Reporter Han Bing's report is reasonable and expected. Two weeks later, it was supposed to be the debut day of Changchun Yatai's second appearance in the AFC Champions League after 12 years, but in the face of various practical force majeure, Changchun Yatai finally decided to withdraw from the AFC Champions League play-off on March 15 after consultation with the AFC, and the winner between Sydney FC and The Philippines' Kaya will directly enter the group stage of Group H of the AFC Champions League East Asia Region. Changchun Yatai also became the third Chinese Super League team to voluntarily withdraw from the AFC Champions League after Liaoning in 2012 and Jiangsu in 2021.
Unlike the reasons for Liaoning and Jiangsu's withdrawal from the AFC Champions League, Changchun Yatai's withdrawal this time is indeed a rational decision made after combining various factors. At present, the epidemic situation of the Aumi kerong mutation virus in Asian countries is extremely turbulent, and both Sydney FC and Kaya in the Philippines must accept 14+7+7 quarantine when entering Changchun. Given that the first qualifying round of the two teams will be held on March 8, the away team is unlikely to meet the entry requirements and will not accept such an arrangement. Because Changchun Yatai is more likely to rival Sydney FC, there are still 11 rounds of the Australian Premier League regular league to play after the AFC Champions League qualifiers, and time is not allowed.
Changchun is unable to host home matches, and the AFC can only advise Changchun Yatai to play in the midfield, such as Vietnam or Thailand, where the Group H group stage is located. Although the AFC has provided a certain amount of travel allowance for the participating teams due to the change of the tournament system during the new crown epidemic, because the home team's competition conditions do not allow the home team to change the home stadium, Changchun Yatai must bear all the travel expenses of the match in the middle position. Although the cost of travel to and from Southeast Asia to play a play-off match is not high, the risk of epidemic prevention and the cost of time are very high.
At present, both Vietnam and Thailand are in the outbreak period of the Omil kerong variant virus. Unlike last year, when the Chinese team played at home in West Asia, this round of the epidemic spread faster and came more violently. Moreover, at present, Changchun Yatai's foreign aid has not returned to the team, which means that it is difficult to win the Australian Super League powerhouse Sydney FC match with the full main force in Southeast Asia. After returning home, the team will also face the 14+7+7 epidemic prevention and quarantine policy, even if the victory over Sydney FC enters Group H, it will go to Vietnam again on April 16 to play the group stage, and the team's pre-season training for the AFC Champions League group stage cannot be carried out normally.
Changchun Yatai has also considered sending reserve teams or youth teams to neutral matches, like last year's Chinese Super League teams. But such a team is unlikely to beat its opponents in the play-offs, and it also faces a high risk of epidemic prevention. Last year, the Beijing Guoan Youth Army in Uzbekistan and this year's Chinese women's basketball team in Serbia both suffered from the new crown epidemic.
The Beijing Guoan Youth Army was forced to stay in Central Asia for several months before they were able to return to China, which made all the Chinese Super League clubs participating in the AFC Champions League feel uneasy. Since it is difficult for the first team or the youth team without foreign aid to defeat the opponent to enter the group stage, and it is also necessary to bear the extremely high risk of epidemic prevention, Changchun Yatai can only choose to abstain. After all, the Chinese Super League will start at the end of April as early as possible, and Changchun Yatai can only make the only choice between the two events.
Changchun Yatai, like Liaozu that year, withdrew from the AFC Champions League qualifiers. However, with the current particularly severe epidemic situation in Southeast Asia and the downturn in the domestic football environment, I am afraid that changchun Yatai will not only withdraw from the AFC Champions League in the future.
Guangzhou has faced the loss of all first-team players due to a huge salary cut, Zheng Zhi is no longer the manager, and the team has not yet concentrated on training. In the future Chinese Super League season, the Guangzhou team, which is expected to have only 15 million yuan in operating expenses, can only rely on the support of the football school team, and it is difficult to gather a team that will go to Malaysia to participate in the group stage at the same time. The reality faced by the Guangzhou team is much more severe than that of Changchun Yatai. Under such double pressure, withdrawing from the AFC Champions League to focus on the league is probably the only rational and helpless choice for Guangzhou team.
As for Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Haigang, although the two teams are currently operating well and are still actively attracting reinforcements, their attitude towards the AFC Champions League is still unclear. After all, changchun Yatai can not solve the problem, the other 3 Chinese Super League AFC Champions League teams are also difficult to solve. Sending out the youth army, supplemented by at most a number of first-team marginal players, is already an imaginable AFC Champions League squad cap. In the context of the high pressure of the epidemic, all 4 teams in the Chinese Super League have withdrawn from the AFC Champions League, which now seems to be not impossible.