Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kuala Lumpur: Guangzhou Evergrande’s 2013 AFC Champions League title winning exploits are a great inspiration to many people especially players and coaches, AFC Coaching Instructors from China Zhou Suian and Wang Benxin have said.
Guangzhou Evergrande became the first Chinese club to win the AFC Champions League as Marcello Lippi’s side secured the title on the away goals ruling after a 1-1 draw with FC Seoul at Tianhe Stadium in China on November 9.
The result saw the Chinese Super League champions finish with a 3-3 aggregate draw over the two legs of the final with the Korea Republic outfit. They had drawn 2-2 during the first leg at the Seoul World Cup Stadium a fortnight earlier.
Guangzhou, unbeaten at home in the AFC Champions League this year, sought to emulate 1990 Asian Club Championship winners Liaoning having lost just once en route to the final. They will represent Asia at the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco in December.
Zhou (pictured, right) and Wang (left), who were among AFC Coaching Instructors taking part in a refresher course which concluded in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were buoyed by the spirited sentiments among football fans, players and coaches across China.
“The win is not only for Guangzhou Evergrande but also for Chinese players and coaches. Everyone is inspired and uplifted by the victory,” said Zhou, who is also head coach of the U-17 team at the Guangzhou Evergrande Football Academy.
“In Guangzhou’s away game in Korea, our own home-grown player, Gao Lin, scored one of the two goals against FC Seoul. This has inspired Chinese players, who feel that local players are getting there now at the same level with the foreign players.
“At the club’s youth level, Guangzhou’s U-17 players are encouraged by the win and dream to someday be on the senior squad and try to maintain Guangzhou’s performance and win the title again. That’s how far our young players dream and aspire to do.
“As for us coaching instructors, apart from our duty to empower coaches in all of Asia and in the region, we also feel the heat of excitement from Guangzhou’s win, which I think has set a new pace at which Chinese coaches now have to go to repeat similar victory or to even surpass this achievement.”
Zhou’s colleague Wang was equally upbeat, saying: “Guangzhou’s win further shows that Chinese coaches can learn a lot from their foreign counterpart such as the club’s Italian boss Marcello Lippi.
“I think Lippi has done a good job and shown a good example in terms of team organisation, training, management and set a good groundwork for teamwork. This augurs well with what we coaching instructors are trying to help instill in the coaches we are training.
“Everyone is talking about the historic win. The buzz among the coaches and players in China had started even before the final’s first leg game kicked off. This long-awaited success is still reverberating throughout China right at this moment. I think this victory will keep inspiring coaches and players in China for a long time to come.”