Summary: With the return leg of the AFC Champions League Final set to kick off this weekend at Tianhe Stadium in China, the two top professional sides in Guangzhou Evergrande and FC Seoul serve as the right backdrop for a bit of history that could unfold should Italian manager Marcello Lippi deliver just one more victory for the home side. Joining to discuss this important match for the region and for Chinese football overall is Asia football correspondent John Duerden who will be on hand to take in this important event as Lippi looks to become the first manager to win a Champions League trophy on two continents to go with his European title with Juventus in 1996 and a World Cup title with Italy in 2006. We examine the potential and possibilities, along with the able and willing underdog threat posed by FC Seoul with its own dynamic striker in Dejan Damjanovic and what the impact could be for a nation starving with success and ripe with anticipation for a Champions League title. Naturally, the shorelines do not stop there as we examine the final weeks of both the J-League and K-League as league titles will be settled with just a few short weeks to go for each competition. Then we turn our attention to Cerezo Osaka and Japan attacker Yoichiro Kakitani who has emerged as the next big target for European clubs and then double back into the matter of rising expectations for the Japan national team in advance of Brazil 2014 and how professional setbacks for both Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda has spawned a degree of speculation and consternation amongst fans that success could be undermined by uncertainty for these two stars at precisely the wrong time. We also examine a big change at the top for the Socceroos who sacked Holger Osieck after a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of the French and how some of the veteran Australian players have been lukewarm on his replacement in Ange Postecoglou, who takes his place from Melbourne Victory as veteran goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has called it a day for his long international career, finishing with 109 caps.
