Guangzhou Evergrande beat Kashiwa 4-0 at home (8-1 on aggregate) and stands in the final. The second leg between Seoul and Esteghlal is being played right now...
Official Draw for Morocco 2013 in Marrakech on 9 October (19:00 Local Time): http://en.starafrica.com/news/offic...p-morocco-2013-in-marrakech-on-9-october.html Their home (and away) support is certainly very impressive. Does Evergrande financially support some of the away match expenses for the fans? I ask because their presence is always very notable, even in remote locations.
FC Seoul drew Esteghlal 2:2 in Tehran, to win 4:2 on aggregate to move to the final, where they will meet Guangzhou which managed to demolish the Japanese club Kashiwa Raysol 8:1! Just looking at the scoreline, Guangzhou would appear to be a very special team and would be favored against FC Seoul. The latter, while very good in the transition from defense to offense, is the kind of side that seems to allow opponents too many chances on its goal. That doesn't seem like a hopeful recipe going into a match against a Chinese club that has just advanced to the final scoring that many goals.
ACL Final: FC Seoul (South Korea) - Guangzhou Evergrande (China) A comeback started by former Premier League player Jlloyd Samuel wasn't enough to change the momentum in Esteghlal's favour in front of 88,330 fans at the Azadi. Since I've seen Esteghlal live here in Dubai (when taking on Al Shabab in the group stage) the defense hasn't convinced me, and that is really what ultimately kept them out of the final. It certainly looks like the stars are aligning for China to have the first continental winner since 1990 - or 23 years. Even more impressive is the fact that Guangzhou Evergrande only played their first ACL match in club history last year. Marcello Lippi has a fine team that will get to close out the final at home in front of a sea of red. That said FC Seoul also has some quality players. Montenegro NT forward Dejan Damjanovic for example, or Mauricio Molina. Molina played a great 2010 Club World Cup with Seongnam, scoring three goals. Two of them were against Brazil's SC Internacional in the third place match.
Question, what kind of support is expected for Raja Casablanca in Agadir? How easy is travel between the two cities and does Raja have a lot of fans in Agadir to begin with?
Raja has a lot of fans all over Morocco, but their big supporters are based in Casablanca Sure they will travel with their team south to Agadir, playing in the clubs World Cup for the second time Means a lot to Raja fans. I'm expecting a decent number of supporters in the stadium By car if you take the highway you may get to Agadir from Casablanca in less than 5 hours in a good day Traveling by train is an option but the fans should take a bus from Marrakech to Agadir since the train terminal Ends in Marrakech , due to the mountainous terrain between Marrakech and agadir there's no railway going all the way to Agadir. ( distance between Casablanca and agadir is 400 KM ) The best way is traveling by car. In addition to that for people who can afford flying there's daily flights between Casablanca and agadir the flight takes 20 mins.
Ticketing details announced for Morocco 2013: http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/newsid=2190904/index.html?intcmp=fifacom_hp_module_news
CAF Semifinals, First Leg: Coton Sport - Al Ahly 0:0* Orlando Pirates - Esperance 0:0 *Match abandoned in the second half due to severe rain. It is likely to be replayed at the same venue 24 hours later, but the official decision has not been announced yet. The Ahly players were pressing for the match to be resumed as any delay could affect Egypt's preparations for the crucial World Cup qualifying playoff against Ghana on 15 October.
The draw is tomorrow Wednesday. Here's hoping we avoid an all-African quarterfinal (assuming Raja makes it past Auckland)
I'll have to disagree: an all-African match could be exciting, especially if Espérance or Al-Ahly qualifies from the CAF. That, and has there ever been an all-African matchup in the finals of a senior men's FIFA football competition (World Cup, Confederations Cup and/or Club World Cup)?
It would be exciting but without the novelty factor of a rare match-up in the club game across confederations. As for your question, that would be a definite no on the last two. FIFA will stream the draw live for the first time this year: http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/newsid=2192800/index.html
Also a no for the world cup. There never was a final tournament where more than one African team survived the group stages.
Yes it happened two times in the FIFA under 20 world cup first all African matchup took place in the FIFA under 20 world cup in Argentina 2003 Ghana played Egypt in the semi final. Second time in the FIFA under 20 world cup in Holland 2005 Morocco played Nigeria in the semi-final also.
Concerning the senior men world cup , I don't think there is any chance at all to see an all African matchup ever , since only 5 African teams are allowed to participate in the world cup. If FIFA increase the number then we may have a chance to see that happen .
It can happen, but CAF would have to change its standard from 1986 to only have one African team leave their group...
That, and CONCACAF's already done it three times: Mexico vs. El Salvador in the 1970 World Cup (to be fair, this really shouldn't count, since FIFA bizarrely drew them in the same group), Mexico vs. USA in the 1999 Confederations Cup and Mexico vs. USA in 2002 World Cup.
I stand corrected, it would be a novelty. At least on the FIFA stage. If Monterrey plan to again make a lot of noise about disrupting the traditional final they better hope to be drawn on the CONMEBOL side. 30 minutes to go...
QF1: AFC vs. CAF (winner meets Bayern Munich) QF2: Raja/Auckland vs. Monterrey (winner meets CAM) The Rayados must be happy with this draw. Most likely a non-continental champion in the quarterfinals with sight on (arguably) the weaker seeded club. Of course they had the same road to the final in 2011.
Guangzhou Ultras at the home gam against Kashiwa ACL simifinal <embed src="http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XNjE2NDYwMzY4/v.swf" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" width="480" height="400" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>