An out-of-form Zhejiang Professional side will face the Lion City Sailors on Thursday (19 September) night in the 2024/25 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) Two Group F opener, hoping to put their recent troubles behind them at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
Not the best of seasons for Zhejiang
The Green Giants finished third in the 2023 Chinese Super League (CSL) to qualify for ACL Two, but have struggled to replicate that form this season. With 13 losses in 25 league matches and 50 goals conceded, Zhejiang now sit seventh in the 16-team CSL.
They have won just once in their last seven games, most recently losing 4-3 to title-chasing Shanghai Shenhua last Friday (13 September) after squandering a 2-0 lead. With five matches left, they are out of the race for continental qualification next season.
Zhejiang beset by suspensions
Zhejiang’s task will be made harder by having four players serving lengthy suspensions due to their involvement in a mass brawl during an ACL group game against Thailand’s Buriram United last November. Their biggest miss will be Brazilian hot shot Leonardo, who is the CSL’s third-highest scorer in 2024 with 18 goals to date – 11 behind Shanghai Port’s Wu Lei.
However, Zhejiang Head Coach Jordi Vinyals claims that they are solely focused on the players available for the game.
“We will only count on the players we have in the squad and focus on our starting eleven to achieve our objectives,” he said at the pre-match press conference.
“Last year was the first time after many years that we played in the ACL, and when you play at this level, you learn a lot. So we’ll take this opportunity again this year to try and learn as much as we can.”
Despite the absences of their key players, Zhejiang still boast quality within their ranks, including captain Franko Andrijašević, who has three caps for Croatia, Ivorian international Jean Evrard Kouassi, former Ajax Amsterdam youth player Deabeas Owusu-Sekyere, and midfielder Cheng Jin, who was recently called up to China’s squad for their September World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia.
As such, midfielder Qian Jiegei (Alexander N’Doumbou) believes his side can match the Sailors if they play at their best. The former Marseille midfielder said, “The Sailors are one of the top teams in Singapore. They have big players with experience at this level, and they play with good tempo and intensity, so we need to be at 100 percent to match them.”
Sailors looking to build on past ACL showings
This is the third consecutive season that the Sailors will represent Singapore in AFC club competitions, following their participation in the ACL over the past two years. While they are competing in the second-tier ACL Two this time around, Sailors Head Coach Aleksandar Ranković believes that the gap in quality between ACL Two and ACL Elite teams is minimal.
He said, “I think the quality of the teams in ACL Two is similar to that of the ACL Elite. If you look at the teams playing in ACL Two, we have two sides we faced in ACL last year — Bangkok United and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors — so there are still top teams here.
“The quality of the competition is quite high, and if you look at how these teams are performing in their domestic leagues, most are consistently among the top few.”
The ACL Two is just one of four competitions that the Sailors find themselves involved in this season, and Ranko admits that he will have to be careful in how he rotates his squad moving forward.
“We have four competitions this year, and if you include the youth players, we have around 18 to 20 players,” Ranko reflected. “It’s not a very big squad, so we’re managing the load carefully from game to game.
“Every match, we need to field a team that can get the result, while also ensuring the players don’t become overly fatigued or risk injury — because then we’d face major issues. It’s a big challenge for my staff, myself, and of course, for the players to perform under these conditions.”
Buoyed by a 6-0 win over Tanjong Pagar United that saw them leapfrog BG Tampines Rovers to go top last weekend, the Sailors will head into this game on a high and ready to get their ACL Two campaign off to a good start.
The Sailors delivered encouraging performances against Asia’s elite in the ACL over the past couple of years, highlighted by impressive victories over K League 1 sides Daegu FC and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in consecutive campaigns.
And Sailors captain Hariss Harun, Singapore’s top ACL appearance maker with 18 appearances, is looking forward to another promising campaign on the regional stage.
He said, “This is our third year playing in a regional competition. The past campaigns were tough, but we gained a lot of valuable experience, especially last year when we faced high-calibre teams that punished any mistakes or lapses in concentration.
“From a competitive standpoint, I believe we are at that level — we had some strong performances last year, and we aim to build on that this season, even though the format has changed slightly. The quality of opposition remains high, and we’re excited to get this campaign underway.”
