At 22:00 on April 18, the second round of the AFC Champions League group stage, Shandong Taishan will play against Japanese powerhouse Urawa Red Diamonds. In the first game, losing 0-7 to Daegu, the lads of the Taishan team were under a lot of pressure, and in the second game, facing the still strong Urawa Red Diamonds, Yu Yuanwei, the coach of the elite team of the Taishan team, hoped that the players would have a better performance, and use more active running to make up for the gap and show their strength.
Affected by many factors, the Taishan team can only arrange the U21 elite team to play in the AFC Champions League, and the 23 registered players are born after 2000. In the first game against South Korea's third-place Daegu FC, The average age of Taishan's 11 starters was less than 20 years old, which for most players was their professional league debut. Facing Daegu FC, the Taishan team conceded 7 goals in the first and second halves, which had its own mistakes, but also lack of defensive experience, and 7 goals was also a real strength gap.
The 0-7 score is indeed a test for the young players of the Taishan team, after all, they rarely lose big scores in the youth stage, and they are the best in the same age group in The country. The first time to play in the AFC Champions League, most of the players are inevitably nervous, which is also a gradual adaptation process, the key is to improve in the game, which is the value of the game. The six group matches of the AFC Champions League were completed in 16 days, and the schedule of 3 days and 1 match was very intensive, which also put forward higher physical requirements for the players.
At 22:00 on the 18th, the opponent of the Tarzan team will be Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds. Last season, Urawa Red Diamonds won the Emperor's Cup in Japan and qualified for the AFC Champions League. In the J-League this season, Urawa Red Diamonds' overall form has not been ideal, with only 2 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats in 10 games, ranking 10th in the league with 10 points. In the first match of the AFC Champions League group stage against Singapore's Lion City mariners, Urawa Red Diamonds won 4-1, and still showed their strength in the AFC Champions League.
Urawa Red Diamonds have 4 foreign aid configurations, the first game against the Lion City Mariners, 3 foreign players Schultz, Carlsson and Junkel started, Juncker and Carlson scored one goal each, but Carlson also swung himself and gave the opponent a goal. In addition, Urawa Red Diamonds also has famous players such as Hiroki Sakai and Ren Esaka, and their overall strength is not inferior to Thatgu. Talking about the match against Taishan before the game, Urawa Red Diamonds coach said that he may rotate the lineup, and judging from the group's qualifying situation, their main opponent is Daegu FC.
For the Tarzan team, no matter what lineup Urawa Red Diamonds arrange to play, the Tarzan boys still have to fight against the opponent. Before the game, coach Yu Yuanwei said bluntly about the game: "Urawa's strength is very strong, has a very strong ability to control the game, we can only come up with better performance, better fighting spirit, with more running to cope, we are ready." ”
When asked what kind of tactical arrangement the team will have against Urawa, Yu Yuanwei said: "The opponent is definitely much stronger than us, but what we have to do is to go all out to treat the game and show our mental outlook and the strength level of the team." "Especially after the last 0-7 loss, the coaching staff has always stressed to the players that to focus on the next game, the next game is always the most important. At the same time, Yi Xianlong, who attended the press conference with Yu Yuanwei, also said that the goal of the AFC Champions League is to improve himself and look forward to better playing.