Overcoming Chinese riches key in Asian Champions League
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By John Duerden
In December 2015, four South Korean clubs sent representatives to Kuala Lumpur to attend the draw for the 2016 Asian Champions League. If a K-League team does not win this year then that will be four tournaments without a triumph, the longest dry run since the early ‘90s.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, 2006 winner and finalist five years later, is the Korean champion and the most likely to have success this season in Asia after bringing in famous stars such as Kim Bo-kyung and Kim Shin-wook.
And the draw seemed quite favorable. So much so that when it was over, representatives from the club called coach Choi Kang-hee back in Jeonju. When they told the tactician that the Group E opposition would be a mid-table team from China in Jiangsu Suning, Vietnamese outsiders Binh Duong and ― assuming it won its playoff as it did ― FC Tokyo, the boss was delighted.
On paper it is the easiest group in the eastern half of the draw ― 32 teams are split into eight groups of four (half in west Asia and half in the east) with two from each progressing to the knockout stage ― and Choi thanked the staff for their efforts in traveling to Malaysia.
Unfortunately for the Korean team, there have been some developments. Jiangsu has been spending money like it has been going out of fashion as have many teams from the Middle Kingdom.
First, the Chinese FA Cup winner bought Brazilian international midfielder Ramires from Chelsea for around $31 million. If that wasn’t enough a few days later, the team signed another Brazilian star and outbid five-time European champion Liverpool for Alex Teixeira, paying over $50 million. Jeonbuk could not afford close to a tenth of that. Jeonbuk, a much more settled team, should be OK. The rest of the Koreans are in for tougher times.
FC Seoul is in Group F and has to face Japanese champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima, China’s Shandong Luneng and Thai titan Buriram United. It is hard to say what will happen. Some say that Southeast Asians are the weakest links but Buriram has improved and impressed in recent years. Shandong has a former Brazilian national team head coach at the helm and some impressive foreign stars and the Japanese team has been winning J League titles for a number of years and has defeated Seoul in recent years.
Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Pohang Steelers have formidable tasks.
Suwon takes on the best team in Australia, Melbourne Victory. Then there’s Shanghai SIPG. The Chinese league runner-up from 2015 is very ambitious. Former England national team boss Sven Goran Eriksson has spent over $50 million on assembling a strike force containing Brazilian Elkeson, who scored the winning goal for Guangzhou Evergrande in the final of the 2015 Asian Champions League, and Asamoah Gyan. The Ghanian has been one of Africa’s top strikers for years. Then there’s Dario Conca from Argentina.
Gamba Osaka won the title in 2008 and reached the semifinal last year and with former Bayern Munich forward Takashi Usami in form, then it is going to be tough for a Suwon team that has lost some of its firepower.
Last but very much not least is the Pohang Steelers. The men in red and black have won the Asian title more than any other club ― three in total but with an inexperienced coach and a young roster may struggle. Sydney FC will not worry Choi Jin-cheul too much; but then come Urawa Reds, 2007 champion and a Japanese powerhouse with plenty of international experience.
The main threat is, of course, defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande. Luiz Felipe Scolari, the 2002 World Cup winning coach, led the team to the 2015 Asian Champions League title and has a team full of stars. There is Paulinho in the middle and joining Ricardo Goulart in attack is Jackson Martinez, a recent signing that cost almost $60 million.
Pohang hasn’t spent that much in its entire history. It should be an interesting few weeks.