The Hilton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, can be seen from the local LRT station but negotiating your way through car parks, government complexes and Malaysian back streets to actually get there can be tricky.
It is a feeling familiar to Australian club officials who attended the draw for the 2017 Asian Champions League at the hotel on Tuesday. Brisbane Roar, Western Sydney Wanderers and Adelaide United know where they want to go but getting there is a different matter entirely.
For Brisbane, entering the group stage is the first priority. To do that, the team will take on either Singapore’s Tampines Rovers or Global from the Philippines, coached by former Crystal Palace goalkeeper John Burridge. The Queenslanders should be able to get through that initial play-off at home to book a one-off trip to China.
To get into Group E, Brisbane will have to win at Shanghai Shenhua. John Aloisi could ask Tim Cahill for some inside info about his former club, although the obvious tactic of keeping Demba Ba, if he is fit, and Carlos Tevez, if he is signed, quiet is hardly a secret.
It is a tough route to what is a decent group. Japanese champions Kashima Antlers (who actually finished third, 15 points behind Urawa Reds) are beatable and the same can be said of Thai title holders Muangthong United. The likely addition of the inexperienced, in continental terms, Jeju United is not a scary one either.
Adelaide may be safely in their group already but getting out will be tough. After winning the A-League grand final earlier this year, excitement was high over a return to Asia given the 2008 finalists’ special relationship with the continental competition.
However, if sitting rock bottom of the A-League with a third of the season gone was not painful enough, now being placed in what could be the toughest group of all eight adds another challenge to an already stressful season for the Reds.
United will not be the favourites to progress after being paired with the defending champions and one of the biggest spending and most ambitious clubs anywhere in the world.
Jeonbuk Motors have played more games, won more games and been in the knockout stage more than any other team in the Asian Champions League. In November, the South Koreans added the 2016 title to their 2006 triumph and will be a force once again.
Not quite as successful in continental terms but a bigger draw these days is Jiangsu Suning. This is a club that spent more in last winter’s transfer window than any club of the big European leagues, except for England’s top tier. There was around $100m spent on Brazilian stars Ramires from Chelsea and Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk; and then former Manchester City striker Jô and Socceroo Trent Sainsbury did not come cheap.
Such signings, especially the impressive Teixeira, took Jiangsu to second behind Guangzhou Evergrande, who won a sixth successive domestic title in October. Midway through the season, the team swapped coach Dan Petrescu for Choi Yong-soo of FC Seoul.
Seoul themselves will face Western Sydney but is not quite the same soulless side that Wanderers faced in 2014 and 2015. This year, the Koreans were the top scorers in the group stage thanks to the striking prowess of Adriano and Dejan Damjanović. Tony Popovic’s side will also expect Shanghai SIPG, with coach Andre Villas-Boas and striker Hulk, to come through the play-offs.
With either Urawa Reds or Kawasaki Frontale of Japan also on the horizon, the Wanderers will have to be at their very best on the long journey towards their destination.
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