NANJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Premier League champions Manchester City suffered two missed flights and only 24 hours of training in the build-up to the first game against West Ham in the semifinal of the Asia trophy in Nanjing.
Problems with travel agents and plane connections meant that the pre-tournament favorites have had to endure jetlag and humid conditions without the usual couple of days to adapt, unlike their tournament rivals.
Their opponents, West ham, on the other hand, have flown under the radar during their time in China. The signing of star forward, Sebastian Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt for 42 million pounds has lifted spirits for the traveling West Ham support and now head into the game without the eternal questions of new transfers hanging over their head. However, Haller is not expected to join his new teammates in China and is set to undergo a medical in London.
Hammers boss, Manuel Pellegrini told reporters that his time in China previously with Hebei had helped his preparations for the tournament in acclimatizing the players for their battle with City in the humid Jiangsu conditions. As well as telling his players what to expect.
In the other semifinal, Wolves take on managerless Newcastle.
The Magpies, perhaps, arrived in China in a more sorry state than jetlagged Manchester City. Without a manager and a team without any new signings have been surrounded bitter squabbles between fans and the owner for the whole closed season. With Newcastle, as yet, unable to agree on compensation with ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss, Steve Bruce, the club Asia Trophy leadership duties have fallen to U23 coach, Ben Dawson, and assistant Neil Redfearn.
However, Dawson showed signs of hope during the press conference here yesterday, "The players have a great work ethic and preparation is going well." Yet, could not reveal any further updates around the future manager and told reporters that his job was to get the players ready for the games here and for the new manager.
Wolves arrive in China off the back of their best-ever season in the modern era. "Training is tough and the humidity is hard but the players are professional," manager, Nuno Espirito Santo revealed when asked about how the players were adapting to the hard Chinese conditions.
Nuno praised the tournament as a great way for the teams to get good competitive minutes under the player's belts ahead of their first game in just ten days in the Europa League qualifying round. Enditem
