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.

Champions League Matchday 4 Preview : Ulsan Hyundai

We are blessed with a Wednesday clash this week as Guoan gets back to the Champions League and tries for revenge against the only team to beat them so far this season, Korean side Ulsan Hyundai.

Today's a beautiful day in this the Imperial City and tomorrow night is expected to be just as nice as our Boys in Green battle it out for 3 points.  This is an extremely tight group with a mere 2 points separating first and last.  Guoan has a slight advantage, playing two out of the three remaining matches at home.  If you draw on the road and win your home matches, its typically enough to put you through, we got the results on the road, now its time to win.

Ulsan's not a pushover, though, despite their weak Champions League performances going into the Guoan match and their poor domestic form.  Plus, there's the whole issue of a Chinese team playing a Korean one, be it at the club or national team level, Korea just knows how to beat China.

As far as I'm concerned, there's only 1 key to this game, controlling Kim Shinwook.  Lee Jangsoo, please, please take Paul out the doghouse and put him in the lineup, we need him.  Lang Zheng will do, too, but Paul's build leads me to believe he'll play Kim physically and make him think twice when going up for those headers.  I'm not so sure Lang is cut out for the job.  No matter if its Paul or Lang, in no case should Zhang Yonghai be among the starters, he already proved he couldn't deal with Kim's height and the only strategy Ulsan had in the last match was knock the ball up field and get Kim in the air.

After how Du Wenhui and Yan Xiangchuang played in the last match, can we expect to see them in the lineup?  It seemed Du suffered a minor injury in the last match, is he fit for this one?  What about Zhou Ting, who now will be out of our next league match after being red carded?  Lee's squad that faced Shandong was one of the better ones we've seen this year.   Part of it is obviously building up teamwork as they get a few more matches under their belts, but a major part of it is getting the right mix of 10 guys.

I'd like to see Tao Wei remain up top with 2 attacking forwards, Yan played hungry against Shandong and he deserves a start on the wing, the question is do you choose strength and give Ryan Griffiths another run out after spending so much time on the bench lately or do you go with Yang Hao's speed, or Du Wenhui's attacking prowess.  Then there's the small matter of what you do with Huang Bowen.  Kind of a nice problem to have so many strong midfielders, Lee just has to find the right mix.

Considering its at home and 3 points are needed, Guoan has to put out an attacking formation, though going with both Du and Yan on the wings would be a bit much, perhaps.  The key to this match will be neutralizing Kim, Ulsan relied on him heavily in the last match, if they don't get many free kicks near the box or corners and a taller defender can keep him from getting long balls, 3 points aren't out of reach.

The song us fans always sing is "Guoan is Always Number 1", let's get 3 points and put ourselves in the driver's seat in this competition.