With almost all leagues in Asia either resuming from their summer breaks or continuing towards their season culminations, the AFC Champions League moved forward unabated through the quarter-final stages. Victories for Guangzhou Evergrande and Gamba Osaka set them up to contest the unofficial “Eastern final” while Dubai based Al-Ahli face Al-Hilal from Saudi Arabia in the crunch Western decider. Whether it be by coincidence or not, the last round of ties brought up many talking points regarding team’s increase in or lack of schedules in the run up to the quarters, while others point to experience and quality of the opponents involved being the real turning factors of the ties.
The Player
For a club of Al-Hilal’s size, a final appearance in the ACL is often seen as not quite enough, more is expected and ever since their fateful performance and ultimate result against Western Sydney Wanders at the end of 2014, the pressure has been clearly focused on an even better run this year. A key catalyst was clearly sought in their recruitment policy, with one man immediately encapsulating what had been demanded, that man being Carlos Eduardo. The Brazilian playmaker, turned forward for Hilal’s purposes bagged three over their two legged quarter with Lekhwiya, leaving his club two encounters away from a repeat final appearance.
The starlet, signed from Porto in the summer initially seemed somewhat of an archetypal Brazilian import into the Gulf, relatively short in stature, quick and skilful with an eye for creation. What hadn’t been appreciated at the time, was his ability to come alive in the penalty area, something he immediately produced on his debut in the Saudi Super Cup that took place in London, stealing a march on the defenders to tap in close to goal. His desire and forward thinking again was in full force over the quarters two legged tie with Lekhwiya, the first a carbon copy of his debut Super Cup goal, his second a predatory header under pressure, and his third away in Qatar a tap in after a loose ball went missing in the Lekhwiya defence.
His ability wasn’t ever the question, and is rarely the question when overseas recruits (the vast majority being Brazilian) are brought in to the Gulf, but usually it’s their commitment. Carlos Eduardo is a picture of dedication and has been from the moment he stepped onto the pitch and has already dovetailed nicely with fellow Brazilian and new recruit Ailton Almeida in Hilal’s attack. The Riyadh giants in fact have had a relatively strong success rate in getting the best out of their overseas quota. While European recruits continue to frustrate, the likes Digao, Kwak Tae-Hwi and Thiago Neves have performed admirably into fans’ hearts and the regions footballing folk law. The way Eduardo has kicked off his career in Saudi Arabia suggests his could be a name to watch out for in this year’s semis.
The Team
It says a lot about a team that can change their manager mid-season without any consequence on the field, the fact they can leave out a global superstar from their competition squad out of choice and that they can compete at such a high level with 80% plus of their starting eleven being made up from their nation. That however is how Guangzhou Evergrande continue to progress, as they within a sensational fortnight for the Chinese powerhouse, manoeuvred themselves into yet another title pursuit and comprehensively moved into the ACL semi-finals effortlessly.
Their style has also shown off the team’s flexibility, an extra string to their bow in pursuit of silverware in the coming months. In their first leg victory over Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol, they pulled off some of the most exciting attacking football on the continent, attacking wizardry from Gao Lin complimented perfectly with the sheer class of Paulinho who pulled off the extraordinary with one of the greatest free kick goals in the competitions history. All this was put on hold as they calmly walked through their second leg at home, often displaying a destructive side to their game that may have put off some onlookers but offers an ominous look into the capabilities of Guangzhou as they ease towards the closing stages of the season.
That said, their returning home leg wasn’t all efficiency over glamour. Huang Bowen’s fantastic volley, right up there with Paulinho’s free kick the match before was a delight for the vast home crowd. Guangzhou’s progress has already been banked upon as one of the clear favourites for the title, if not in the continent but especially in the East. Scolari’s appointment has proved to be a masterstroke, and with the likes of Robinho, who has well adapted to Chinese domestic football, waiting in the wings to be fully integrated into ACL football, it’s looking promising that they will have too much for a rather hit and miss Gamba Osaka.
The Talking Point
It all threatened to collapse and collapse it did. Lekhwiya’s ACL performance up to the quarters had been nothing but impressive, however in a swift two week period, calamity on and off the field has left the Qatari champions falling again somewhat off their dream of competing at the top end of Asian club football. The factors in their quick demise came through bad luck, questionable scheduling and in the end poor defensive play. With their domestic season only kick-starting into life in the coming weeks, the QSL has been given a loud wakeup call if they are going to improve going into 2016.
The start date of course initially raised concerns going into the quarterfinal double header. While Al-Hilal, their devastating opponents had successfully started their league campaign with a handful of games, Lekhwiya haven’t featured in competitive action for the whole of summer and were even given a match off in preparation for their second leg, which afterwards looks to have been the wrong angle to go for. On the pitch, the crucial injury to key playmaker Vladimir Weiss wounded one aspect of the Qataris play, while mistakes aplenty, headlined by national keeper Lecomte’s poorly executed clearance that lead to Hilal’s opener in Riyadh started the flow of inaccuracies right across the pitch.
In the dugout, Djamal Belmadi has a divisive managerial style that won admirers and sceptics a plenty during his time as Qatar boss last year and he has carried on this into his domestic management career. For someone so young, he’s not afraid to change it up but at times it comes across naïve and it was plainly showed up in Saudi Arabia. By the end of the exhaustive tie, tension was at boiling point, a decidedly offside goal apart, challenges and nerves were fraught. The images beamed over the web at the culmination of the match of club captain and usual calm focus Chico Flores rising to away fans baiting was a sad scene to see but an all too familiar frustration of a miserable couple of weeks for all Lekhiwya fans.
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