With a whistle, the Central Coast Mariners defeated Adelaide United 2-0, and while getting three points, they beat Wellington Phoenix to the first place in the standings and win the Australian Super League regular season championship!
Some friends may ask: does the Australian Super League have anything to do with us?
In normal times, maybe everyone just takes a look. But it's different now, especially for the Shandong Taishan team, this result directly affects the choice of their opponents.
As we all know, last season Shandong Taishan team won the runner-up of the Chinese Super League and got a chance to play the AFC Champions League elite play-offs. If the Taishan team wants to qualify for the AFC Champions League Classic, then they must fight their way out of the play-offs.
At first, Shandong Taishan team had to play a round-robin match with Gwangju, the third runner-up of last season's K League, and the champion of the Thailand Cup, and get a place to advance. However, after the end of the regular season of the Australian Super League, because the Central Coast Mariners got a direct promotion place (note: Wellington Phoenix is not able to participate in Asian competitions), and caused a chain reaction, Gwangju, which participated in the play-offs before, did not need to participate and directly advanced to the elite competition.
In this way, in the play-offs of the AFC Champions League Classic, only Shandong Taishan, the runner-up of the Chinese Super League, and the champion of the Thailand Cup. In other words, the play-off opponent of Shandong Taishan team is only Thailand, the cup champion.
And through further inquiries, the Thai Cup has now come to the semi-finals. Of these four teams, only Bangkok United are the absolute strongest, while the other three, like Yudu United, Shamushak and Sinha GB, are weak. It can be said that it is only a matter of time before Bangkok United win the eventual title.
In other words, the opponent of Shandong Taishan team in the AFC Champions League Elite play-offs is most likely Bangkok United!
At the end of the 26 rounds of this season's Thai Super League, they are in second place with 54 points, second only to Buriram United with 59 points! It is much more powerful than Pathum United, which eliminated Shanghai Port before.
If you still don't have an intuitive impression, then let's talk a little more detailed.
Bangkok United also played in the AFC Champions League last season, and this team is in Group F with K-League hegemons Jeonbuk Hyundai, Lion City Mariners and Kitchee. As a result, in 6 games in the group stage, Bangkok United won 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, accumulated 13 points, beat Jeonbuk Hyundai to win the first place in the group, and advanced to the round of 16!
In the group stage, facing the powerful Jeonbuk Hyundai, Bangkok United won 3:2 at home, and then went to the away side, still playing not conservatively, and only lost one goal in the end.
After the Bangkok United team advanced to the round of 16, they faced the familiar Yokohama Mariners, that is, the absolute bitter master of the Shandong Taishan team. In the two-legged duel, Bangkok United almost forced the Yokohama Mariners into a desperate situation, and once they were about to eliminate their opponents!
In the first leg at home, Bangkok United and Yokohama Mariners played 2:2, and in the second leg, the two teams were deadless in regulation time, followed by 30 minutes of extra time. It wasn't until the final minutes of extra time that Yokohama Mariners eliminated Bangkok United with a controversial penalty.
Therefore, the ability to overwhelm Jeonbuk Hyundai and not be afraid of the Yokohama sailors, such a Bangkok team, Shandong Taishan must definitely be full of spirit!
The team's top scorer, Motta, a foreign player from Brazil, can score goals and can be called the core of the frontcourt. In addition, such as the local core Willardy, foreign aid Ed, the knife defender Everton, and we almost single-handedly beat the Yokohama Mariners, etc., are the absolute main players of the team.
At least according to the current state of Shandong Taishan, it will be very difficult to win Bangkok United.
However, the time of this game is scheduled around the 13th of August. This gives the Taishan team enough time to adjust, if the Taishan team's high school striker Zeka came back at that time, and bought a strong back in the summer window, then Cui Kangxi's tactics will be more rich and three-dimensional, so Shandong Taishan has a high probability of defeating the opponent.
However, there are also many fans who have other opinions and persuade Shandong Taishan to give up the AFC Champions League. After all, the team worked hard to reach the quarterfinals last season, and the final price was too great, and the team was physically and mentally exhausted and injured. It has directly affected the league form this season, and the after-effects are still ongoing, and I don't know when it will end.
So the fans persuaded Choi Kang-hee and the club to give up the AFC Champions League, and they couldn't win the championship anyway. Why not focus on the domestic league and win the double. Learn from Shanghai Port, AFC Champions League qualifying round, focus on how good the league is.
But the author does not agree with this point of view, you must know that the improvement of a team's strength is to constantly compete with high-level teams. Obviously, the level of the AFC Champions League is much higher than that of the Chinese Super League, and Shandong Taishan will continue to improve its own strength only by constantly competing with high-level Asian opponents, and can not always stare at the domestic honor.
Of course, it's not just the Shandong Taishan team. Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai Port, which are currently in excellent form in the league, will also appear in the AFC Champions League Classic in a few months.