In the night of February 21, Beijing time staged in the second round of the AFC Champions League quarter-final match, sitting Yokohama Mariners with a narrow 1-0 advantage over the Thai team Bangkok United, the total score of 3-2 success to advance. This time, Shandong Taishan will meet Yokohama Mariners again in the AFC Champions League quarterfinals, which for Cui Kangxi, the time for revenge has come.
Looking back at the first round match between Yokohama Mariners and Bangkok United, the two sides ended in a 2-2 draw. And in the second round, Yokohama Mariners are sitting at home. As a result, the Yokohama Mariners were widely favored to advance to the next round. Although the result of the match seemed to confirm the expectations of the outsiders, looking at the match, the Yokohama Mariners, who had the advantage of the field, won the victory in a rather difficult process. In the audience of the whole match, the offense of Yokohama Marinos can even be described as wild power. Yokohama Mariners had 37 shots on goal in the whole match, but only 5 shots hit the target. It can be said that the shots were thunderous but failed to blossom, and it was only at the end of the match, relying on Lopez's penalty kick that the deadlock could be broken.
According to the AFC Champions League schedule, Shandong Taishan will play the first round on March 6th, followed by the second round on March 13th. The Taishan team will play first home and then away. Shandong Taishan and Yokohama Mariners have met four times in the AFC Champions League, with Taishan defeating their opponents in the 2005 AFC Champions League group stage with scores of 1-0 and 2-1 in the two rounds. In this season's AFC Champions League group stage, the two teams were in the same group, but Taishan suffered defeats with scores of 0-1 and 0-3. In the end, the Yokohama Mariners advanced to the top of the group, while Taishan came in second place. As you can see, there were no secrets in the match between the two teams.
From the technical and tactical characteristics of the two teams, Yokohama Mariners specialize in short ground penetration passes, fast passing speed, and good cooperation between players; while Shandong Taishan has no fear of opponents in terms of power confrontation and impact. Especially after eliminating Kawasaki Frontale on the road, Taishan's morale has increased greatly. I believe Coach Choi Kang-hee will have new insights on tactical layout and lineup arrangement. As the saying goes, I hope Taishan will continue to defend their honor in the Chinese Super League. Way to go, Shandong warriors!
