Reporter Cheng Shan reported In the first game of the AFC Champions League, last season's double champion Shanghai Port defeated Kobe 0-4, and after fading the last glimmer of the Golden Yuan era, the new port was suddenly hit hard in the Asian arena. Against the J-League giants, such a result was surprising, but it also seemed reasonable.

Although before the game, head coach Muscat has been emphasizing the importance of the two AFC Champions League games for his players, and he has also made it very clear that the club wants to break into the AFC Champions League round of 16. However, against J-League and Emperor's Cup winners Vissel Kobe, Harbour's confidence in winning away from home was indeed not high before this game. "It was definitely tough, and we had just played a fierce Super Cup and then we were on our way to Japan." Team insiders privately said that the team's winter training results are still very good, but after all, there are many new signings, and the run-in time is not long, so it is not easy to achieve the best effect of integration immediately.

Harbour sent four foreign players to start this game, Zhang Linpeng, Tomorrow, and Feng Jin entered the starting list, Jiang Guangtai, who had been injured in the Super Cup, was unable to play, while Wei Zhen and Leonardo were suspended. The absence of Jiang Guangtai and Wei Zhen has greatly affected the strength of the team's midfield and backfield. Therefore, in the 11th minute, the victory ship was scored by Yoshiki Muto, which set the tone for this game.

In the first 20 minutes of the game, Harbour had 31% possession, and this statistic directly led to the one-sided trend of the game from the start. After the loss of Oscar, Vargas and Chitadini, the Harbour has significantly less control over the midfield than before. Although foreign player Gabriel was expected to be high, he seemed to be limited early in the face of opponents such as Vissel Kobe, and some time before the game, he didn't even have many chances to touch the ball, and it was not until the 22nd minute that he sent a pass to his teammate in the breakaway, but it was clear that his willingness to try to cooperate with his team-mate was not understood by the opponent, and his team-mate chose to find his own opportunity to shoot after taking the ball, and finally wasted an attacking opportunity.

Although the attack of Harbour improved a little in the final stages of the first half, throughout the 45 minutes, Harbour only had 2 shots on goal and 0 shots on target against a sharp attacking victory ship.At half-time, Harbour coach Muscat gave encouragement to his players, hoping that they could withstand the pressure of the opponent and do their best to show their own things, and specifically emphasized the hope that they can be confident enough to avoid their own defensive details when facing strong opponents.

However, it backfired, and after the start of the second half, Harbour's weak attacking side failed to find effective opportunities, while the defence repeatedly allowed opponents to find opportunities to break through the line. Vissel Kobe scored twice in three minutes shortly after the start of the second half. In the face of such a large score gap in the away field, the harbor no longer seems to have the strength to resist, even if the goalkeeper Yan Junling, who was full of flying pounces, saved the penalty kick of Da Qiang Yongye, but he could not escape the doom of his final "gift" goal.

Harbour head coach Muscat said after the game: "As I said yesterday in my pre-match press conference, there are a couple of decisive factors that have an impact on the course of the game. The opponents are a very strong team and they had four substitutions in their starting line-up today, which gives them a lot of fitness in that respect, and from the game, their overall physical preparation is actually very good. ”

Of course, in the face of a strong enemy like the Kobe Victory, the harbor also has some psychological preparations. Muscat admitted: "In an AFC Champions League at this level, we are facing strong opponents, and today we made mistakes in several key areas and were scored by the opponents, and today Vissel Kobe was the better team! ”

After an early start in this round, Harbour's goal difference has dropped to -6, which is the same as Buriram with one less round, and the eighth place in the eighth place has been temporarily retained due to the number of goals. There is still a final round of the league stage, and Harbour will face Yokohama Mariners at home, and they have one last chance to make a last-ditch fight.