AFC Champions League Round Review (Quarter-Finals)

Last week saw the AFC Champions League narrow down to the final four, with the second legs of the Quarter-Finals taking place across the continent. Lokomotiv Tashkent’s impressive journey as one of the tournament’s most talked about underdogs is over after losing to Al Ain, while El Jaish were gifted much of their result after Al Nassr had to forfeit their comfortable first leg victory over player ineligibility. In the East it was a clash of countries with Korea Republic’s K-League coming out on top; meaning Jeonbuk Motors and Seoul will contest for a final place at the expense of Chinese Super League duo Shanghai SIPG and Shandong Luneng.

The Player

With Omar Abdulrahman struggling through illness, failing to make a greater impact than he did against Lokomotiv, Al Ain had to turn to a resolute defensive performance to overcome their Uzbek opposition and make it to the final 4, led strongly by the ever improving Khalid Essa in goal. Back-to-back clean sheets alongside a string of saves to keep them in it over the two legs, Essa’s really starting to put his name forward as one of West Asia’s top keepers, after only really breaking through on the international scene over the last couple of years.

His problems previously have surrounded his stature, hardly a keeper’s build at just over 5’6’’ and relatively slender also for his positioning. He has all of a sudden seemed to show confidence, be it in claiming crosses or contesting 50-50 challenges while upping his regularity on what he’s always been good at, spectacular saves or bursting off his line at speed. His form has now cemented him a place in the national side, which he carried forward into last week’s WCQ’s producing a couple of notable performances against Japan and Australia.

Back to the Champions League, and you can reel off tie defining moments; from his save to deny a long range effort from Sandjar Shaakhmedov in the first leg, before brilliantly denying Marat Bikmaev late on in Tashkent. I’ve always had a worry over Essa, mainly due to his style which can often leave him being labelled as quite erratic. Over the last month however, his performances have become consistent and dare I say it solid, a true run of form which he’d hope to take through to the semi-final with El Jaish.

The Team

Hulk’s long awaited debut in the ACL for his new club Shanghai SIPG turned from anti-climax to downright embarrassment within 45 minutes as Jeonbuk Motors hammered the Chinese outfit 5-0 on Tuesday. Shanghai were touted as the Chinese Super League’s greatest hope after Guangzhou Evergrande swiftly exited in the group stage, but the Korean champions proved that their experience and team chemistry are still worth plenty above that of a growing SIPG side and their glamourous star striker.

The tie was finely poised, 0-0 in China before heading back to Korea this last week. While the match stayed level going into half time, Jeonbuk were clearly the better side creating plenty of promising openings, it seemed a case of when rather than if. And when it did come, it well and truly open the flood gates. Jeonbuk scored two within quick succession; a well worked move ended emphatically by Brazilian winger Leonardo from outside the area before Lee Jae-Sung, who’d openly snubbed CSL the day before, mazed through the limp SIPG defence before forcing an own goal by Shi Ke.

The goals kept coming after Lu Wenjun saw red (rather unfairly) for Shanghai for a high boot, Leonardo scoring from the penalty spot before substitute Lee Dong-Gook added a brace late on. In truth Jeonbuk ran riot in attack, in a match that was reminiscent of the same nation’s competing on the international stage in last week’s World Cup qualifiers. While the score wasn’t as emphatic, the nous, quality in the final third and general game plan displayed by the Koreans was again streets ahead of that of Chinese. It’s been an admirable debut ACL campaign for SIPG, but a demonstration in class by East Asia’s leading side at present Jeonbuk shows they have much more work to do.

The Talking Point

While much has been digested over Wanderley’s forged passport situation, the talking point concerning the football on the pitch surrounded the aforementioned billed coming of age round for the Chinese Super League sides. In the end they flattered to deceive, with both Shanghai SIPG and Shandong Luneng exiting to Korean opposition. While much will be put on the supposed false dawn of the Chinese Super League, there are areas to explain the last week’s round of exits rather than simply the league’s glamour clubs aren't living up to their lofty expectations.

Firstly the run of form the clubs have experienced. The fact Shandong at least made it through to this stage of the competition was a relative surprise given their struggles domestically and their changing managerial situation, while Shanghai themselves look to a distance behind ACL qualification also at present. While money has been continually splashed across the league, Shanghai have been less than fortunate in terms of injury, Hulk made his debut in the ACL in the second leg after missing much of his short spell with SIPG through a knee injury, while further setbacks for Dario Conca and Elkeson left the physical Brazilian broadly alone in attack on Tuesday.

The other area to comment on is pure quality, which isn’t going to improve over night, especially against such experienced campaigners like Jeonbuk and Seoul. Last week we saw the league’s national teams do battle with similar results, the truth is the Chinese local talent base needs time to improve to reach continental class levels. It doesn’t matter how much overseas talent is brought in, if the foreign player cap remains, the home based players need to pick up the slack. While Jeonbuk and Seoul regularly rely on the likes of Lee Jae-Sung, Kim Shin-Wook and Kwak Tae-Hwi within their ranks, the Chinese outfits have yet to develop those players with that sort of experience to call upon.