AFC Champions League: Chinese super teams meet their Waterloo
At the start of the new AFC Champions League campaign, Wuhan Three Town's home match against Urakawa Red Diamonds raised new expectations for the Chinese Super League Big3's performance in the AFC Champions League. However, in the second round of the tournament, the Chinese Super League teams suffered a collective blow - three consecutive losses, three games without a grain, Japan, South Korea and Australia teams tasted defeat.
Shandong Taishan met Yokohama Marinos in the second round and suffered a 0-1 defeat at home. While Kressan's two goalpost goals might serve as an excuse for bad luck, the Chinese Super League team seems to have no more excuses to offer after two consecutive losses.
Wuhan Sanzhen had been the leader of the Super League AFC Champions League in the last round of the competition, but the team faced POSCO on the road in this round, the team was chased by three consecutive goals in the lead and suffered a heavy defeat. In the first two rounds, Shandong Taishan won and lost, accumulating three points.
Wuhan Sanzhen was not without the possibility of equalizing the score, but the anxiety of the players in the situation of falling behind led to a psychological imbalance, and one player even received a red card for an irrational action. Early in the game, when the opponent's attack had not yet crossed the halfway mark, Xie Pengfei's irrational shoveling led to an injury to the opponent, and after the VAR video assistant referee intervened, a red card ensued.
As a highly regarded international player, Xie Pengfei had won the hearts of fans with his outstanding performance. However, he failed to keep his cool in this crucial game, causing his team to struggle even more with one man less.
Despite a stubborn resistance in the second half, they conceded another goal in the extra time and finally lost 1-3. After two rounds, Wuhan Three Town only accumulated one point.
Zhejiang returned home to face Melbourne after losing to Buriram on the road, but failed to learn their lesson. Only in the third minute of the match, the opposing team capitalized on a mistake by Zhejiang's foreigner Frank. Melbourne then took a 2-0 lead in the 17th minute.
Although Zhejiang then pulled a goal back, their overall offense was weak and they ended up losing 1-2. The team, unbeatable in the league, looked out of place in the AFC Champions League.
Melbourne City has limited strength and drew with Kofu Fung Lam in the last round. In this round, Kofu Fung Lam defeated Buriram 1-0. Zhejiang team lost both matches and has become the weakest team in the group.
Summarizing the first two rounds of the AFC Champions League, the Chinese Super League Big 3 only accumulated 4 points, all from the first round, the second round of particles. The Super League team's lack of offense was beaten back to its original form, and the former "golden dollar soccer" advantage is no longer.
