Uzb_futboli
10-19-2004, 08:49 PM
Pakhtakor keen to fly the flag
Oct 20, 2004
FootballAsia.com
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (KOR) v Pakhtakor (UZB)
ko: 19.00 local time
Venue: Seongnam Sports Centre, Seongnam
KOREA REPUBLIC - Pakhtakor will be hoping to add to the country’s burgeoning footballing reputation when Uzbekistan’s reigning league champions take on their Korean counterparts Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma on Wednesday in the first leg of the AFC Champions League semi-final.
The last few months have seen Uzbekistan reach new heights, with the national team making it through to the last eight of the Asian Cup and to next year’s Final Round of Asian Qualifying for the 2006 World Cup.
Pakhtakor, whose players make up the large majority of the Uzbek national team, will be hoping they can continue the golden run and go one better than last year when they lost in the semi-finals of Asia’s premier club competition.
The 3-2 aggregate defeat to BEC Tero Sasana a year ago still rankles with the Pakhtakor players, most of whom are still playing for the central Asians. The semi-final offers them a chance to lay their ghosts to rest.
Standing in the central Asian’s path are Seongnam Ilhwa, the second of two Korean teams in the last four of the competition.
The reigning K-League champions are seen as the most dominant force in Korean football, with a total of six league championships to their name, including the 2001, 2002 and 2003 titles.
Their domestic form this season had been patchy – they are currently languishing one place off the bottom of the K-League – but their 11-2 demolition of Sharjah, of the United Arab Emirates, in the AFC Champions League quarter-finals, showed that they are still a real force to be reckoned with.
And the team coach’s Cha Kyung-bok is keen to bring the curtain down on his coaching career in style.
The 67-year-old is the oldest coach in the K-League and is expected to call time on a hugely successful career at the end of the season, but he has made it clear he would like to go out on a high note.
“The AFC Championship is the only target that I haven’t achieved during my coaching career,” he said earlier in the week. “I believe this is mine and the team’s best chance to become the champions of Asia.”
Unlike Pakhtakor, Seongnam do not have any current national team players on their pay-roll, but they have in striker Kim Do-hoon a striker capable of unlocking the meanest of defences.
Kim, 34, goes into the game bolstered by a goal on Saturday, his 100th in the K-League. Only three other players have scored as many in the Korean top flight.
Interestingly, Kim’s teammate Shin Tae-young needs just one more strike to reach the 100 mark.
Kim is certain to start up front for the home side in what is likely to be an attacking line-up. Seongnam are at full strength and it seems likely that Kim will be joined up front by Dennis Laktionov, the Russian who has taken Korean citizenship and who is also known as Lee Song-nam. The club’s two Brazilians Dudu and Marcelo are also likely to play in attacking roles.
The Uzbeks have not lost at home in 10 AFC Champions League games since making their debut in the competition in September 2002, a fact which will no doubt weigh in the minds of the Koreans, who will be looking to build a decent lead to take into next week’s game in Tashkent.
Seongnam's firepower will be tested against Pakhtakor's tight defence, which includes recent Asian cup stars Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov, Asror Aliqulov, Aleksey Nikolayev and Gochguli Gochguliyev, who hails from Turkmenistan.
Pakhtakor striker Vladimir Shishelov has not made the trip but his absence is not a major blow as it seems likely that the visitors will try and play for a draw. In attacking midfielders Anvarjon Soliev and Server Djeparov, the Uzbeks have plenty of firepower.
The only real concern for the visitors, who arrived in Korea on Tuesday, is the fact that eight of the squad featured in the national team's 2-1 win over Iraq last week. These players had to fly to Jordan at the beginning of last week, then back home after Wednesday’s game for league games at the weekend. Barely had they time to catch their breath and they were boarding another plane bound for Korea. Tiredness may prove their undoing.
The second leg takes place a week today (Wednesday October 27) in Tashkent. The winner over two legs with play either Al# Ittihad, of Saudi Arabia, or Korea’s Chonbuk Motors in the final.
The final will be played over two legs on November 24 and December 1.
footballasia.com (http://www.footballasia.com/en/comps/acl/news.asp?id=37197&cid=1137&adt=2004-10-01)
Oct 20, 2004
FootballAsia.com
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (KOR) v Pakhtakor (UZB)
ko: 19.00 local time
Venue: Seongnam Sports Centre, Seongnam
KOREA REPUBLIC - Pakhtakor will be hoping to add to the country’s burgeoning footballing reputation when Uzbekistan’s reigning league champions take on their Korean counterparts Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma on Wednesday in the first leg of the AFC Champions League semi-final.
The last few months have seen Uzbekistan reach new heights, with the national team making it through to the last eight of the Asian Cup and to next year’s Final Round of Asian Qualifying for the 2006 World Cup.
Pakhtakor, whose players make up the large majority of the Uzbek national team, will be hoping they can continue the golden run and go one better than last year when they lost in the semi-finals of Asia’s premier club competition.
The 3-2 aggregate defeat to BEC Tero Sasana a year ago still rankles with the Pakhtakor players, most of whom are still playing for the central Asians. The semi-final offers them a chance to lay their ghosts to rest.
Standing in the central Asian’s path are Seongnam Ilhwa, the second of two Korean teams in the last four of the competition.
The reigning K-League champions are seen as the most dominant force in Korean football, with a total of six league championships to their name, including the 2001, 2002 and 2003 titles.
Their domestic form this season had been patchy – they are currently languishing one place off the bottom of the K-League – but their 11-2 demolition of Sharjah, of the United Arab Emirates, in the AFC Champions League quarter-finals, showed that they are still a real force to be reckoned with.
And the team coach’s Cha Kyung-bok is keen to bring the curtain down on his coaching career in style.
The 67-year-old is the oldest coach in the K-League and is expected to call time on a hugely successful career at the end of the season, but he has made it clear he would like to go out on a high note.
“The AFC Championship is the only target that I haven’t achieved during my coaching career,” he said earlier in the week. “I believe this is mine and the team’s best chance to become the champions of Asia.”
Unlike Pakhtakor, Seongnam do not have any current national team players on their pay-roll, but they have in striker Kim Do-hoon a striker capable of unlocking the meanest of defences.
Kim, 34, goes into the game bolstered by a goal on Saturday, his 100th in the K-League. Only three other players have scored as many in the Korean top flight.
Interestingly, Kim’s teammate Shin Tae-young needs just one more strike to reach the 100 mark.
Kim is certain to start up front for the home side in what is likely to be an attacking line-up. Seongnam are at full strength and it seems likely that Kim will be joined up front by Dennis Laktionov, the Russian who has taken Korean citizenship and who is also known as Lee Song-nam. The club’s two Brazilians Dudu and Marcelo are also likely to play in attacking roles.
The Uzbeks have not lost at home in 10 AFC Champions League games since making their debut in the competition in September 2002, a fact which will no doubt weigh in the minds of the Koreans, who will be looking to build a decent lead to take into next week’s game in Tashkent.
Seongnam's firepower will be tested against Pakhtakor's tight defence, which includes recent Asian cup stars Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov, Asror Aliqulov, Aleksey Nikolayev and Gochguli Gochguliyev, who hails from Turkmenistan.
Pakhtakor striker Vladimir Shishelov has not made the trip but his absence is not a major blow as it seems likely that the visitors will try and play for a draw. In attacking midfielders Anvarjon Soliev and Server Djeparov, the Uzbeks have plenty of firepower.
The only real concern for the visitors, who arrived in Korea on Tuesday, is the fact that eight of the squad featured in the national team's 2-1 win over Iraq last week. These players had to fly to Jordan at the beginning of last week, then back home after Wednesday’s game for league games at the weekend. Barely had they time to catch their breath and they were boarding another plane bound for Korea. Tiredness may prove their undoing.
The second leg takes place a week today (Wednesday October 27) in Tashkent. The winner over two legs with play either Al# Ittihad, of Saudi Arabia, or Korea’s Chonbuk Motors in the final.
The final will be played over two legs on November 24 and December 1.
footballasia.com (http://www.footballasia.com/en/comps/acl/news.asp?id=37197&cid=1137&adt=2004-10-01)