliminated Meizhou Hakka, Beijing Guoan and Dalian Ren, and beat Shanghai Shenhua 0-1 in the final. In the AFC Champions League, Taishan won 4 and lost 2 in the group stage, and successfully progressed to the quarter-finals with a 6-5 victory over Kawasaki Frontale in the two rounds of the 1/8 final.
The AFC Champions League Quarter-Finals, Shandong Taishan will welcome the first round of matches on March 6th and the second round will start on March 13th.
