Zhang Meng washed his tea set, prepared snacks and set the alarm clock to 3 am before taking a nap on Tuesday night, following his routine for watching live European soccer games in other world time zones on many early mornings.

But this was the first time he did it for a match involving a club from his own country.

Ratcheting up the anticipation even more, the Chinese team, Guangzhou Evergrande, was about to challenge one of the world's best - German powerhouse Bayern Munich - in the FIFA Club World Cup semifinals.