Yesterday, the AFC officially announced the specific kick-off time of each match in the AFC Champions League East Asia group stage that began in the middle of this month, and all participating teams have completed the work of player registration.
The three teams in the Chinese Super League are all mainly teamed up with youth echelon players, and the first team will remain in China to participate in the Chinese Super League, which may start the new season at the end of this month or the beginning of next month.
Among them, there are a total of 29 players in the AFC Champions League list in Shanghai Harbor, and only 5 are over 20 years old. The others are mainly players born in 2002 and 2003, most of whom were members of the Shanghai and Shaanxi teams of the U18 men's team at last year's National Games.
Although the Shanghai team failed to pass the qualifiers, the Shaanxi team, which was based on the U18 echelon of hong Kong, eventually won the national games championship.
In this AFC Champions League entry list, Wang Yulong, Fan Weiyang, Yang Zihan, Fan Yangyang, Liu Baiyang and Meng Jingchao, these 6 players, were the starting main players in the final of the National Games. In addition, Song Chunxiao and Wu Jin, who signed up for the AFC Champions League this time, are also on the bench list for the final of the Shaanxi team.
Goalkeeper Guo Tong, centre-back Lu Kun and forward Zhang Huiyu played in the Copa League last year with the Harbour first team, with the 19-year-old Zhang Huiyu also having a record of appearances.
Among the five players over the age of 20, the oldest and most "big name" should be Lei Wenjie, the captain of the Shanghai team, the U20 champion of the 2017 National Games; the 25-year-old is also the most experienced in the AFC Champions League, with 6 appearances and 5 starts.
At the start of the season when Harbor won the 2018 Chinese Super League, Ray Wenjie won the first team and scored his only Chinese Super League goal so far. By the 2020 season, Ravenjay had surpassed the game 21 times in three seasons for the Harbors, and he was finally transformed by Pereira into a wing-back in the three-centre-back system.
After going to Nantong Zhiyun in the Chinese League last year, Lei Wenjie, who returned to the front line, has a good performance, he is the main force of the team, contributing 4 goals and 2 assists.
Other four "veterans" like Huang Zhenfei, Mao Rui, Sun Enming and Sun Guan'ou have been loaned out of the club for the past two seasons in the middle division, and still have some experience in adult teams.
The head coach of the Harbor team that participated in the AFC Champions League is still the Japanese Kaneko Takayuki, and last year he also played the AFC Champions League play-off with the young players of the Harbor, when the Harbor team lost 0:1 to The Philippines' Kaya and missed the group match.
Harbor's first group match in this year's AFC Champions League will take place on 16 April. This youth army has been closed in the Eastern Green Boat Training Base, so training and preparation for war have not been greatly affected.
Due to the small number of flights during the pandemic, the team plans to travel to Thailand on Sunday, April 10. However, due to the impact of the current epidemic in Shanghai, there are still certain variables about whether they can start smoothly.
Shanghai Harbour was divided into Group J in the AFC Champions League group stage, with Japan's Kobe Victory Ship, Thailand's Chiang Rai United and Hong Kong's Jiezhi, which will be played in Buriram, Thailand. Shandong Taishan's Group F match was also scheduled for Buriram.
Shanghai Harbour AFC Champions League schedule
16 April at 22:00
Shanghai Harbor vs Kobe Victory Ship
19 April at 22:00
Chiang Rai United vs Shanghai Seaport
22 April at 19:00
Shanghai Harbor VS Jiezhi
25 April at 19:00
Jiezhi vs Shanghai Seaport
28 April at 22:00
Kobe Victory Ship vs Shanghai Seaport
May 01 at 7:00 PM
Shanghai Harbour vs Chiang Rai United