On May 21, the AFC unveiled the schedule for the East Asian Champions League group stage, which spans from June 24 to July 9, overlapping with the 6th to 9th rounds of the Chinese Super League. The Chinese Super League top three have to make a difficult choice. It is reported that Guoan has basically decided to send a U20 team to participate in the tournament, and Guangzhou and Harbor will also play with a reserve team. This may be the weakest squad since the Chinese Super League participated in the AFC Champions League, following the group stage in 2009, the entire team failed to face the challenge of no suspense again.
Guoan became the last of the three Chinese Super League teams to finalize the venue until early May, when it was confirmed that the match would be played in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Looking back at last year's AFC Champions League, Guoan made a historic breakthrough by making it to the quarterfinals of the East Asian zone, making them the top Chinese Super League team in the AFC Champions League last season. However, this year's group stage opponents are formidable, including Union City of the Philippines, Kawasaki Frontale of the J-League and the winner of Daegu FC/Chiang Rai United of Thailand in the K-League. Guoan may seem to have given up on the AFC Champions League by fielding young players in the tournament, but the club emphasizes that it cannot afford to be lax in its approach to the competition. For young players, participating in intercontinental tournaments is a valuable experience that will benefit their growth.
Last year, Guoan sent an U21 team to the AFC Cup with their main players involved in the Asian Championship, and they beat Chengdu Rongcheng 1-0 in the second round, which was the biggest upset of the round. Although they lost 0-3 against Wuhan in the third round, the trip to the AFC Cup allowed the outside world to recognize the young team and they gained a lot.
In fact, the main goal of the national team this year is the National Games. In the already concluded qualifying rounds of the Games, Beijing U20, composed of players of the team's age, advanced to the final round of the group first, which is the first breakthrough in 12 years. Yang Pu, deputy director of youth training at Guoan, said that this group of players has good ability, and after nearly 10 years of training and competition, it has reached the time of "qualitative change". They will be in the next few months, shoulder the challenge of this season's AFC Champions League group stage and the National Games, which is a very challenging test for them.
Guangzhou's Group J fixture is scheduled to be played in Buriram, Thailand, with group stage opponents including Thai Premier League's Thai Harbour, Hong Kong Premier League's Kitchee, and the winner of the play-off between J-League's Sakura Osaka and Australian Premier League's Melbourne Victory.
Guangzhou are no strangers to the Lei Fort Football Stadium in Buriram, having been drawn in the same group as Buriram United when they first played in the AFC Champions League in the 2012 season. In the final round of the group stage, in the pouring rain of Lebao, Kongka hit a penalty kick before the end to help his team get the three key points, and eventually pressed the K League dominant Jeonbuk to advance, the first time in the tournament reached the round of 16. The tournament was also the last game for Lee Jang-soo, who entered the Silver Fox era after returning to Yangcheng.
Guangzhou's second visit to Lebao Football Stadium was in 2018, and the two teams, who have become regulars in the AFC Champions League, met again in the group stage. However, the Guangzhou team this trip is called "Thailand", the whole team travel chartered plane because of the local small airport runway accident, resulting in Cannavaro and his disciples were stranded in Bangkok for many hours, arrived in Leipzig stomping ground is close to early in the morning, the reporter also experienced the history of the latest start of a pre-match conference. After such a long journey, the two teams drew 1-1.
Hosting the AFC Champions League group stage of the Lei Fort venue conditions are trustworthy, the owner of Buriram United Chen Naiwen spent a huge amount of money to make this professional stadium, turf quality is very good, the stadium also has an exclusive supporting hotels and training venues next to. Previously, the national soccer team once considered playing in this stadium was delayed by the epidemic of the 40 strong match.
However, Guangzhou's AFC Champions League campaign is also facing the problem of a clash, with the 5th round of the group stage and Guangzhou's 9th round of the Chinese Super League against Taishan taking place on the same day, just 5 hours apart. In addition to the fact that they must undergo quarantine when they return from abroad, Guangzhou will have to split their forces and compete with a youth army.
For the Guangzhou team, it would be a good training opportunity to let the football school product experience the baptism of the Asian field, but with such an arrangement, it may not be possible to consider the results.
It is worth mentioning that Chang Weiwei, the former head coach of the Guangzhou reserve team, returned to his hometown this year to coach the Wuhan women's soccer team, which has Wang Frost, and the coaching staff will have to find a head coach that meets the requirements of the AFC if they play in the AFC Champions League with young players.
Despite the fact that there are only three teams in the Super League, Harbour will still have to play in the play-offs. According to the AFC's travel schedule, the Seaports will face the winner of the match between the Brisbane Lions and Kaya Philippines (qualification is on June 20) in Thailand on June 23 at 6pm. The Seaports also have a Chinese Super League match against Wuhan on the same day, so the Seaports should have a substitute or team in the competition.
Originally, Seaport did not qualify for the AFC Champions League, but because Taesan was penalized by the AFC, they qualified for the AFC Champions League by default. If they win the play-offs, Harbour will enter Group F. Their opponents in the same group include Thai Premier League's Pathum United, K-League's Ulsan and Vietnam Telecom. If they lose, they will go straight home.
Last year's AFC Championship, which was played after the Chinese Super League, was held because of the requirements of our Football Association, so the BIG4 gave up the AFC Cup and sent their main players to participate in the AFC Championship. But after the game, because of flights and other problems, the participating teams were once trapped in the hotel, and only after a few weeks to return to the country. This year, if you send the main force again, the impact will be more than just a direct conflict in time four rounds of the league, taking into account the isolation and other issues, at least seven or eight rounds of the league to be absent, which is the teams can not afford.
Last year's AFC Cup, Harbour also fielded a young unit, and that list, apart from 27-year-old striker Li Hao Wen, consisted of U23s, with as many as 11 U21s, and the youngest being 2003-born goalkeeper Kun Liang. The participating players, however, are almost all from Shanghai Harbor's 2018 league championship class in all age groups.
At that time, the Harbour Team spent three weeks reorganizing the team, and also recalled some loaned-out players, including Zhang Huachen and Wei Lai from Nantong; Zhou Zheng, Zhu Jiayi, Li Shenyuan, Huang Zhenfei and Sun Guan'ou from Inner Mongolia; and Li Haowen from Suzhou. It can be said that, except for Hu Jinghang, who was playing in Wuhan at the time, and Shi Xiaodong, Nantong's main goalkeeper, who didn't come back, everyone else came back. But now, at this time of the year, the leagues at all levels have just started and it is definitely not possible to draft them back, so the Harbor Team can only send a team to participate in the tournament.
If you play the AFC Champions League with a team, it's actually the same as playing the AFC Cup with a team last year, and as then manager Chen Xufeng said, it's a stage for the young players to show themselves. It can be predicted that the young players will have a great desire to play, only that the results can be predicted when such a lineup goes to play the AFC Champions League. "In fact, the team to play the Asian Championship, for young players, do not think too much, enjoy the process of the game on the line." An insider said.
Since the expansion of the AFC Champions League in 2009, the Chinese Super League group stage results are the worst is that year, 4 participating teams, group stage was annihilated. Among them, Luneng 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses accumulated 7 points, the group third out of the game; the same is the group third out of the game, there are 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses accumulated 8 points of Shenhua and TEDA. Guoan is 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses accumulated 5 points, bottom of the group out.
