Al Ittihad wins 5-4 on aggregate and goes through to the semifinal. I initially did not have much interest in watching the match, just tuned in few minutes to check the score. And then I watched the whole thing through. One of the best fast paced and high-qualitative matches Ive seen in Asia.
I was expecting a much more challenging game. This must be one of the worse games for Sepahan; I know they are much stronger and their performance today does not do them justice. I can't understand why the Sepahan coach would exit Khalatabari (who was probably the best player in the team) after the goalies red card. This Ahli is the same team and pretty much same line-up Hilal crushed 3-0. Hard luck for Sepahan, and better luck in the future.
Congratz to Al Ahli. They played a very good fluid passing game, and clearly our defenders could not keep up. As for Sepahan, I did not recognize this team tonight.
yeah that was a moronic move. Khalatbari can single handedly change games. Kranjar (sp?) was Albania's coach and the couple of Albanian players in Sepahan's lineup played under him in the Albanian NT. I guess he trusts them too much to take em out. That red card totally destroyed Sepahan. The second goali was shit, they were down a goal, they were down a man and had to deal with those annoying ass speakers which were screaming quranic verses into their ears (whenever I hear arabic I think Quran, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it actually was lol). Those speakers are literally more annoying than the vuvuzela crap from South Africa. I have to mute the damn TV everytime I watch a game from Saudi/UAE.
Sad that Guangzhou didn't make it. We were so, so close. Al-Ittihad played well in both legs. Next year, I hope, will be even better!
the saudis shouldve massacred the iranians. the score is a mercy, it shouldve been atleast 8-1. i actually hoped sepahan would reach the semi because i wanted to see them destroyed by itti. the defence for sepahan opened its doors like when the gates of persia were opened by the arabs during the muslim expansion.
DO NOT FEED THE TROLL. ---- Well we have a Jeddah derby for a semifinal. Should be intense! The neighbours looked good. I think people understimate them because they've long been chokers. But they have a great squad, a good coach (who's been with them for a while) and they play some good attractive football. It was a matter of time until they got it together. Their 4th today was beautiful, and great theatrics for the first (although it was correct). As for Ittihad, we've made it this far. But we seriously need to work on our defence if we want to win the tournament. Every time Guangzhou attacked it was hand on heart as you wonder which joker will mess up this time. Monti? Osama? Takar?
Congratulations. That was without a doubt the most interesting game I've seen this season so far in the ACL (yesterdays Evergrandeo-Itti rank second). Adelaide played very ruff and very agressive and the paid the price in yellow and later red cards. Both teams are also physically strong in regards to tactics and skill sets, and have the stamina many teams in the region lack; most teams in the AFC would be falling like flys after playing for 120 minutes! Bunyadkor definitely deserved the victory- they were the much better team and wasted numerous chances. Both teams put a great performance. Why did the Bunyadkor coach get booted from the bench?
I like the match too. But would be much more interesting if d referee wouldn't give ridiculous, stupid yellow and red cards for both teams. I doubt that this referee has ever watched even a single match of EPL. And no idea why our head couch got that red card. Goals:
This game was very hard to watch. Hilal is going through some internal issues at the moment as regards to contract renewals and pay increases- we may see some vital players exiting the club, and several key players such as Shalhoub and Fraidy are not in good terms with management. Wesley underperformed, and Boo was average, Qahtani was out injured, Shalhoub did not even play and Hermach and Arabi need to be shown the door. Our keeper Al Sudairy was a joke. Al-Hilal fans were rightfully very upset with the performance....... Thank God there was a Real Madrid game to make the eveining a little better.
After strangely being placed in East Asia for the ACL group stage I wouldn't be surpised if Bunyodkor set a new world record for traveling in a continental competition: Group Stage: Pohang, South Korea (10,286 km return) Group Stage: Osaka, Japan (11,414 km return) Group Stage: Adelaide, Australia (22,058 km return) Round-of-16: Seongnam, South Korea (10,168 km return) Quarterfinal: Adelaide, Australia (22,058 km return) Semifinal: Ulsan, South Korea (10,326 km return) Total: 86,310 km (53,629 miles) In fact, Bunyodkor has yet to play a single team from West Asia this year. Should they host the final would the new stadium be completed in time?
new stadium is already ready, waiting d final match https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/uzbekistan-football-thread-r.1411398/page-10
Looks awesome. I wish the final was in Jeddah, but admitedly both Ulsan Big Crown and this make fitting venues.
Semi's to be played at JAR Stadium and if Bunyodkor do make the final they will host at Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakhtakor_Markaziy_Stadium) according to a tweet from the UFF today.