Champions League Matchday 5 : Newcastle

Nagoya Grampus - 8
Ulsan Hyundai - 6
Beijing Guoan - 4
Newcastle Jets - 4

That's how we stand going into today's matches. We could go into all the other stats, the goals +/- and everything, but hopefully we won't have to talk about that. It's fairly simple: the top 2 teams go through and for Guoan, that means win 2 and you advance; don't and you're (probably) out.

For Beijing, they've left 7 starters from the previous league match in Beijing to rest up for the weekend clash against Changchun Yatai. Also, as part of the loan deal, Joel Griffiths isn't allowed to play against Newcastle at home. Therefore, the lineup for tonight's match should be a 4-5-1 (more like 4-2-3-1) that will look like this:
Yang Zhi
Zhou Ting, Paul, Lang Zheng, Yang Pu
Zhu Yifan, Sui Dongliang
Wang Changqing, Guo Hui, Wang Ke
Ryan Griffiths

Why? First, the flight to Australia was 21 hours and after tonight's match, they head straight back to Beijing to prepare for the weekend's match in Changchun. Also, the A-League is currently in their close season, the season ended in January and won't start up again until August (not to mention Newcastle finished in last place in the 2008-09 season). Most of all, while Guoan still has a shot at advancing, if you ask the fans, winning the league is most important, the Asian Champions League is viewed as a minor after thought.

According to coach Lee, this is not meant as a "second team", these are fresh legs, veteran players who are highly skilled. Nice try, Lee, but Zhu's yet to play a match and many are starting their first match. The central defensive pairing has never played together, either, though both being taller center backs, we should be able to control the air. Lee also complained a lot about the condition of the field, which the Aussies admitted was in crappy condition.

So its going to be an interesting test for this Guoan squad tonight. At the same time, these players should be hungry having not gotten a lot of time this year and, this is their chance to make a positive impression on the manager. Yes, I'm not too concerned with the Champions League, but with Tianjin already eliminated and Shanghai having a very tough hill to climb, it would be nice to have the other 2 Chinese teams come up with a respectable showing. 3 points tonight will break our scoreless streak and will point us in the right direction.