In what was a charged and hugely entertaining UEFA Super Cup, Bayern got revenge against Chelsea for the 2012 UCL final. In similar fashion no less, last minute goal and a very close penalty shootout thereafter. It's Bayern's first title under Guardiola. Shame they didn't win the German Super Cup as well. The possibility of a "sextuple" would have been a nice story in December. The CAF Champions League plays Matchday 4 of the group stage this weekend. Orlando Pirates have a chance to already book their place in the semis.
After matchday four Esperance have nearly reached the CAF semis with a win over Sewe Sport. It seems the Tunisian league is also suspended due to political unrest, and I suppose that would explain the absence of a crowd. Out of all confederations CAF has without a doubt had the most difficult time organizing its continental championship the last few years. And things don't seem to get any easier. Orlando Pirates didn't want to travel to Egypt but since the match was moved to El Gouna - away from Cairo - and attendance limited to 3000 they had no choice. Zamalek won 2-1 and is now back in the race for the semis. The competition logo of the 2013/2014 CWC will be unveiled tomorrow in Casablanca.
The Morocco 2013 logo has been unveiled: http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/organisation/media/newsid=2166433/index.html Looks like FIFA is changing the design of its competition logos...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_CAF_Champions_League_group_stage With only one matchday left in the group stage three clubs have claimed their spot in the CAF CL semis: - Esperance (Tunisia) - Winner Group B - Coton Sport (Cameroon) - Second Group B - Al Ahly (Egypt) - Group A After a great start South Africa's Orlando Pirates have now suffered two losses in a row and have to fear for their semi-final qualification. Their last game is against Al Ahly who would like to a) get revenge for the "home" defeat b) avoid Esperance in the semis. The Republic of Congo's AC Leopards have really put a dent in Orlando's campaign: The AFC CL quarterfinals will conclude this Wednesday.
And the final four are set in Asia: FC Seoul (Korea Republic) - Esteghlal (Iran) Kashiwa Reysol (Japan) - Guangzhou Evergrande (China) From what I've seen Guangzhou have the quality to be the first Chinese winner since 1990. This also means three Arab clubs in Morocco is no longer possible.
Guangzhou are full of quality players, but this is where it can get sticky. Everyone takes notice and they could come unstuck against the unlikeliest of opponents. Kashiwa are the unlikliest of opponents this year. Struggling in J.League - they shouldn't really be here right now, Final will be held in SF1 - either Seoul or Esteghlal, think winners of this tie will take the glory.
We are finally back to a home & away final format this year. I personally predict a Seoul - Guangzhou final. Esteghlal's defense just doesn't convince me. More Highlights: The CAF group stage will be concluded this weekend.
Zamalek win 4-1 on the last matchday but are kept out due to a draw between Ahly and Orlando. CAF Champions League Semifinals Coton Sport (Cameroon) - Al Ahly (Egypt) Orlando Pirates (South Africa) - Esperance (Tunisia) The Asian semis start this week...
In the AFC, my prediction is that the final will be between Esteghlal (Iran) and Guangzhou (China), with Esteghlal becoming the first Iranian club to lift the AFC Champions League trophy. The last time Esteghlal won the Asian club championship was in 1990/91, beating another Chinese club (Liaoning FC). On the other hand, the last time Esteghlal made the final of the Asian club championships was in 1998, when they lost to a Japanese club (Jubilo Iwata). Thus, if the winner of the Guangzhou v. Kashiwa Reysol is the Japanese club, I fear the Japanese may again prevail against Esteghlal. Of course, I am predicting that Esteghlal will defeat FC Seoul of Korea in the semis. While it won't be easy by any means, I expect Esteghlal to make it to the final.
That would certainly make a well attended final. Over 150,000 in both legs. 91,600 in Tehran and 58,500 in Guangzhou. Indeed. Looks like a repeat of last year's final.
AFC Semis, First Leg: FC Seoul (Korea Republic) - Esteghlal (Iran) 2:0 Kashiwa Reysol (Japan) - Guangzhou Evergrande (China) 1:4 Guangzhou can start planning for the final while Esteghlal will need some major Azadi support in leg two.
True. The first half was going well for Esteghlal, until FC Seoul scored on practically their first chance while Esteghlal had missed a few already. Afterwards, particularly in the 2nd half after FC Seoul scored their 2nd goal, they became very dangerous and could have scored more. Nonetheless, Esteghlal had its chances to score an away goal, which was what it really needed to make the game interesting in Tehran. As it stands now, FC Seoul would clearly be favored.
Ronaldinho suffers thigh injury - questionable for Morocco 2013: http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/newsid=2182236/index.html?intcmp=newsreader_news_box_2 Bet the organizers wish they had started selling tickets already. First the transfer loss of Bernard and now this. Obviously Ronaldinho is not the player he used to be and its probably safe to say that others carried the team to Libertadores victory, but you just don't hear many positives out of Mineiro. Can someone closer to Brazilian football comment on the state of the team, because right now Bayern look like overwhelming favorites.
Interesting that Seoul has their player names written in Latin characters. For K-league games they are written in Hangul.
According to Guangzhou Evergrande Official news, The ACL Semi-Final against Kashiwa Raysol will be a sellout,that means about 56,000 tickets had been sold. the ticket receipt reaches 18 millon RMB, that is about 3 million USD, breaks Chinese record for Domestic and Asia club matches.It is also reported that the ticket reciepts of the quarter-final match against Lekhwiya is 11 million RMB, about 1.8million USD, with a attendance of 52,384.