Sydney FC are hoping to claim a big scalp as they invite Shanghai East Asia — or Shanghai SIPG — to the Jubilee Oval on Wednesday evening in their third, and most important, Asian Champions League match of the season.

Taking only one point in their past two matches, Sydney will need to be at their absolute best if they want to at least get a draw against the Chinese champions, which will give them some chances of making it out of the group.

Shanghai have started their domestic league strongly, winning three and losing once so far and scoring the most goals in the league from their first four matches. Like Guangzhou Evergrande in the group featuring Melbourne Victory, they were upset by a Korean team last ACL matchweek, Ulsan Hyundai, which will make this match just as important for the Chinese side.

2018 Season

Shanghai enter this tournament as the strongest team and the most likely to make it out of this competitive group even after a minor blip last time out.

In the 2018 domestic season, they were finally able to topple the domination of Guangzhou Evergrande with a comfortable five point gap between the two teams. They were boosted by the fact they had the CSL’s best player and top scorer, China’s own Wu Lei, though he has since decided to challenge himself in Europe with a move to Spanish side Espanyol.

In Asia they topped their group, although many will remember that they faced a shocking loss to Melbourne Victory, but were knocked out in a disappointing exit against the eventual champions Kashima Antlers in the next round.

After taking the league, Shanghai manager Vitor Pereira will have his eyes set on cementing his and the team’s legacy by crowning themselves as the Kings of Asia.

Player to watch out for

One of the most fascinating aspects of the CSL is that their bottomless pockets mean they can attract some of the best players in the world to their country.

This is exactly the case for former Chelsea midfielder Oscar, who set things alight in the Middle Kingdom in 2018, scoring 12 goals and notching up 18 assists, comfortably the highest in the league.

Some might remember Oscar at his dazzling best when he was strutting his stuff in Europe at Chelsea — though it might feel an eternity ago. But he’s still only 25 and it’s possible he’s gotten even better with his all-round game. Oscar likely about to hit his peak as a footballer, and he will need to be as he is pivotal to everything Shanghai does on the park .

Oscar is the type of player that will keep Sydney manager Steve Corica up all night. Will he able to figure out a plan to contain the Brazilian international?

Tactical overview

Even with the departure of Lei, Pereira is still blessed to manage the most potent attack in the country and perhaps even the continent with the Brazilian trio of Oscar, Hulk and Elkeson. Unsurprisingly, the Portuguese manager builds his team around their attacking creativity.

Pereira has deviated from last year’s 4-3-3 formation in favour of a 3-4-3 this season with Oscar always the most advanced midfielder.

The 3-4-3 formation introduced by Pereira this season has seen mixed results with two losses so far in their seven matches, most recently falling 3-2 to Chongqing Lifan this past weekend, who finished last season in 13th out of 16 teams. It will be interesting to see how long the Shanghai manager will persist or if he will revert back to the trusted 4-3-3 soon enough.

Hulk, who contributed directly 25 goals himself last season, stays on the right wing while Wenjun Lu plays on the left side but since he’s right-footed, naturally comes into the centre of the field.

To make up for that missing width, the experienced Shenchao Wang plays a more attacking role on the left and overload the channel.

With so much attacking talent up front, the rest of the team sets up fairly defensively, with Uzbekistani Odil Akhmedov and Huikang Cai, who sometimes plays instead or with the Uzbek, better known for their efforts without the ball rather than creative flair.

The Chinese champions are quite an aggressive and attacking team, playing the majority of their football in their opponent’s half rather than their own. Therefore, they play with a high defensive line and rely on China national team’s number one, Junling Yan, to clean up at the back.

Shanghai were tied for the best defensive team in the league last season, only conceding 33 goals. This is a strong team in almost every regard, however, they are susceptible to aerial balls and more generally direct football.

10 of their 33 conceded goals came from set-pieces which is almost a third of all goals conceded, an unusually high proportion. They’re quite unorganised when preparing for free-kicks and corners. If there’s a chink in their armour, this is it.

Miscellaneous facts

Shanghai scored 77 times last season, the league’s second most prolific, while still maintaining themselves at the back with the best defence in the league. This is a team that are just as good at the back as they are up front.

Much like the rest of Asia, Shanghai’s league campaign is only just getting underway and they only have a few competitive matches under their belt. They have already lifted their first silverware of the season, the Chinese Super Cup, where the league champions face off against the domestic cup winners. They comfortably won 2-0 against current league leaders Beijing Guoan.

Shanghai are quite a youthful squad which provides them with creativity and attacking flair as they are the youngest in the Chinese Super League.

Follow me on Twitter @ShababHossain13

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