On the evening of April 18, Beijing time, the AFC Champions League East Asia group stage will usher in the second round of matches. The two Chinese Super League teams, which conceded a total of 12 goals in the first round, will make a comeback against the powerful Japanese J-League team. This time, can Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou make progress?
Guangzhou expelled red card players
On the 16th, the day after the team lost 0-5 to Malaysia's Johor Bahru team, Guangzhou Football Club issued a penalty notice, saying that defender Guan Haojin was suspected of dragging and pedaling when he was competing with the opposing players for the ball on the 15th, and was sent off with a red card, which seriously violated the club's team rules and was given the punishment of reporting criticism and immediate dismissal. At the same time, the coaching team was also criticized for not being properly managed, and the head coach was demoted to three levels of salary and the assistant coach was reduced to one level.
Subsequently, Guan Haojin posted on social media, expressing his willingness to accept punishment: "The red card foul action on the AFC Champions League field was originally intended to run to the ball to break the siege, but was blocked by the opponent's body and did not see the position of the ball, and failed to stop the action for a moment, which brought a negative impact to the club, deeply apologized, and was willing to accept the punishment for this." ”
Guan Haojin began to represent Guangzhou in the reserve team league in 2013, until he left the team in the 2018 season, and successively joined Ningxia Huofenghuang and Hebei Elite on loan, and was selected for the Chinese national youth team. In April 2022, guangzhou team's 26-man squad for the AFC Champions League was released, with Guan Haojin on the list. He probably didn't think he would be fired for a red card.
For Guan Haojin's direct dismissal for fouls on the court, many people believe that he should indeed pay the price for his uncool behavior, but the decision to expel is too serious. Previously, the Guangzhou team had also expelled players, when Hanchao was fined 5,000 yuan and administratively detained for 15 days by the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau for altering the license plate, and then officially expelled by the Guangzhou Evergrande Club on the evening of April 14, 2020. However, Yu Hanchao joined Shanghai Shenhua as a free agent 3 months later and did not leave football because he was expelled. But for Guan Haojin, the outlook may not be so optimistic.
But in any case, Guan Haojin's departure from the team has become an irreversible fact. According to the schedule, Guangzhou will usher in the second group game at 17:00 on the 18th, against the Kawasaki Forwards. In the first round of the match, Kawasaki Striker and Ulsan Hyundai drew 1-1, this time facing Guangzhou, it will certainly not be soft, it is bound to keep attacking and competing for more goals.
The Taishan team strengthens the psychological construction of players
The losing Guangzhou team expelled the players who received red cards, and the Shandong coaching staff chose to strengthen the psychological construction of the players.
Affected by many factors, this season, the Taishan team can only arrange U21 elite teams to play in the AFC Champions League, and the 23 registered players are born after 2000. In the first game against South Korea's third-place Daegu FC, The average age of Taishan's 11 starters was less than 20 years old, which for most players was their professional league debut. After the big score loss in the last round, many young players did not perform as well as they were, and the coaching staff also built psychologically on them after the game. In this regard, the team coach Yu Yuanwei said: "The team has focused on strengthening the psychological construction of players in recent days. We've been stressing to the players that we need to focus on the next game and stop thinking about the last game, and for them, the next game is always the most important thing. ”
At 22:00 on the evening of the 18th, the Taishan team will welcome the second opponent of the AFC Champions League group stage Urawa Red Diamonds. The first game was a 0-7 loss to South Korea's Daegu FC, and this match again encountered a strong player, which may be another game of challenging mentality for the young players of the Taishan team.
Urawa Red Diamonds, who finished sixth in the J-League last season, have slipped in form this season, winning just two of their first 10 league rounds, with the last three league rounds ending in a draw. But even so, the team's strength is still much higher than the Tarzan team. They have added to the squad this season. The arrival of former Sweden international Karlsson has enhanced the impact of the front, and the addition of 33-year-old veteran Ken Iwao has enhanced the protection of the back position. Urawa Red Diamonds proposed a "three-year reform plan" in the 2019 season, and this year is the last year of this plan, in the context of the weakness of the domestic battlefield, the team naturally pays more attention to the results in the AFC Champions League, and they also successfully beat the Singapore Lion City team 4-1 in the first round.
In the face of such an opponent, coach Yu Yuanwei said at the pre-match press conference on the 17th that no matter how strong the opponent is, the important thing is to fight: "Urawa is strong and has a very strong game dominance, we only have to come up with better performance, stronger fighting spirit, more running to deal with, we are ready." ”
When asked what kind of tactical arrangement the team will have against Urawa in this game, Yu Yuanwei said: "What we have to do is to go all out to treat the game and show our mental outlook and the strength level of the team. Yi Xianlong, a player who attended the press conference with Yu Yuanwei, also said that the goal of this AFC Champions League is to improve himself and look forward to playing better.