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BANGKOK - BEC Tero Sasana players will be fighting for their personal futures in the AFC Champions League encounter with Group F winners Shandong Luneng of China in Bangkok on Wednesday.
After a poor season in the AFC Champions League, with just one point from five games, and domestically in the Thai League, finishing a lowly sixth, BEC Tero are planning a clear out.
"We intend to release as many as 10 players and this is the last chance for some of the squad to show what they can do," said BEC Tero manager Ong-Art Kohsinkha. "We will be watching closely how the players perform."
The 2003 AFC Champions League finalists have won just one game in the past two campaigns - a 4-1 victory over Shanghai Shenhua in their first match of the 2004 competition - and want to bow out on a positive note.
"We will play an attacking game and go for the win - it is important for the club to get a victory as we will not be in the AFC Champions League next season," said the manager.
BEC Tero are determined to rebuild the side and striker Worrawoot Srimaka, who captained the team during their glory run in 2003, tops a shopping list which also includes several players from Thai League champions Tobacco Monopoly and third-placed Osotspa.
"It is likely that Worrawoot will rejoin us from (Vietnam club) Binh Dinh. He has great leadership qualities and can still score goals," said Ong-Art of the former Thai international who has hit the target twice for Binh Dinh in this season's AFC Champions League.
BEC Tero will be looking for another big game from exciting midfielder Datsakorn Thonglao, who scored both goals in the 2-2 away draw with PSM Makassar of Indonesia two weeks ago.
Datsakorn, who lost his place in the Thailand national team last season but has been named in the under-23 SEA Games squad, has made a welcome return to top form in recent games and his trademark free-kicks will pose a huge threat to Shandong as they attempt to win their sixth straight group match.
Shandong, last season's China FA Cup winners, grabbed a quarter-final spot with a 2-1 home victory over Japan's Yokohama F Marinos on May 11.
China international Zheng Zhi grabbed both goals, the second deep in injury time, to take him to the top of the AFC Champions League chart with five strikes.
Bulgaria's Predrag Pazin and fellow defender Jiao Zhe, who have played in all five group matches, picked up their second yellow cards of the campaign against Yokohama F Marinos and will be suspended for Wednesday's match. Coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic may also rest some other key players with qualification already secured.
Tumbakovic admitted that Shandong Luneng had not 'dazzled' in their 2-1 win over Yokohama F Marinos but the side had completed the task at hand.
"The team's efforts paid off as we have advanced into the quarter-finals with one match remaining. We went through the tense group stage and it is expected we will have stiffer tests in the forthcoming games," he said.
"But we have been making progress all the time and I believe we will be able to do our job well."
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