FIFA Club World Cup: Evergrande prepare to face Bayern

In Morocco, China's Guangzhou Evergrande is gearing up to take on Bayern Munich later on Tuesday for a place in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup. The match-up for the Chinese and Asian champs, a rare opportunity for a Chinese side to measure up against the treble winning European champions.

This is Guangzhou Evergrande's first ever appearance in the competition, and they got their run off to a great start by beating African champions Al Ahly 2-0 of Egypt on Saturday to set up the showdown with Bayern. Evergrande are led by Marcelo Lippi, a man who knows a thing or two about the big stage, as he led Italy to World Cup glory in 2006. Lippi knows his side will have to be at their best and stick to their game plan if they are going to knock off Bayern Munich, a club that, at the moment, is widely recognized as the best on the planet.

"Regarding our strategy against Bayern, we must be realistic in situations like this. It is nice to be enthusiastic, but we must be realistic when we play against a team that is favored against us. We need to stay humble. Of course, we have a few cards to play, we have to use them to our advantage, and prevent them from using their many talent. That is how we are going to play." said Marcello Lippi, Guanghzou Evergrande Coach.

"I heard Pep Guardiola always does detailed research about his opponents, and I think this demonstrates that he is a very serious coach and Bayern Munich is a very professional team. The match will be the first semi-final for a team from China at the Club World Cup. As our coach said earlier, we never expected to play at the FIFA Club World Cup, let alone get to the semis of this event. However, no matter what kind of opponent we will face, no matter how strong our opponent is, we will try our best in the match." said Zheng Zhi, Guanghzou Evergrande Captain.