Japan, China and South Korea set for Asian Champions

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi (JP): Three competitors in the Asian Champions Cup East Asia zone -- Jubilo Iwata of Japan, Shandong Luneng of China and Samsung Suwon Blue Wings of South Korea -- are gearing up for their quarterfinals round-robin matches kicking off Wednesday at Mattoanging Stadium here.

Heavy favorite Jubilo arrived on Sunday to prepare its squad, which is led by six national players including the top scorer in the J-League last season, Masaki Nakayama.

"We failed to win last year's final. Therefore, we are aiming to grab the title this year," said Masakazu Suzuki, the coach of Jubilo Iwata.

Jubilo will face a tough challenge from the Blue Wings, which relies on players from South Korea's 1998 World Cup team and 2000 Asian Cup team.

"We must not repeat our poor performance against Hurriya of Maldives. We must reach the semifinals without depending on the results of other teams. And we are very optimistic that we will be able to realize our ambition although we'll face a tough challenge from Jubilo and Shandong," said Blue Wings coach Kim Ho.

Shandong, which arrived on Monday, also expressed optimism that it would be able to qualify for the semifinals. Led by six Chinese national players, Shandong must overcome its lack of experience in the event.

"This is our first experience competing in the Champions Cup. We'll definitely use the opportunity to perform our best. However, we must admit that the competition will be very tough, especially with the presence of Jubilo and Blue Wings," Shandong manager Tian Di said.

The event, which is the first international tournament to be staged in Makassar, will be attended by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) secretary-general Peter Velappan.

The chairman of the local organizer, Ilham Arief Siradjuddin, said Indonesian Soccer Association chairman Agum Gumelar was also expected to attend the event.

The opening ceremony will see various cultural performances, including the Parraga and sere bissu. Following the performances, horse-pulled carts carrying the teams' flags will enter the stadium. The carts will also be carrying huge balls with birds inside.

Meanwhile, 200 female and 100 male dancers will spell out "AFC" and "Champions".

"We will also have two singers and 40 musicians. In total, there are 460 people involved in the opening ceremony," said Ilham.

Meanwhile, tickets for the opening ceremony are nearly sold out, especially the Rp 20,000 (US$2) tickets for the open terrace.

The local organizer claimed 80 percent of the tickets had been sold and the remaining would only be sold to restricted spectators. The limited number of tickets is meant to prevent fans from spilling onto the field.

The stadium can hold 22,000 people but the event organizer is only selling 18,000 tickets for each match. (27)