Goal! Weekly Article 1: Asian Champions League Coverage

Victory face unknown in Champions League debut

AFC Champions League

By Julius Ross

Melbourne Victory will commence its first ever AFC Champions League campaign in an historic match at the Telstra Dome this Wednesday night.

Victory’s 6-0 rout of Adelaide United in the 2006/7 A-League final not only saw them crowned as champions, but also earned them the right to participate in Asia’s top club competition this season.

For many Victory and A-League fans across Australia, however, their opposition in the initial group stage of the competition are somewhat unknown entities.

With the Asian Champions League featuring 29 clubs from an diverse range of 14 footballing countries, Victory will face tough home and away fixtures in Group G of the contest, against Korea’s Chunnam Dragons, Japan’s Gamba Osaka and Thailand’s Chonburi FC.

The Melbourne club’s first AFC Champions League appearance will come at home against Chunnam Dragons, as the 2008 schedule kicks-off on March 12th.

Chunnam secured a spot in this season’s Asian Champions League group stage for the second season running by defeating K-League rivals Pohang Steelers to lift the Korean FA Cup last year.

Based in Gwangyang, a Korean city in the Jeolla province, the Dragons entered the K-League after they were founded as a club in 1995.

Chunnam has struggled throughout their 13 year history in the K-League, and although managing second place in 1997, they have had to be content with mid-table mediocrity by the end of most seasons.

Finishing an unsatisfactory tenth out of 14 teams in the K-League and failing to progress from the Group stage in the Asian Champions League, Chunnam’s only success last season was their second FA Cup victory in consecutive seasons.

The Dragons’ greatest domestic achievements thus far include three Korean FA Cup victories, in 1997, 2006 and 2007, but the team has failed at the final hurdle in several cup competitions, finishing runners-up in the FA Cup (2003), Adidas Cup (1997), League Cup (2000) and Asian Cup Winners Cup (1999).

Although Chunnam’s trophy cabinet remains significantly bare, its recent successes in the FA Cup have lured a new coach in the form of Park Hang-Seo to the club.

As a former Assistant Coach of the South Korean national side at the 2002 World Cup Finals, serving under ex-Australian manager, Guus Hiddink, Park replaces existing manager Huh Jung-moo, who had ended the Dragon’s nine year wait for silverware by winning the FA Cup in 2006.

Chunnam are expected to be the least challenging of Victory’s opposition in the group stage, as they are not as technically sound as J-League’s Gamba Osaka, and are less of an ‘unknown’ than 2007 Thailand Premier League Champions Chonburi FC.

Wearing bright yellow shirts and black shorts, Chunnam will still provide stiff opposition for the Victory, and the Korean side are inclined to play at a high tempo.

Victory will have to watch out for 24 year-old Korea Republic left-sided defender Kim Chi-Woo, who has made four appearances for the national team since his international debut in 2006 against Ghana.

Although Kim Chi-Woo has only scored four goals in 87 appearances at club level, his solid defensive work earned him the Most Valuable Player award last season during Chunnam’s successful defence of the FA Cup.

The Victory will also have to be aware of the only non-Korean members of the Chunnam Dragons: three classy Brazilian forwards – Adriano Chuva, Sandro Hiroshi and Victor Simoes, who have played for Brazilian teams such as Sao Paulo and Flamengo, and Belgian side Club Brugge.

Whilst Melbourne Victory’s 2007/8 season was slightly disappointing with the team finishing fifth and missing out on the finals series, the AFC Champions League will provide them with a chance to redeem themselves and to experience quality opposition from across the Asia region.