Tonight Brisbane Roar face Beijing Guoan in China for their Asian Champions League group stage fixture. The Queenslanders go into the match needing points and a positive result from the Urawa versus Suwon game, or their continental tour could be over.
The Roar will face a hostile home crowd of around 40,000, and though Beijing are currently experiencing a mini funk (having drawn their last three matches), they’re still undefeated in their last 21 matches.
Of most concern for the Australians is their casualty list. Influential centre back Luke Devere is out, as is Shane Stefanutto, and Jade North will be nursing a dodgy groin if he makes the field.
The Roar see this as an important fixture, as evidenced by their decision to rest a throng of players for last Saturday’s Melbourne Victory clash.
Brisbane certainly have plenty of motivation, as their previous appearances in the competition have yielded little, but no one wants to go into a big match with an understrength back four.
A patched-up Brisbane did a commendable job against Kevin Muscat’s Melbourne on Saturday, but being tested against classy and unfamiliar opponents should prove too much. Not only will Brisbane face some of China’s best in Yu, Dabao and Song, Boxuan, they’ll also face off against silky Bosnian Dejan Damjanovic and midfielder Pablo Batalla.
On a freezing cold night in Saitama two weeks ago Beijing Guoan looked anything but champions, but still they managed to grind out a draw against Urawa. On Tuesday night, at home at the Workers Stadium, Beijing will be up for it.
Brisbane have all the motivation: previous failings in the ACL, virtually a do-or-die fixture, and a heartbreaking loss to Beijing last time they met, but the green team should have too much class and depth.
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