Cha confident Champions League will stay in Korea

FC Seoul are bubbling with "good energy"and confident of taking the AFC Champions League trophy back to South Korea for the fourth time in five years, defender Cha Du-ri said on Wednesday.

A late equaliser salvaged the Koreans a 2-2 home draw in the first leg of the final against big-spending Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande last month.

The 33-year-old Cha was not too unhappy with the result and was optimistic of his team lifting their game in Saturday's second leg at Guangzhou's Tianhe Stadium.

"We did our best in the first leg and it wasn't a bad result as Guangzhou are a good team," said Cha, who missed the match after picking up yellow cards in both legs of the semi-final win over Iran's Esteghlal.

"Every away match is not easy to win, but we are confident and we have good energy," said the former Germany-based defender.

Cha said the squad were in good spirits after beating cross-town rivals Suwon Bluewings 2-1 in the K-League last weekend.

"We played Suwon in one of the biggest matches in K-League and we won and we have a lot of good energy before the second leg.

"I believe we can win the second leg and become champions of Asia." Guangzhou's unbeaten home record in this year's tournament means it would be far from a cakewalk, however.

Coached by Italian Marcello Lippi, Guangzhou stand on the verge of ending China's wait for a first AFC Champions League and are in top form after completing another successful defence of their domestic title with a 5-0 pounding of Wuhan last weekend.