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Sydney FC draws Ange's Yokohama in ACL

3 minute read

Sydney FC will come up against Ange Postecoglou's J-League title winners Yokohama F Marinos in their 2020 Asian Champions League group.

ANGE POSTECOGLOU.
ANGE POSTECOGLOU. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Sydney FC have been drawn alongside Ange Postecoglou's newly crowned Japanese champions Yokohama F Marinos in their 2020 Asian Champions League group.

A tough draw did defending A-League champions and current season ladder leaders Sydney no favours, as they will face the reigning Japanese and South Korean title holders.

Former Socceroos coach Postecoglou steered his club to the-League title last weekend.

Last season's Premiers Plate winners and losing grand finalists Perth Glory have been drawn in a group alongside South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai and China's Shanghai Shenhua and another playoff winner.

Both Sydney and Perth could find themselves up against a former player in Bernie Ibini and Jason Davidson respectively.

The Sky Blues have also been drawn alongside Ibini's South Korean club, Jeonbuk Motors and the winners of a play-off between sides from China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Glory, who are making their ACL debut, are set to face their former Socceroos left back Davidson, who switched from Perth to Ulsan after playing in the grand final loss to Sydney.

"See you soon@PerthGloryFC," Davidson tweeted.

While Perth are ACL novices, Sky Blues coach Steve Corica pointed out Sydney have become regulars, though they failed to advance beyond the group stage in the past two seasons.

"This is the fourth time in five seasons we've qualified for the AFC Champions League so we've got a lot of great experience in the competition," Corica said.

"We were extremely unfortunate not to qualify from the group stage last season against three of the top teams in the competition, and I think we'll take an even stronger squad into this year's campaign."

He probably wasn't surprised at how the draw landed, given he suggested earlier on Tuesday on the club's website they might end up bracketed with Yokohama and Jeonbuk.

Sydney confirmed they would play all their AFC Champions League home matches at Jubilee Stadium in Kogarah in Sydney's south.

Glory's football and academy director and former player Jacob Burns said it was a fantastic draw for his club, with Perth grouped with two very big clubs with a lot of history.

"We'll wait and see the playoff (winner), it could possibly be FC Tokyo, another big club," Burns tweeted.

"But we're really excited. I think it's going to prove to be a great group and hopefully one that we get through."

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