Perth Glory players having a first look to the Education City Stadium on the eve of their match against Shanghai Shenhua. @PerthGloryFC
The long wait is finally over as the AFC Champions League East Zone campaign begins today with Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua taking on Australia's Perth Glory in the opening match today.
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 venue - the Education City Stadium, equipped with state-of-the-art cooling technology - will play host to the first game of the East Zone after it was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Qatar, in September-October, hosted the West Zone matches successfully with Iran's Persepolis FC reaching the final, awaiting the winner of the East Zone for the title-deciding match on December 19.
Qatari organisers are once again ensuring strict bubble-to-bubble protocols, regular testing, and cohesive health and safety measures for the East Zone event to prevent any potential spread of COVID-19.
A total of 16 teams from six countries including China, Korea Republic, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand are competing the spot for the final.
In all, Qatar will host 44 matches till December 13 during the East Zone tournament.
Shanghai, Perth hope for winning start
Despite being hit by injuries, Shanghai Shenhua are hoping to collect points in their first game in Qatar. The match will kick off at 1:00pm.
Shanghai Shenhua head coach Choi Kang-hee
Shanghai Shenhua head coach Choi Kang-hee said yesterday that several of his players are facing injury problems.
“We just finished our Chinese Super League season and we have some problems with injuries,” said Choi yesterday.
“For us, our team selection is incomplete. It’s a pity, but our first target is still to advance to the knockout stage and we need to work hard together to achieve our target," he added.
Shenhua's injured players include veteran Colombian playmaker Giovanni Moren and Korean national team striker Kim Shin-wook who has been on the sidelines since August.
Choi said at a press conference his team will aim to overcome the challenges to attain their target of winning the title.
“Our target is definitely winning the championship, but we are currently experiencing a lot of problems with injuries,” Choi said.
Meanwhile, Perth Glory, embarking on only their second ever match in the competition, are targeting to give a tough challenge to their Chinese opponents.
Perth Glory Head Coach Cristian Ola
Perth Glory will be led by A-League coach Richard Garcia, and Cristian Ola, who will serve as the team’s head coach during their time in Qatar.
Ola yesterday conceded his side’s preparation hasn’t been ideal but believed Perth’s youth can be a strength rather than a weakness.
“It’s definitely a different approach for each of the teams,” Ola said at a press conference.
“Yes, we had a very short pre-season preparation period which we need to accelerate in some ways, but on the other hand we are aware of the national competitions and fixtures of the other teams in our group, but also we count on capitalising on the fact that we have a number of youngsters that will take this opportunity and challenge, and we’ll try to make the most out of that,” he said.
“We are aware about the elements that are probably not ideal to start with, but we’ll try to look into transforming that into more of an opportunity for us rather than playing victims or being the underdogs from the start.
“We are aware they (Shanghai Shenhua) have a number of quality individual players and we will take them very seriously. However, in saying that, we will try our best from not only the tactical point of view, but on the youngsters’ motivation to step up to the standard of the competition and of the opponent. We want to believe that we will compete quite well.”
