（http://sports.sina.com.cn/china/afccl/2018-04-19/doc-ifzihnep7593268.shtml）

Yesterday the last round of AFC Champion League (Asian version of UEFA Championship) group matches of East Asian Zone ended, which generated all the teams entering the knockout stage of AFC. There are three Chinese teams: Guangzhou Evergrande, Tianjin Quanjian and Shanghai SIPG; Three Korean teams: Chonbuk Hyundai, Suwon Samsung and Ulsan Hyunda. By contrast, only one Japanese team made it through the group matches: Kashima Antlers.

  In Asia, Japan is one of the countries with the best soccer level. Japanese players are excellent and many of them play in European top leagues. Japanese Champion League’s teams used to be very competitive in AFC, too. Last year, Japanese team Urawa Red Diamonds won the cup. But this year, the situation changed. Let’s take one of the most famous Japanese team, Parkinson ‘s Apollo as an example. In the group matches, the weakest team in its group, Kichee FC from Hongkong, defeated Apollo by 1:0. And Tianjin Quanjian, a Chinese team entering AFC for the first time, beat Apollo to the ground by 3:2. In all the six group matches, Apollo lost 4 of them, and only get 4 points. Another Japanese team, Kawasaki Frontale, is even more miserable. As the champion of Japanese League in 2017, they didn’t win a single game in group matches, getting 3 points.

  Chinese soccer is known as weak and ugly for years. And decades ago, no Chinese team had satisfying performance in AFC. But in recent years, China soccer fans are proud of the performance of CSL teams. Tianjin Quanjian receives many compliments. At first, many people thought TQ was unlucky because it was in a group with AFC’s old faces: Chonbuk Hyundai from Korea and Parkinson ‘s Apollo from Japan. Especially, Chonbuk Hyundai is well known as one of the best teams in Asia. In the third round, CH defeated TQ by 6:3. TQ fans were astonished and became pessimistic. But later, in the fourth round, TQ took its revenge by giving CH a 4:2. TQ became the second team in Asia which could score 4 goals in the game against CH. The other two Chinese teams, Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG, both achieved the first place of their groups. These two teams have been competitive in Asia for years, and fans have enough reason to expect a champion from them.

  The reason why China rose and Japan fell, is simple: money. Chinese businessmen became extremely enthusiastic about investing soccer teams these years, after the success of Guangzhou Evergrande. So, more and more world-famous players transferred to China, such as Brazilian famous players Pato, Hulk and Oscar. On contrary, Japanese team cannot get much money. They don’t have a crazy investment. Also, most of excellent players in Japan transferred to Europe. So, the Japanese teams are becoming less and less vital. Some angry Japanese soccer fans hope that their teams should be funded. Otherwise, these poor teams will lose more and more fans.

 At last, I wish all Chinese teams a wonderful AFC trip.

http://slide.sports.sina.com.cn/g_pl/slide_2_730_179445.html#p=11

  I believe that many soccer fans were very excited about one of the UEFA quarter final games on April 4^th: Liverpool VS Manchester City. The other game, Barcelona VS Roma was not that intriguing because of the fact that Barcelona was apparently the better team, who “reasonably” defeated Roma by 4:1. That afternoon I paid 19 dollars to get access to the UEFA games online, which I would never do in China (we have free online live games). But it turned out that the money was worthy.

  The reason why the game between Liverpool and Manchester City was worth watching is not only that they are two of the top team in England or the world. Speaking of UEFA championship, Liverpool is a legendary team. They have won 5 cups, and they specially have the honor to print this record on their shirts. On the contrary, Manchester City doesn’t have a glorious history. But, it is definitely a new-rising power. The owner of the team is very wealthy, so they can afford to hire one of the top coaches in the world: Guardiola, who gained his fame in Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Guardiola has done a good job this season, getting Manchester City very close to the Premier League Championship. Also, the coach of Liverpool, Klopp, is known as a competitive rival against Guardiola all the time. In Germany, Klopp’s Dortmund was not at disadvantage when playing with Guardiola’s Bayern Munich. And the result of this game, 3:0, has proved that Klopp really knows how to cope with Guardiola’s scheme.

   I watched the whole game. And the style of these two teams were so obvious. On one side, Manchester City controlled the ball in the most of time. On the other, Liverpool focused on defending and fighting back when they had chance. Manchester City’s control of the ball made them seem like being at advantage, but they lacked the ability to really get into the penalty box and gave the one last strike. Usually, De Braun controlled the ball, and passed it to Sane or Kyle Walker on the side. Then the side players attempted to penetrate Liverpool’s defense and they failed to do so, starting again and again. Liverpool’s scheme was more efficient. Their attackers——Salah, Mané and Philmino all had wonderful speed and the sense of opportunity. The three goals of Liverpool happened so fast and unexpectedly. The defenders of Manchester City didn’t manage to stop the “fast and furious” players of Liverpool.

  After that game, Guardiola really need to think about how to improve the defense of his team. Only 3 days after that game, Manchester City was defeated by Manchester United by 2:3, which means that they had two games losing 6 balls. Also, the attackers of Manchester city should be more creative and passionate so that they will not repeat the same boring way of attacking.

  This is the worst time for Manchester City in this season. No matter in UEFA or Premier League. Furthermore, if Guardiola really wants to make Manchester City a world-top team, he should create new record in UEFA games. Good luck to him.