I'm coming to you once again on yet another beautiful, er, "overcast" spring Friday in the 'Jing as due to the Champions League, we're once again treated to Friday soccer. This time the Boys in Green will be traveling to Jinan to take on last year's league champs, Shandong Luneng.
Guoan's stated goal is clear, they plan on going to Jinan and bringing 3 points back to Beijing. Shandong responded by saying that "they can understand the goal of earning 3 points, but a goal is just a goal, not a result." This little war of words has been interesting, but people on both sides have said they are friends off the field and opponents on it. This is made obvious by the number of Shandong players (like Li Leilei and Lv Zheng) who are from Beijing and, in some cases, have even spent time in the Guoan academy.
Right now, Guoan sits in 3rd place, 1 point ahead of Shandong, and both teams are coming off victories last weekend that helped to right the ship after disappointing losses (Guoan's in Korea, Shandong's after being crushed by Shenhua). It will be interesting to see what Lee Jangsoo does with Guoan's lineup after it appeared there was a fresh start last week. He also has a difficult time as Guoan is stacked with a lot of similar players, the debate over Ryan Griffiths vs. Du Wenhui and Tao Wei vs. Huang Bowen has been raging. This week, it looks like Huang will make his way back into the lineup, while Du and Griffiths will both be on the bench, while Yang Hao will be moved to the left side, where he'll be a good match for Shandong's Lv Zheng.
Shandong's lineup is not expected to change, expect all their stars, including Li Leilei, Li Jinyu, Han Peng, and this year's new edition Lebanese star Roda Antar all to feature. Han is fairly tall at 1.85 and while Li Jinyu isn't tall, he's great in the air, I would like to see Lee mix up our defense so as to include Lang Zheng or, better yet, Paul. I really feel its time to take him out of the dog house and give him a shot, he's a big defender and should be able to help.
Friday night football is strange, but I'm getting used to it and rather like it, let's hope tonight's clash will bring us 3 points. Go Green!
Notes
This game was originally scheduled to be played in Beijing, but because of the concert of 4 Taiwnese superstars taking place at Gongti on Saturday, the game was switched to Jinan.....Beijing Assistant Coach Lv Jun will be going up against his nephew, Shandong star Lv Zheng.....Weather today in Jinan is supposed to be warm and sunny, so expect decent temperatures tonight.....Last year these two teams drew 1-1 in Beijing, while Guoan lost 2-0 in Jinan.....
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