2014 AFC Champions League

Discussion in 'AFC: Tournaments' started by fridge46, Dec 10, 2013.

  1. Zandi360

    Zandi360 Member+

    Dec 10, 2013
    Club:
    Sepahan
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    ^ACL has become the "who can buy more expensive foreign players" game for most Arab clubs and Chinese. That's why none of the best actual Asian football countries don't really care about it. UAE, S.Arabia, and Qatar clubs field all of their million $ signings in their starting 11 to hope to win, and that actually is the reason why they don't have good National teams as the foreigners do everything for them. It has become a money game basically. Teams like Guangzhou don't even have 1 good Chinese player yet their foreign signings carried them to the trophy, but look at the actual Chinese NT on the other hand.
     
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  2. teammellieIRANfan

    Feb 28, 2009
    Club:
    Perspolis
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    To be fair Oladi did raise his arm as the Saudi player took the shot, and seemed to hit the shoulder but could also have been upper arm. I dont know, didnt watch the replay.

    But I agree with rest of your post. :D
    This SS team is hopeless anyway after the departure of some key players. Would not have gone far in ACL.
    Better for important key players (Ando, Sadeghi, Heydari etc) to be fully available for national team duty so we can prepare for what actually matters.
     
  3. druryfire

    druryfire Member

    Sep 10, 2007
    England
    I don't think this is entirely true do you?
    Everyone plays by the same rules, sometimes when losing can make people feel this way.

    But you talk like these nations have been winning the damm thing every year, they haven't.
     
  4. Zandi360

    Zandi360 Member+

    Dec 10, 2013
    Club:
    Sepahan
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I absolutely believe in it yes. Esteghlal loosing? No usually for me only the national team counts, I never feel any emotions for the clubs (of course if they win then better).

    And again yes everyone plays by the rule but not everyone has the same funds/money eh? You can buy anything you want if you are Saudi Arabia or Qatar and can charm anyone. Can you do the same when you are a Korean or even less an Iranian club? Never in the world.

    But I think everyone is happy that it's that way, I don't think any Korean Japanese or Iranian fan would like to see some foreigners do everything for them. This is satisfying as it forces local players to improve.
     
  5. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I had given my wrap up and views on how the various Iranian clubs might be expected to do in the AFC Champions League here in this post at the start of the competition. As indicated in those comments, among the Iranian clubs, I felt Foolad Ahwaz followed by Sepahan Isfahan had the best chance to advance from their groups and I am glad that Foolad has clinched advancing from its group and Sepahan has come back from a poor start to be tied on points on the top of its group. Given certain issues that Esteghlal faced, however, I really didn't think they would have a good AFC CL season. Despite passionate fans and boasting two of my favorite Iranian players in Ali Karimi and Karim Ansarifard, I had doubts about Teraktor as well.

    That said, I still feel bad for Esteghlal although their loss was a blessing in disguise given the club v country rift between Esteghlal and the national team over a national training camp that has just started in South Africa. I feel bad for Esteghlal because they were still the better team compared to Al Shabab despite playing away. They were leading the match and were in control when around the 80th minute mark, the Bahraini referee awarded Al Shabab a penalty that I didn't feel was warranted at all. I will give the referee the benefit of the doubt and assume he must have somehow been fooled because the Iranian player appeared initially to stretch his arms a bit when the shot was taken, but when the shot hit Oladi at the edge of the box, he had clearly turned his back towards the ball and the ball didn't him his hands. The ball hit his back and even though I like to believe this wasn't a favor by an Arab referee to a fellow Arab club, I just don't understand the call at all? It is just hard for me to otherwise understand the instinct to call a penalty in those circumstances as when the play occurred, the last thing you would have thought about was a penalty! After that goal, Esteghlal which needed to win this match, pulled everyone up front and in injury time, when even its goalie was looking to help Esteghlal score, the Saudi club scored the winning goal in injury time on the counter.

    Overall, an undeserved win for Al Shabab but while last season's AFC CL semifinalist, Esteghlal, showed that they are still a strong club despite some of their woes and the players they have lost, perhaps its best their fate was to exit the tournament last night. Foolad Ahwaz with its very fine coach and a team which just won the Iranian league without a single established national team player, deserves the limelight while Esteghlal's remaining national team players who were all recently returning from injury (Teymourian, Heidari and Beikzadeh) have more important things to do helping the national team prepare for the World Cup.
     
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  6. HiJazzey

    HiJazzey Member

    Jan 29, 2002
    London
    Club:
    Al Ittihad Jeddah
    The usual sour grapes and hypocrisy from the iranian members here.
    Saudi clubs are no more reliant on foreign players than their counterparts. You conveniently ignore that iranian teams have fielded foreign players in this tournament but hey you gotta maintain that illusion of superiority
     
  7. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I have no qualms about foreign players; in fact, I like to see even bigger and better stars play for Asian clubs. That is not my issue at all.

    I do have a problem seeing Iranian clubs at the wrong end of bad calls at the AFC Champions League. Against Al Shabab, Esteghlal lost 1:0 at home despite a blatant handball in the box close to the goal which prevented a shot that might have scored a goal. Errors happen so at the time, I just mentioned it more or less in passing. But if I could accept that the referee was just not in a position to see that clear hand ball, I have no real understanding of the penalty last night? In a must win game where Esteghlal is leading and is in control, a shot from a distance that makes a player turn his back on the shot and hits his back is called a penalty? This was not the kind of incident that someone would usually get wrong! I am still baffled and can't help suspecting favoritism or collusion by the Bahraini referee.
     
  8. al ittihady

    al ittihady Member

    Jan 5, 2009
    Club:
    Al Ittihad Jeddah
    Nat'l Team:
    Saudi Arabia
    You can exclude Saudi from buying the most expensive players from the list. Its all a balant thought. Infact, Saudi clubs are paying much more to the national players to bring into there team. The league winner Nasser this season romped in the best Saudi talent in the leaague by paying extraordinary fees and won the league. Ittihad is playing with only 2 foreign signings in this seasons ACL and still managed to qualify to last 16. Fateh were new and immature to play in this big level competition and they too dont have superstar players in there team. Its only Shabab that has some right set of foriegn players playing in ACL and Hilal foreign signings input in the team are crap excluding the Brazilian Neves.
    I do agree , the league once had superstars in the team but the clubs also paid extraordinarily high for raw talent too but the tides have changed in Saudi League.
     
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  9. al ittihady

    al ittihady Member

    Jan 5, 2009
    Club:
    Al Ittihad Jeddah
    Nat'l Team:
    Saudi Arabia
    To be frank, I do had a thought of Iranian posters complaining about the goal but for the second goal, for the Bahraini referee not whistling right after Waleed Abdulla punching the ball clear the box. Here the situation is different. I can expand this debate by asking was the Bahraini refree was Shia or Sunni to support the saudi clubs n all but its useless now.
    Wait for the Hilal vs Sepahan match which will be a game to watch in ACL this season.
     
  10. teammellieIRANfan

    Feb 28, 2009
    Club:
    Perspolis
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    #235 teammellieIRANfan, Apr 17, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2014
    Please no sectarian Shia-Sunni and other political debates here.

    Looking at the replay again I was wrong. Oladi held his arms toward the body and then turned around, after which the ball hit his back. So I dont believe either the penalty was rightly given but I wouldnt go as far as saying it is because the Bahrain referee had it in for the Iranian team. It was just a bad call, but it doesnt matter anymore.

    I also dont agree with Zandi about KSA clubs relying on foreign players.
    If you look at the wikipedia, Al Shabab for example only has about 3 players its entire squad which is pretty normal and the same amount the average Iranian club uses.

    Im expecting Al Hilal win over Sepahan. But as I said earlier, the silver lining is that all players will be available for national team duty so we can prepare for the World Cup in Brazil, which is what matters mostly to nearly all Iranian fans. As Iranian Monitor rightly pointed out, the preparations have started and the squad has gone to South Africa for a training camp.
    Well only part of the squad (11 players!!! out of 27 invited). So we just want the players freed up so they can join the rest of the camp in SA.
    If you look at PFDC forum, you can see many share the same sentiment and are relieved or at least indifferent to SS bowing out. They didnt have a particuarly great team anyway.

    Anyway lets keep it civil guys.
     
  11. Thai

    Thai Member

    Jul 1, 2012
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Big spending clubs is the product of two things: national economic growth that creates big business sponsors, and the ability of the national league to attract those sponsors to invest in football. The Chinese league and Arab leagues have done those much better than the Iranian league. National economic growth is clearly of far greater importance that performance on the football field. The Thai league is not close to achieving either by any great measure, but if only one were possible, like anybody I'd hope Thailand would aim for national economic growth and maybe a few foreign stars relocating to my country would be a nice little bonus. I hope Iran has their priorities straight as well.
     
  12. Dmed10

    Dmed10 Member

    Apr 16, 2014
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Pakistan
    How do you guys get information about Asian clubs and Champions League? I'm new to asian football, although I know loads about European Football
     
  13. Thai

    Thai Member

    Jul 1, 2012
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What kind of information? If you're looking for current news, then most countries have at least one English-language fan-made site for current news on the local league clubs and national team.
    For example, Thailand has www.thaileaguefootball.com
    China has wildeastfootball.net

    Those sites usually have AFC Champions League info as well for the local clubs competing in it. www.the-afc.com has general news not biased towards any nation's clubs.
     
  14. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    Btw, in Esteghlal's opening game of the AFC CL this year which I alluded to in my last post, the wrong call wasn't a blatant handball that was missed but having refreshed my memory a blatant kung fu kick right in front of Al Shabab's goal. Anyway, just wanted to correct myself in that regard.
     
  15. Dmed10

    Dmed10 Member

    Apr 16, 2014
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Pakistan
    Thank very much man!
     
  16. glennaldo_sf

    glennaldo_sf Member+

    Houston Dynamo, Penang FC, Al Duhail
    United States
    Nov 25, 2004
    Doha, Qatar
    Club:
    FL Fart Vang Hedmark
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    oh well I've been backpacking through Tunisia over the last week so missed the last round of fixtures.... but glad to see that El Jaish vs. Bunyodkor is one of the games that is still meaningful. It's head-to-head that decides tie breakers so as Bunyodkor are three points behind and lost 2-1 away they need to win by 2 goals or 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, etc. just 1-0 will not suffice or they will lose on away goals.

    Anyhoo, although I've seen various Qatari clubs play + Pakhtakor will be my first time seeing either of these clubs play... hopefully the Uzbek fans come...
     
  17. MVP#3

    MVP#3 Member

    Mar 1, 2012
    Dubai, UAE
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United Arab Emirates
    [​IMG]

    West
    [​IMG]

    East
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. Jeffrey Yin

    Jeffrey Yin New Member

    Apr 21, 2014
    Club:
    Manchester City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    very crucial ACL matches for group G teams tonight :D
     
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  19. al ittihady

    al ittihady Member

    Jan 5, 2009
    Club:
    Al Ittihad Jeddah
    Nat'l Team:
    Saudi Arabia
    Hilal vs Sepahan a match to watch in West Asia. I think this is the last chance for Sami Jaber to to show his coaching skills with the club. Any result which denies Hilal the qualification might cost him the job. With Yasser and Nasser back in the striking we might see some goal from the team except for the defence to do there job.
     
  20. glennaldo_sf

    glennaldo_sf Member+

    Houston Dynamo, Penang FC, Al Duhail
    United States
    Nov 25, 2004
    Doha, Qatar
    Club:
    FL Fart Vang Hedmark
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Group G is just insane lol....
     
  21. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Group F isn't much different. Take away a 92nd minute own goal last week and first and last swap places.
     
  22. glennaldo_sf

    glennaldo_sf Member+

    Houston Dynamo, Penang FC, Al Duhail
    United States
    Nov 25, 2004
    Doha, Qatar
    Club:
    FL Fart Vang Hedmark
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just realized something here.... away goals do not apply when ranking tied teams head to head scores, so I'm assuming that any victory of any sort for Bunyodkor would put them though vs. El Jaish on over, ie. a 1-0 win would suffice... as they would inevitably have scored more overall goals in the group...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_AFC_Champions_League

    1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
    2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
    3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned (away goals do not apply)
    4. Goal difference in all the group matches
    5. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches
     
  23. Jeffrey Yin

    Jeffrey Yin New Member

    Apr 21, 2014
    Club:
    Manchester City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    #248 Jeffrey Yin, Apr 22, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2014
    Guangzhou Evergrande beat Yokahoma f Marinos 2-1 thanks to an Elkeson brace to advance. Gao Lin and Elkeson had their fair share of chances though, a near open goal for Elkeson and an one on one with the keeper for Gao. Jeonbuk Hyundai draw with Melbourne Victory to advance
    also Guizhou Renhe got demolished by western sydney wanderers 5-0 lol,
     
  24. al ittihady

    al ittihady Member

    Jan 5, 2009
    Club:
    Al Ittihad Jeddah
    Nat'l Team:
    Saudi Arabia
    Any link for Ain Vs Ittihad match
     
  25. al ittihady

    al ittihady Member

    Jan 5, 2009
    Club:
    Al Ittihad Jeddah
    Nat'l Team:
    Saudi Arabia
    Hilal qualifies to last 16 after defeating Sepahan 1-0..
     

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