Face off in Makassar

Indonesia's PSM Makassar are geared up to host the Asian Club Championship Quarter-finals East, where the mighty Jubilo Iwata of Japan, Korea Republic's Suwon Bluewings and China's Shandong Luneng all have reason to be confident of making the final four.

Call it pride at seeing his team reach the last eight of the Asian Club Championship for the first time. Call it excitement at actually hosting the eastern quarter-finals of the region's most prestigious club competition. However you interpret it, PSM Makassar president Nurdin Halid believes his Indonesian champions can match the star-studded might of Japan's Jubilo Iwata, Korea's Suwon Samsung Bluewings and China's Shandong Luneng and qualify from the four-pronged group from March 21-25.

"The quality of the PSM team in this year's championship is better than it was in 1996, when we played in the competition for the first time," says Halid, referring to his team's 5-0 aggregate loss to Korea's Pohang Steelers, the eventual champions.

"This time we hope and believe we can do well and reach the semi-finals. We hope that now we can have more success."

Nevertheless, Halid is well aware that his team is up against it, considering the competition consists of title winners from the three strongest leagues in East Asia.

"This is a new experience for us at this level. It's our first time in the quarter-finals and we hope that, if we are champions of Indonesia again, we can use the experience earned to do better in the future."

A major bonus for the team is that they'll enjoy the fierce backing of their own supporters, who are as excited as the president himself at their team's achievements so far.

"The fans in South Sulawesi, and especially in Makassar, are football mad. Every time we play the stadium is full. They're fanatical and always get behind the team," says Halid.

Although new to this level of competition, PSM's title-winning squad contains no less than 11 players who have represented Indonesia at senior level. Many of the current PSM side were part of the Indonesia team that competed in the Asian Cup in October, then went on to finish runners-up to Thailand in the Tiger Cup.

Such players include goalkeeper Hendro Kartiko, a mainstay of the national team for several years, and Bima Sakti, Indonesia's Player of the Year last season, who is expected to pull the strings from his defensive midfield role. However, PSM fans will want the fireworks to come up front, where Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto and Miro Baldo Bento form a potentially deadly duo.

While PSM are eager to please their adoring fans, it's Jubilo Iwata who arrive as overwhelming favourites due to their outstanding record in the competition in the past two seasons.

Jubilo won the 1999 Asian Club Championship after beating Iranian side Esteghlal in a gripping final in front of 100,000 fervent Esteghlal fans, the Japanese side emerging as 2-1 victors to win Asia's greatest club prize. The icing on the cake followed when they beat Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad for the Asian Super Cup. Last year, Jubilo again reached the final, but this time were denied by Saudi's Al Hilal after conceding a last-minute equaliser and then an extra-time golden goal to lose 3-2.

However, due to Japan's unfortunately timed friendly against World and European champions France on March 24, Takahara and several other Jubilo players could find themselves called up for international duty - and away from their club's clash in Makassar. If the powers that be decide country comes first, Jubilo could be severely affected. As well as Takahara, players to be called up could include Hiroshi Nanami, Toshiro Hattori, Daisuke Oku, Toshiya Fujita and veteran striker Masashi Nakayama.

As if that wasn't enough of a potential problem, Jubilo will have to cope with a Suwon Bluewings side out for revenge.

The Korean side were beaten 1-0 by Jubilo in last year's quarter-finals stage, though they still managed to qualify for the semi-finals, where they lost to Al Hilal. This time round, Suwon are eager to go all the way. Since joining the K-League in 1996, when they won the FA Cup in their inaugural season, the club have gone on to win back-to-back K-Leagues in 1998 and 1999, winning four out of five domestic trophies in the latter year. They were denied the chance of a hat-trick of league titles last season when they missed out on the play-offs by finishing one place below the top four on goal difference, a painful end to a campaign in which the team was blighted with injury problems.

However, Suwon see this year's Asian Club Championship as a perfect opportunity to re-assert themselves on the big stage.

Shandong Luneng are arguably the unknown force in the quarter-finals, after sensationally clinching the Chinese national league title in 1999 under the inspired leadership of former Yugoslavia coach Slobodan Santrac.

Despite seeing his side achieve an historic double by beating Dalian 4-3 on aggregate in the final of the FA Cup, the Yugoslav left his post last season as Shandong struggled to live up to expectations, and has since been appointed coach of the Saudi Arabia national team.

Russian coach Boris Ignatiev recently took over the reins from caretaker coach Doko Kokovic, and immediately announced his bold intentions to take Shandong back to the top.

"I hope that we can win two titles by the end of the season. Santrac's success encourages me to try my best," says Ignatiev. "Frankly, I cannot live without soccer. I spend all my spare time watching tapes of the team."

Leading the team on the pitch is star forward Su Maozhen, whose recent appointment as China's national captain put an end to talk of a move to English first division side Sheffield Wednesday.

Ignatiev hopes that Su's aerial threat so effective for club and country - will this time lift Shandong to the heady heights of the Asian Club Championship semi-finals. However, three other East Asian teams have exactly the same desired destination, and all have the players capable of getting them there.

from: AFC Website