Sorry to say this guys but I have never seen so much gloom and doom in a bigsoccer thread before. Cheer up guys, at least you get to play and get some experience playing with the stronger teams in the AFC. I am sure there will be brighter days ahead for Lebanon.
I agree with Pelefan... Try and look at the bright side Emile Rustom has been replaced and at least you guys are playing games now...
Hard luck to lebanon. I heard is a new team with long way to go. Hope these games help the team improve and get experienced. As your DT said aftergame, lebanon is far away from SK, JPN or AUS level right now.
Can we get some happy Lebanese folk in here? And what's the deal with the lack of a crowd... Is the government still banning them from games? 3-1 against the team that disrespected you a couple of months ago in a friendly. Sweet revenge... Hassan Matouk, Ghaddar, and Roda Antar are quality players I enjoyed that performance today.
People aren't banned from entering games, however public interest in football has declined over the past years. I would expect more people to attend the matches against Kuwait and Korea though. Lebanese media got pretty excited about yesterdays victory, calling it a new start for our football. I'm sure there's more hope than under Emile, but wouldn't expect any miracles either.
Lebanon did very well and they had little time to prepare for this game unlike UAE with their professional players. I really congratulate the Lebanese players for the fighting spirit and they deserved the win 100%.
On one other board i read this.. And it tells the full story. To cheer for this fluke result is hiding from the truth I remember in 1990's armenia lebanon were close level. Whereas I look today we are beating slovakia and likes.And on other hand my other nation lebanon football is more or less dead.
Lebanese Elite Cup starts today with last years top 6 divided into two groups. All teams represent Beirut once again. Group A: Al Ahed, Nejmeh, Racing Beirut Group B: Safa, Al Ansar, Al Mabarrah
Just reading the rules and regulations for the Under 16's qualification event of which Lebanon withdrew from and it states that they can be disqualified from the next edition. Is this fair for the AFC to basically tell a next set of youths that they aren't allowed in because of something that had nothing to do with them? How do you tell a 15 year old that? Also, what is the reason behind withdrawing? No matter how good or how bad a certain team is, is it not right to let young lads at least experience what they are currently missing out on?
2011/12 Season - MD 1 Ansar 0-1 Tadamon Sour Mabarrah 2-4 Nejmeh Racing 1-1 Tripoli Salam Sour 0-2 Shabab Al Sahel Al Akhaa 4-1 Ahli Saida Safa 2-0 Ahed
lol crazy scences [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag4xD7ysLmw"]????? x ????? ? ??? ????? ????????‎ - YouTube[/ame]
I am very glad they were able to beat Korea this was the biggest upset we pulled in our history.. Our last game this round is against the UAE, if we win or tie. It will be the first time in our history we will reach the final round to world cup qualifying.... Then from there top 2 of each group (2 groups of 5) will qualify to world cup.. The two 3rd place teams play an away and home leg to claim 5th spot. The 5th spot will then play the 5th spot of south America to qualify for world cup.. So far Australia, Iran, Japan and maybe Iraq would prob be favorites to qualify. If we do well, we can fight for 5th spot and try to qualify that way, or hope for some miracle or one of the top 4 favorites to drop out. Anything can happen
Lebanon and Iran should play a friendly match before the draw. We have a good healthy rivalry in Basketball, it's about time for another rivalry, in Football now.
Don't rule the Koreans out, they might be in a bad state right now but they're certainly a favourite. We shouldn't get too carried away, reaching the final round itself is a big success for a team that was basically done and out a few months ago.
I forgot about Korea, your right. Korea would most likely be the last 4. That's why if we do well, our slither of chance would come from the 3rd place in our group head to head, which would make us the 5th spot. If we win our head to head, the 5th spot battle would be against 5th place south american team. That's as far as we probably would go, south America would destroy us. Most likely teams like, columbia, Paraguay, etc...
From being in exile (National team not playing many games) and slipping down the FIFA World Rankings, I think its a great achievement that Lebanon are doing good in the qualifiers. At one stage I remember there was talk that Lebanon might find it difficult to beat minnow nation Bangladesh in the 2nd round of the World Cup qualifiers...