In the May 21 news, Liu Xiangyu, Cai Zonglin, and Chen Wei reporters revealed that the AFC announced the schedule for the East Asian Champions League group stage, which spans June 24 to July 9, clashing with rounds 6 to 9 of the Chinese Super League (June 21st to July 8th). This means that the top three in the Chinese Super League will have to make tough choices. With Guoan now virtually confirmed to be represented by a U20 team, and Guangzhou and Seaport most likely to field reserve teams, this could be the weakest AFC Champions League squad in the history of the Chinese Super League, and faces another near-unsuspecting dilemma after the group stage regiment in 2009.
Guoan was the last of the three Chinese Super League teams to finalize the venue, and it wasn't until early May that the game was confirmed to be played in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Last year's AFC Champions League saw Guoan make a historic breakthrough, successfully reaching the quarterfinals of the East Asian zone and becoming the Chinese Super League team with the best result in last season's AFC Champions League. However, this year's group stage opponents include 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, and the strength of the opponents should not be underestimated. At the moment, Guoan looks a bit vague regarding their intentions for the AFC Champions League. The fact that they are fielding a youth army means that they have strategically given up on the AFC Champions League, but the club has said that there can be no let-up in their attitude towards the competition. And going to the intercontinental tournament is a rare experience for young players, which will be of great help to their growth.
Last year, due to the participation of the main players in the Asian Championship, Guoan sent a U21 team to play in the AFC Cup, and they beat Chengdu Rongcheng 1-0 in the second round. The opponent played almost all the main players, and both their game experience and physical conditions were better than the Guoan youth army. Guoan's victory was the biggest upset of the tournament. Guoan's performance also proved that they didn't give up on the game, and would fight hard to win every game. However, when facing Wuhan in the third round, Guoan lost 0-3. However, this trip to the AFC Cup has allowed the outside world to recognize the youngsters of these years, and they have made great gains.
In fact, the main task of this year's Guoan team is the National Games. In the already-concluded qualifying round of the National Games, Beijing U20, which is composed of players of the team's age, made a breakthrough by advancing to the final round at the top of the group, for the first time in 12 years.
Guoan youth training deputy director Yang Pu said in an interview, this group of players ability is good, and in the training and competition together close to 10 years, has reached the "quality change" time, "the next few months, this unit will shoulder this season's AFC Champions League group stage and the National Games competition mission! The next few months, this team will be responsible for this season's AFC Champions League group stage and the main competition of the Games, which will be very challenging for them. That is to say, they will first go to Uzbekistan at the end of June to participate in the Asian Championship, and if all goes well, after completing the mission of the Asian Championship, then come back to participate in the National Games. Right now, we are aiming to juggle these two events." Yang Pu said, "The Asian Championship is to represent our country and the National Games is to compete on behalf of Beijing, we can't afford to slack off."
In this youth army, there are many good seedlings, in addition to the already well-known Leng Jixuan, Liang Shaowen, as well as Hu Jiaqi and Shi Yu Cheng, etc., they have the opportunity to enter the first team of Guoan in the future.
In recent years, Guoan has made great efforts in youth training, and the Dutch youth training system has been integrated into every age group team. This time, playing in the AFC Champions League is a brand-new challenge for the lads, and it will be interesting to see if this youth army can have a bright performance when facing real high-level opponents, in addition to the final stage of the All-China Games, in which they will have to compete for a better result.
Guangzhou is in Group J. The venue is set in Buriram, Thailand, and the group stage opponents, in addition to Thai Premier League's Thai Harbour and Hong Kong Premier League's Jiezhi, are the winners of the play-off between J-League's Osaka Cherry Blossoms and Australian Premier League's Melbourne Success.
For the Guangzhou team, the venue Thailand's Buriram Lei Fort soccer stadium is actually no stranger to the 2012 season, their first time to play the AFC Champions League, and Buriram United in the same group, the final round of the group stage, in the pouring rain in Lei Fort, Kongka hit a penalty kick before the end to help the team get a life-saving three points, and ultimately pressed the K-League dominant Jeonbuk to promote, the first time to participate in the last 16, and the competition, also is the Lee Jang-soo's last battle, back to Yangcheng into the Silver Fox era.
Guangzhou's second visit to the Leipzig 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 "Lost in Thailand", the team traveled chartered plane because of the local small airport runway accident, resulting in Cannavaro and his disciples stayed in Bangkok for a long time, arrived in Lei Fort stamping ground has been close to the early morning, the reporter also experienced the history of the latest start of a pre-match conference, after such a journey, the two teams 1 to 1! The two teams drew 1-1 after such a long journey.
It should be said that the hosting of the AFC Champions League group stage, Lehboldt's venue conditions are still trustworthy, the owner of Buriram United Chen Naiwen spent huge sums of money to make this professional stadium, the turf quality is very good, the stadium is also next to the exclusive supporting hotels and training grounds, before the national football team was once considered, in this stadium to play in the epidemic delayed by the 40 strong matches.
However, this AFC Champions League, Guangzhou team is also facing the problem of collision, in which, the group stage round 5, but also with the Guangzhou team against Taishan's Chinese Super League round 9 competition on the same day, only 5 hours apart, coupled with the return from abroad to participate in the isolation and quarantine must be subjected to, the Guangzhou team is bound to split the troops, and, to participate in the 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 if the youngsters are to play in the AFC Champions League, the coaching staff will have to find a head coach who meets the requirements of the AFC.
Despite the fact that there are only three teams in the Super League, Seaport will still have to play the play-offs. According to the AFC's schedule, Seaport will face the winner of the match between Brisbane Lions and Kaya Philippines (qualifying on June 20) on June 23 at 6 p.m. in Thailand, and on the same day, Seaport has a Chinese Super League match against Wuhan, so Seaport should arrange for an alternate or perhaps a team to participate.
Originally, Seaport did not qualify for the AFC Champions League, but because Taishan was penalized by the AFC, they qualified for the AFC Champions League by default. If they win in the play-offs, Seaport will enter Group F. The opponents in the same group include Batangan United of the Thai Premier League, Ulsan of the K-League, and Vietnam Telecom, and if they lose, they will go home directly.
Last year's AFC Championship, which was played after the Chinese Super League, because of the requirements of the China Football Association, so the BIG4 gave up the AFC Cup and sent the main force to participate in the AFC Championship. But after playing the competition, because of flights and other problems, the team was once trapped in the hotel, after a few twists and turns to come back 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 similarly sent a young force to compete, and that list, with the exception of 27-year-old striker Li Hao Wen, consisted of U23s, including as many as 11 U21s, the youngest of whom was 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, Seaport spent three weeks to reorganize the team, and also recalled some loaned out players, including Zhang Hua Chen and Wei Lai from Nantong; Zhou Zheng, Zhu Jiayi, Li Shenyuan, Huang Zhenfei and Sun Guan'o from Inner Mongolia; and Li Hao Wen from Suzhou. It can be said that, in addition to Hu Jinghang, who was playing in Wuhan at the time, and Shi Xiaodong, Nantong's main goalkeeper, did not come back, and everyone else came back, but now, at this time, all levels of the league has just started, and certainly can not be recruited to come back, so the seaport can only send a team to participate in the tournament.
If the team to play the AFC Champions League, in fact, and last year with the team to play the AFC Cup the same, as then the head coach Chen Xufeng said, is a stage for young players to show their own, can be predicted that the young players will be very much the desire to play, only that such a lineup to play the AFC Champions League, the results can be predicted. "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." A circle said.
Since the expansion of the AFC Champions League in 2009, the Chinese Super League group stage results are the worst is that year, four participating teams, the group stage was annihilated, in which Luneng 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 negative accumulation of 7 points, the group third out; the same is the group third out of the game, as well as 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 negative accumulations of 8 points of Shenhua and TEDA, Guoan is 1 win, 2 draws and 3 negative accumulations of 5 points, the group bottomed out.
