On the afternoon of January 17, the 2022 AFC Champions League draw grouping ceremony was held, and finally the Chinese Super League champion Shandong Taishan encountered a strong opponent, they were in the same group as Japan's J-League powerhouse Urawa Red Diamonds and Singapore Lion City Sailors, and the other opponent will be the winner between K-League Haoqiang Qiu and Thai giants Buriram United, from the perspective of strength, Daegu is more likely to advance to this group. In other words, this time the Taishan team is surrounded by strong teams from Japan and South Korea, facing severe challenges.
Daegu finished third in South Korea's K-League last season, but they only scored 55 points in 38 rounds, a far cry from champion Jeonbuk Hyundai with 76 points and runner-up Ulsan Hyundai with 74 points. The biggest player in their squad may be the South Korean international Hong Zhe, who just joined the team this month, the 31-year-old is the main defender of the Korean team, who has started seven times in the Asian Round of 12 in this World Preliminary Round, he is extremely fast, his skills and physical fitness are also very good, and he won the AFC Champions League with Ulsan Hyundai last season, this experience is still very critical for Daegu. In addition, his arrival will also give Daegu a certain degree of improvement to the relatively fragile backline.
In addition, there are not many big names in Daegu, although the players have a relatively tacit understanding and have a certain degree of combat effectiveness, but from the perspective of only 41 goals scored in 38 league rounds last season, their attack power is relatively average. This seems to be very similar to the 2019 season when Taishan team encountered South Korean AFC Champions League new Gyeongnam FC. Of course, Korean teams have always been tenacious, and the Taishan team still has a headache against them, so don't be careless.
Buriram United is an old rival of the Chinese Super League team, and has played many times with Taishan in the AFC Champions League. They were runners-up in the 2020/21 Thai Super League, a full 14 points less than champions Baton United, but also eight points ahead of runners-up Thai Port. In the 2021/22 Thai Super League season, Buriram United won 35 points in 16 rounds to lead the table, scoring 28 goals and conceding only 9 goals, or showing good strength. Of course, in the AFC Champions League play-off match against Daegu, they are estimated to be able to only open four or six.
Urawa Red Diamonds are a famous team in Japan's J-League, and Chinese fans are no strangers to them. Although they have won only one J-League title, they have won the AFC Champions League twice in 2007 and 2017, and have won 8 Japanese Emperor's Cups, 2 Japanese League Cups and 1 Japanese Super Cup, which is also a first-class team in the Japanese J-League. This time, they were able to directly qualify for the AFC Champions League group stage due to their 2021 Emperor's Cup title, while in the 2021 J-League season, Urawa Red Diamonds only ranked 6th, 29 points behind champion Kawasaki Forward.
Urawa Red Diamonds' striker Shinzo Koji, midfielder Isamu Abe, defender Daigo Nishi, Hiroki Sakai and goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa are all familiar names for Chinese fans, but only 31-year-old Hiroki Sakai is the main international of the current Japanese team, and among the other 4, Shinzo Kosai and Daigo Nishi left the team on loan and expired their contracts respectively at the end of last season, 40-year-old veteran Isamu Abe retired, and only 35-year-old Shusaku Nishikawa is still fighting for the team.
As for the Singapore Lion City Mariners, they are the 2021 Singapore Premier League champions, and the strength is not small compared to the two Japanese and Korean teams, but there is a player in this team that Taishan is very familiar with, that is, former South Korean international center Kim Xinyu, who once played for Shanghai Shenhua, and after leaving Shenhua, he joined the Southeast Asian team at the call of Lion City Mariners South Korea coach Kim Do-hoon. The Tarzan team must remember the scene of him being killed by his long-range shot in the first stage of the 2020 Chinese Super League. Therefore, this encounter, the Taishan team must not take it lightly.
Of course, the opponent is strong, Taishan team is not vegetarian, more worth mentioning, in the 2019 season of the AFC Champions League, Taishan team is in the same group with Japan's Kashima Antlers and South Korea's Gyeongnam FC, the result is that the Taishan team led by Li Xiaopeng has no fear in the face of strong opponents, and finally locked the group top place in the early round, which can be described as the limelight in the 4 Chinese Super League teams. If it were not for the knockout match to meet the nemesis Evergrande team, the final penalty loss in the two rounds of the big war, the Taishan team is estimated to go further. After being crowned the League Cup double, the self-confidence of the Taishan players has been greatly improved, and it is not impossible for them to highlight the siege again if they can make targeted reinforcements in the front and midfield positions.