The reporter reported coldly This week, the AFC Champions League Elite League (7th round) resumed, and the opponents of the three teams of the Chinese Super League, Yokohama Marinos, Gwangju FC and Kobe Victory Boat, have 13 points, and theoretically have all qualified ahead of schedule. In addition to Kobe, who played the Japan Super Cup last Saturday, this round of the AFC Champions League is also the first official match of the new season between the Mariners and Gwangju. In addition to Kobe, which has a stable lineup, both Mariners and Gwangju have a large number of new signings, and the changes are greater.

Vissel Kobe has a solid lineup

The three AFC Champions League opponents of the Chinese Super League, the strongest is still Kobe, the double champion of the J League last season, their lineup is basically stable, last season's J1 League MVP Yoshiki Muto and other main players basically stayed, only the 34-year-old Hotaru Yamaguchi and rotation midfielder Kikuchi Ruho left, and defender Ryo Hatsuse joined Sheffield Wednesday in League Two. This winter window, Kobe has brought in only six new signings, including Corinthians centre-back Caetano, who played as a regular in Brazil's São Paulo state league last season, Mariners left-back Yuta Koike and Gamba right-back Riku Matsuda.

Kobe has big goals for the new season, with coach Takayuki Yoshida saying he will seek a third consecutive J1 title, and they also want to win the AFC Champions League. At present, Kobe has a lot of injuries, and after training in Okinawa on February 1, strikers Daisei Miyagi, midfielders Haruka Iide, Yosuke Ide, Taiki Sasaki, defenders Rito Hirose and Caetano are all injured.

The Super Cup on the 8th, the first official game of the new season in Kobe, Takayuki Yoshida hid the Brazilian trident led by Lopez, and discharged the starting lineup of the full-day class, the main team that played the AFC Champions League last year, Yosuke Ideguchi, Taiki Sasaki and Daisheng Miyashiro were absent due to injury, goalkeeper Daiya Maekawa, Brazilian central defender Mateus, local defender Yuki Honda, and midfielder Yuya Saki were all hidden. Only left wingback Yuta Koike and left-back Haruka Motoyama started on the left side, and the five substitutes in the second half were also local players, including right-back Takatoku Sakai, center Yoshiki Muto, Yuya Osako and other veterans of last year's AFC Champions League rotation. In the end, Kobe, who had an all-local lineup, conceded one goal in each half and lost 0-2 to Hiroshima and missed the Super Cup.

Kobe will have a tight schedule after that, with three consecutive weeks of double matches and one overseas race. Therefore, the team will continue to rotate in the future, and given that the Shanghai duo will face Kobe in the AFC Champions League in succession, the rotation is conducive to the two teams to fight for points and qualify.

Yokohama and Gwangju have made big moves

The Mariners finished ninth last season and missed out on next season's AFC Champions League Elite League, with a change of manager and former England assistant coach Horan in charge. They retained the Brazilian trident of López, Elber and Mateus, and signed eight new signings in the winter window, among them, Colombian central defender Quiniones has attracted the most attention, and he has a transfer fee of up to 2 million (1.8 million + 200,000 + 200,000) US dollars for the Black River Golden Eagles in the Colombian league, and teams such as Verona in Serie A have been very interested in him.

Quiniones scored seven goals in 30 appearances in the Colombian league last season, and the Colombian edition of AS newspaper called him the best centre-back in the country. In addition, the Mariners also have Dutch-Japanese mixed defender Haffner, who is 1.99m tall and returns from the Austrian league, former Australian international defender Thomas Deng and 35-year-old South Korean goalkeeper Park Il-gyu, and the sailors can barely fill the void left by Brazilian centre-back Eduardo, main centre-back Makinosuke Hatanaka, Takumi Ueshima and left-back Ryuta Koike. In addition to the aforementioned defenders, veteran Mariners midfielder Kota Mizunuma has joined the Australian Super League Newcastle Jets.

In the warm-up matches, the Mariners were mediocre, with a record of 2 wins and 1 defeat against J2 teams, beating Kumamoto and Kofu by only one goal.
At present, the Mariners Brazilian Trident, especially the two consecutive J1 League Golden Boot Lopez, is still there, and the attack power cannot be underestimated, but the midfield and backfield have changed greatly, and Shenhua has a chance to score points.

Gwangju Winter Window, which also only finished ninth last season, brought in as many as 11 reinforcements, and 13 left the team, including defender Kim Kyung-jae, midfielders Jung Ho-yeon and Lee Hee-kyun, striker Georgian Mikoutadze, and new signings worth paying attention to are Brazilian striker Reis, Ulsan midfielder Hwang Jae-hwan, Jeonbuk Hyundai midfielder Yoo Di-yun and central defender Jin Si-woo who played for Jeju United last season. In addition, the team added Brazilian defender Bruno, who was not registered last season, which means that the Taishan team is facing a relatively "unfamiliar" Gwangju.

Gwangju played 3 warm-up games, although all of them won by at least 3 goals, but the opponents were low-level or even college teams, and in the last warm-up game, they were forced to draw 3-3 by K2's Ansan Little Green Guys, and the quality of the team's defense was worrying.