Suwon and Anyang chase Asian Club Championship

SportalKorea - K-League sides Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Anyang LG Cheetahs will be looking to continue Korea's domination of the Asian Club Championship when they play Uzbekistan's Nasaf Karsi and Iran's Esteghlal Tehran respectively in the semi-finals of the tournament in Tehran on Wednesday, April 3.

Organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Asian Club Championship is a regional competition featuring the champions of the various Asian national leagues. In recent years, the tournament has been dominated by Korean teams, who have won four of the last six championships with Ilhwa Chunma winning in 1995, Pohang Steelers doing the double in 1996/97 and 1997/98, and Suwon taking the title last season.

In the East Asian Quarter-finals held in Jeju at the Seogwipo World Cup Stadium from February 17 to 22, defending Asian Club champions Suwon finished top of the qualifying group with 2 wins and 1 draw, while 2001 K-League champions Anyang qualified in second place with three draws.

Suwon go into the match against Nasaf Karsi missing a number of key players including Ko Jong-su, Denis Laktionov and Kim Jin-woo through injury. Brazilian striker Sandro Cardoso will also miss the match through suspension while rookie Ko Chang-hyun is doubtful for the match because of an injury.

Despite missing a number of important players, Suwon still have plenty of talent at their disposal including veteran striker Seo Jung-won, national midfielder Choi Sung-yong, national goalie Lee Woon-jae and promising rookies Son Dae-ho, Lee Sun-woo and Cho Byung-kok.

The team have come together well under coach Kim ho and they have proven a tough team to beat as was evident in their recent 2-0 win in the Adidas Cup over Asian Cup Winners' Cup finalists Chonbuk Hyundai Motors.

Meanwhile, Anyang LG will play Iranian giants Esteghlal Tehran in the later match on Wednesday with a relatively full strength squad.

Anyang have been in good form domestically, winning three consecutive games in the 2002 Adidas Cup. While their defence has been solid, Anyang's attack has also been sharp with Brazilian import Moacir Bastos Tuta, scoring his first goal for the club against Chunnam Dragons on March 24.

While Esteghlal are a formidable and physical side, Anyang's samba trio of Andre Santos, Richardo Campos and Tuta, and Korean national duo of Lee Young-pyo and Choi Tae-uk will give the Korean fans great confidence of a victory.

The winners of the two semi-finals will meet in the final on Friday, April 5, and there is certainly a good chance that two K-League teams will be battling out for the right to be crowned Asian Club Champions for 2001/02.

Asian Club Championship fixtures (Korean time) Semi-finals

Suwon Samsung VS. Nasaf Qarshi : 20:30, April 3

Anyang LG VS. Esteghlal : 23:15, April 3

Third place match : 20:00, April 5

Final : 23:00, April 5 - Venue : Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran