Crunch time for Shanghai savior Villas-Boas
SHANGHAI — Shanghai SIPG coach Andre Villas-Boas faces a critical four weeks that will define his time in China, starting with the AFC Champions League semifinal first leg at home to Urawa Red Diamonds on Wednesday.
Villas-Boas’ team, boasting the likes of Brazilian internationals Hulk and Oscar, is in the hunt for the treble in the former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager’s first season in China.
Shanghai squeezed into the last four of the continent’s premier club competition on penalties against Guangzhou Evergrande and is also battling Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men for the domestic cup and the Chinese Super League.
Despite that success VillasBoas has been on a collision course with Asian and Chinese soccer authorities, hitting out at an array of perceived injustices and being hit with a two-match suspension in June in the fallout from an eight-game punishment dished out to Oscar for the Brazilian’s part in an on-pitch brawl.
If the 39-year-old was pleased at getting into the Champions League semis he did not show it, lashing out at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the referee, and accusing Evergrande of staging a series of minor car accidents to delay his team’s arrival at the stadium in Guangzhou.
Evergrande declined to comment but the AFC is looking into Villas-Boas’ postmatch comments.
For Villas-Boas, who arrived in China last November from Zenit St Petersburg, the next few games will decide whether a decent season becomes a very good one — and could dictate whether he is still in charge at Shanghai next season.
SIPG is second in the CSL with four games left and has narrowed the gap on leader and reigning champion Evergrande to four points.
Villas-Boas and his side are also still in the CFA Cup and travel to Evergrande for the semifinal on Saturday, holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg.
Before that, they host Japanese side Urawa Reds, hoping to continue their exceptional form at home, where they have not lost in 15 months.
Villas-Boas made history in guiding Shanghai into the last four of the Champions League for the first time in the club’s short history.
Success means a packed schedule and his players have had to negotiate two games a week.
“Most of my players are used to these difficult circumstances,” Villas-Boas said prior to this month’s 6-1 mauling of Shanghai Shenhua, underlining how dominant SIPG is at Shanghai Stadium.
Reds reeling
Urawa Reds, Asian champion in 2007, have excelled in the competition this season but have not enjoyed anywhere near the same success in the J-League, where they are on a poor run and the middle of the pack.
They dropped two more points on the weekend and Brazilian defender Mauricio Antonio warned: “We can’t afford to make the same sorts of mistakes over there.
“We have to go to China with confidence in our style of football. If we can do that, definitely we believe we can go there and do the job.”
Urawa and SIPG have met this season in the Champions League group stages.
SIPG is a strong favorite on Wednesday but there was little between them earlier this season, with Villas-Boas’ side emerging 3-2 winners in China only for Urawa to get revenge with a 1-0 victory in the return.
The other semifinal pits Iran’s Persepolis against Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal. The first leg is on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. sit in
Most of my players are used to these difficult circumstances.” Andre Villas-Boas, on Shanghai SIPG’s busy schedule