Evergrande suddenly brought in the silver fox Lippi as the head coach, which made Tokyo FC's already weak confidence even less sufficient, and the Japanese domestic media also collectively looked down on Tokyo FC's trip to Guangzhou.

"Asia's Strongest Battleship Has the Strongest Helmsman, Gas Team's China Trip Threatens to Be Slaughtered"

"The probability of the gas team's promotion has dropped greatly, and the J League AFC Champions League honor needs to be guarded by Whale Eight and the Sun God"

The opponent made such a play, which also greatly surprised Bobovich and made him very passive, but Bobovich has not been arrogant enough to come out and spray Lippi, but his mouth will never be idle.

"Lippi is a successful coach, both at club and at national level, he has proven his ability, but the management of Evergrande is amateur, there is only a little more than a week before the AFC Champions League round of 16 match, they rashly changed the manager at this time, Lippi simply did not have enough time to integrate the team, this is our chance."

The current AFC Champions League system, the round of 16 is a single game to decide, the team that ranks first in the group has a home field, the goal is not counted as home and away, the 90-minute draw will be overtime, and the extra time will be a penalty kick, and the round of 16 matches are divided into two weeks.

On May 22 and 23, in the first midweek, the round of 16 knockout rounds from the West Asia region were played first, and the final three Saudi teams Jeddah Ittihad, Jeddah Al Ahli, Riyadh Al Hilal and Iranian team Sepahan advanced to the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League.

Abu Dhabi Jazira (Al Jazira), who were considered the favourites due to Oliveira's successive performances, was knocked out of the tournament as a surprise, but Oliveira scored again and scored twice in the game, but his side lost to Jeddah Al Ahly on penalties.

As a result, Oliveira refreshed the AFC Champions League single-season goal record to 12, but fortunately, he has been eliminated from the competition, and this record will not increase for the time being. Two of the top four scorers in the AFC Champions League are already out of the competition, with the remaining Ringer and Conca facing off soon, and one is sure to be eliminated.

However, before the AFC Champions League round of 16, Tokyo FC still has a league game.

On May 26, in the 13th round of the J League, Tokyo FC hosted Urawa Red Brick.

This was supposed to be a strong matchup, but because Tokyo FC was going to play in the AFC Champions League, only a semi-main lineup was sent, and Ringer, the new striker core, did not enter the squad at all, and Chima Watanabe, who had just scored a hat trick in the last round of the league, was also on the bench, and only Lucas started alone on the front line.

Bobovic's demand is to defend the home side and try to get a point, which has happened many times this season, and whenever it is rotated for the AFC Champions League, the team basically has this tactic.

Bobovic was delighted after the game because his basic goal was met, and Tokyo FC retained a point in a 1-1 draw at home to Urawa Red Diamonds, but it was a thrilling process. In the first half, the two teams exchanged blank sheets, and in the second half, Urawa strengthened the attack, breaking through the Tokyo FC goal in the 82nd minute, Bobovic hurriedly changed to Watanabe Chima and Lucas teamed up to play a double striker, and finally in injury time Watanabe helped Lucas create an opportunity to attack, although it was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper, but Tokyo FC relied on this corner kick by Morishige's header, and the thrilling draw retained a point.

What makes Bobovic even happier is that Vegalta Sendai lost away to Kawasaki Frontale in this round, and Tokyo FC did not lose the top spot because of this draw. FC Tokyo topped the table with 26 points, followed by Sanfrecce Hiroshima with 25 points and Vega Sendai with 24 points.

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After the league in Urawa, Bobovic announced that the team was preparing for the AFC Champions League and entered closed training, and the coach and players no longer gave any interviews, which disappointed the media reporters, especially some Chinese reporters who came to Tokyo to listen to Bobovic's "high-minded talk".

After two days of closed training, on the morning of the 29th, Tokyo FC was given a half-day break and flew to Guangzhou in the afternoon.

The whole team of Tokyo FC came out of Baiyun Airport, and the first thing I saw was more than 400 Tokyo FC fans who accompanied the team to the away stadium, and they were greeting the Tokyo FC players with banners: Evergrande is just a Chinese car with a Ferrari engine, and we can beat them away from home.

On the one hand, this banner is to ridicule Evergrande's 703 tactics, which basically rely on foreign aid for offense, and at the same time, it is also to emphasize the team's away record.

Of course, this is in Guangzhou, in the past two years, Evergrande's continuous largesse has made Guangzhou's ball market more and more popular, and the airport is naturally indispensable for Evergrande fans who come to "pick up".

"The top eight are as easy as pies!"

"Ringer, return to the bosom of the motherland, and stop being exploited by capitalism!"

These are the slogans played by Evergrande fans.

When Ringer renewed his contract some time ago, his renewal contract naturally spread to China, and many domestic media reported on his salary, and then compared with domestic players, many people were upset with Ringer, thinking that he was exploited by all evil capitalism, and the Chinese Super League team should buy him back, so that he could feel the influence of my great socialism.

The airport passage came out, and soon a bunch of reporters gathered around.

"Coach Bobovich, are you under a lot of pressure against World Champion Coach Lippi this time?"

"Lippi said that the fight would be resolved in 90 minutes, what do you think of Coach Bobovic?"

"Ringer, this time against Evergrande, will you perform as well as you face Guoan?"

"Ringer, do you think your salary is too low?"

~~~

Tokyo FC did not answer, and got on the bus that had been prepared under the escort of the airport security, but before getting on the bus, Bobovich finally said: "We are not here to travel in Guangzhou!" ”

Take the bus to the hotel booked in advance, it is already seven o'clock in the evening, everyone relaxes in the hotel gym, and then eats dinner, rests early, and prepares for tomorrow's big battle.

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On May 30, the second week of the AFC Champions League round of 16 knockout round. On the 29th, the results of the other two groups of matches in the East Asian zone have come out, the Australian Super League team Adelaide United defeated Nagoya Whale 8 1-0 at home, and the South Korean team Seongnam Il and lost 0-1 at home to the Uzbek team Creator (also known as Ben Yudko), and two more teams entered the quarterfinals.

The AFC Champions League is to have a pre-match press conference, on the morning of the 30th, the pre-match press conference of the two teams was held, and Tokyo FC Bobovic brought Ringer and the team's defensive core Mori Shige to participate, which also shows that Ringer has become the core of Tokyo FC's attack.

As a Chinese in the Tokyo FC team, Ringer has to be asked all kinds of questions.

"Evergrande is a strong team, but we are ready and confident to beat them."

"Lippi is a great coach, but I think he has been in charge of the team for too short a time and can't play the strongest in Evergrande."

"Maybe one day I'll go back to China to play, but certainly not now, I still have a contract with FC Tokyo."

On the evening of May 30, at 20 o'clock Beijing time, Guangzhou Evergrande's home match against Tokyo FC will start at Tianhe Sports Center.

Tianhe Sports Center is located in the downtown area of Guangzhou, is the home stadium of Evergrande, and is also one of the most famous stadiums of the Chinese Super League in the past two years. Tianhe Stadium is also very famous in Japan, on the one hand, it is Evergrande's local tyrants who have made this home stadium famous in the past two years, and on the other hand, the name - Tianhe, the Japanese think this name is very nice and beautiful.

On Chinese TV and Japanese TV, the starting line-ups of both teams were shown.

Evergrande playing at home is in a 4231 formation:

Goalkeeper: Yang Jun;

Defenders: Sun Xiang, Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Linpeng, Zhao Yuanxi;

Rear waist: Zheng Zhi, Zhao Xuri;

Avant-garde: Jiang Ning, Conca, Muric;

Striker: Cleo.

FC Tokyo's starting XI is 442:

Goalkeeper: Shuichi Gonda;

Defenders: Yuhei Tokunaga, Mato Morishige, Hideto Takahashi, Kenta Tashihara;

Midfielders: Naohiro Ishikawa, Takuji Yonemoto, Aria Jasulu Hasegawa, Yohei Oyama;

Forwards: Ringer, Chima Watanabe.

On the side of Tokyo FC, South Korean defender Jang so-hyun, who has been performing well in recent times, suffered from gastroenteritis two days ago, and full-back Kosuke Ota and midfielder Naogang Hanyu had minor injuries and did not come to Guangzhou at all, so Bobovic asked defensive back Hideto Takahashi to retreat to play central defender to help stabilize the defensive line, and Kenta Starling played as a left-back.

"Both teams are ready, with the referee's whistle, the game starts, and Tokyo FC kicks off first." Yang Ma Wutai's Shen Fangjian's partner Duan Xuan explained.

Chima Watanabe drove the ball out, and Ringer pushed it back to midfielder Hasegawa, Hasegawa reversed the ball a few times in the midfield, and Evergrande gradually pressed up, so he did not hesitate to pass the ball over the top to find Ringer.

Ringer was in the front position in the midfield, behind him was held by Evergrande captain Zheng Zhi, Hasegawa's pass was very accurate, Ringer leaned on his back a little harder, lifted his foot and unloaded it gently, the ball stopped at his feet, and then flicked his right foot, and shook off Zheng Zhi, but Evergrande's defense line did not have obvious loopholes, Ringer just shook off the opponent's back, he made the most normal choice, his right thigh was tight, and he volleyed vigorously.

Bang~

The first shot of the game, the ball slashed through the air and went straight to the goal, but finally grazed the post and missed the bottom line.

"Ringer's long-range shot ~ dangerous ~~~!"

"In less than a minute of the opening minute, the Chinese striker of Tokyo FC threatened with a long-range shot, which was not far off, and if it was within the goal, Yang Jun would probably not be able to save." Shen Fangjian said with palpitations.

"Ringer can make such a name for himself in Japan, it is not in vain, just now he skillfully unloaded the ball and then took advantage of the situation to get rid of it, which seems to be common for technical players in Europe and South America, and there are some players in Japan who have done well, but I am afraid that there are really few who have done well in China." Duan Xuan said in a different way.

In the opening ten minutes, Tokyo FC was a bit of an anti-guest game, with Ringer himself finishing two good quality shots and a threatening pass for Chima Watanabe, but Evergrande's defense was solid and Tokyo FC did not score.