So, Iraqi clubs skip CL once more although there were text saying same criteria are used for both CL and AC. And what AFC does? Instead of passing their berth to next available league, Jordan, they give it to Qatar. LOL. What really bothers me, as follower and Asian football fan, is that seems like they really want to have same set of teams year after year in the western zone. If favorites win in playoff, 13 teams from 2017 season will play in 2018. And same number (12 in some cases) happens every year, basically. Really annoying. Also, there is only eight teams in fight for four spots in the West, they really could've make it home-away. West Playoff: Al-Ain - Malkiya Zob Ahan - Aizawl Al-Gharafa - Pakhtakor Nasaf Qarshi - Al-Faisaly I am, btw, shocked that Saudi league has only four licensed teams - two of those lost their licences so they will have only two teams representing the country (out of four possible).
The answer is because "one has 75 points the other 72". OK, as of 30th January, both teams will likely have 4 teams anyway.
It's in the ACL regulations. An unclaimed GS slot goes to the highest ranked MA that doesn't already have 3 GS slots. RE: Saudi Arabia. Yes, quite strange. Perhaps some Saudi users could shed some light on this issue. Japan were 2nd in the East Region, China 3rd. They'll switch for the next two ACL seasons.
Corrupted AFC again decided to not grant Iranian and Saudi team to have home matches despite Fifa and CAIS and even AFC members counsel meeting rulings. This is absolutely disgraceful. Head of AFC, Mr. Salman is in pocket of Saudi government. Please remove Salman and select someone from East Asia, Someone from Ausralia, Thailand or Malaysia perhaps.
http://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong...mer-world-cup-golden-ball-winner-diego-forlan Hong Kong champions Kitchee signed Uruguay striker Diego Forlan, who will spearhead their 2018 ACL campaign.
Ceres-Negros FC will face Brisbane Roar FC in the #ACL2018 Preliminary Stage 2 after defeating Shan United FC 4-3 on penalties in Myanmar. This was Ceres first game this year after winning the PFL championship last year after having had only 4 training sessions previous to this game.
I agree. The A League is a different level from the PFL plus Brisbane Roar is currently in midseason form and hosting the one off match, while Ceres just played its first game of the year after a long layoff.
It will end up with 4-5 goals in Ceres' net anyways. Just like last year, when Brisbane defeated Global 6-0. I am still angry with AFC as they keep on going with this horrible way of handling minnows. Muangthong - Johor should be fun game to watch next week and winner surely has a chance to defeat Kashiwa. I hope Johor makes it, the competition is desperate for new teams and countries.
Anybody know of a livestream for the Brisbane Roar-Ceres Negros match? I think Global could have kept it closer last year, but like this year Ceres will start with very little preparation after a long layoff. They even haven't started their season yet or even played a preseason match. With the situation reversed, a midseason form Global FC actually tied preseason form A league side Perth FC during a friendly in 2016. That being said obviously we are talking about leagues with different levels here. All things being equal Brisbane will always have the advantage over Ceres by virtue of being in a much better league. I just hope Ceres can make it competitive.
Brisbane Roar take on Filipino side Ceres-Negros FC in round two of qualifying for the AFC Champions League, at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Stadium on Tuesday night. The top-flight Philippine side are huge underdogs going into the match, but what do we know about Ceres and do they stand a chance? Founded in 2012, the Busmen’s history is short but sweet. They have never finished outside the top two in the league and comfortably won the title last season, defeating Global Cebu in the final series. Spaniard Bienvenido Maranon is their greatest threat, scoring 22 goals in Ceres’ title-winning 2017 season. However, Maranon isn’t the only Spaniard in the team. He is accompanied by former Real Betis goalkeeper Toni Dolbas – who crossed paths with John Aloisi in the 2005 Copa del Rey final. Despite Aloisi scoring the equaliser on the night, Dolbas’ Real Betis took home the trophy, defeating Osasuna 2-1. Ceres’ head coach Risto Vidakovic also has links to Spanish football. The well-travelled Serbian made over 100 appearances for Real Betis and spent time coaching in Honduras, before being appointed the Busmen's boss in 2016. Last week, Vidakovic’s side defeated Myanmar’s Shan United 4-3 on penalties, securing a second-round tie with Brisbane Roar. Reaching Tuesday’s tie in Queensland has been a hard-fought task for Ceres and they'll be met by a strong Brisbane eleven. “We have to make sure we play high tempo football,” revealed Aloisi. “We know that they’ve done a lot of travelling after going to Myanmar and then coming here. “We know that their season hasn’t really started, so we know they won’t be as fit as us.” Vidakovic is also well aware of the difference in fitness, but is relishing the opportunity. “They are middle of the season, we are in preseason," he said. "There’s a big difference in intensity but I hope we can compete with them. “We’ll compete at one-hundred percent. Anything can happen – football is full of surprises." Brisbane Roar v Ceres-Negros gets underway at 7:30 local time on Tuesday night in Brisbane. The winner will face Chinese outfit Tianjin Quanjian in the final round of qualifying. https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/who-are-ceres-negros-481569
http://venue.cityline.com/utsvInter...AFC Champion League 2018&actionType=5&lang=en Kitchee's ACL home match tickets are now available for sale on line.
Well Brisbane wasn't having a good year this year and we now have the early upset of the tournament. Ceres Negros defeats Brisbane 3-2 in Australia. Brisbane Roar embarrassed in 3-2 AFC Champions League playoff loss to Filipino club Ceres-Negros http://www.news.com.au/sport/footba...s/news-story/9300fc8528fda62802f9ee9ff8be485d
Congratulations to Ceres Negros FC for this historic victory as the first club to ever defeat a team from Australia at the professional level.
Brisbane Roar are slammed after players’ jersey numbers start to fall off during ACL upset loss https://www.foxsports.com.au/footba...k=7a97ae71ff837b7deaddf42148c678fc-1516710131 Doubly embarrassing for Brisbane. I have never seen this happen at this level of professional football before. https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/art...ide-acl?cx_navSource=related-side-cx#cxrecs_s JUST 66 minutes into the Roar’s Asian Champions League loss to Ceres-Negros, the sight of Ivan Franjic’s number peeling off was embarrassing. But when Eric Bautheac and Jamie Young’s jerseys were seen to be suffering a similar fate, it was simply humiliating. Or, as Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill said: “absolutely farcical.” In farcical scenes in Brisbane, the Roar copped a 3-2 loss to the Filipino side, with Bautheac hauled off the field for several minutes due to the state of his jersey. Things were at their lowest in a bizarre period of play midway through the second half that saw the Roar playing with just 10 men for more than five minutes when Bauteac's numbers fell off his shirt. Stuck shirtless on the sideline, the Frenchman was unable to return to the field until he had the No.22 reinstated to the back of his jersey. He tried wearing No.30, but was eventually allowed back on with a comically taped-up No.77 on show.
Nice fair comments from some of the Brisbane fans on social media. Ceres did not just come to Australia and park the bus. They came to play enterprising football. Ross Alistair Your use of the word ‘Team’ is inappropriate for the Roar. At best we are a misfit/unfit collection of mostly old prima dona has-beens. And the opposition were not ‘sub par’ in my opinion. Their energy teamwork and technical skill was much better than the Roar. My god, they are only just in their pre-season (remember Roar in pre season losing 5-1 against Victory - embarrassing). And they are playing away from home against a so called bigger club. Pretty impressive really and it was insulting for you to call them sub standard. Cathal Donnelly Hardly a sub par team. Very good team technically and outplayed roar for almost all of the game
Sweet, sweet Lord! Congrats to Ceres' fans, amazing feat. What happened to Johor, never saw this thrashing coming? Each team can register three foreign players and one foreign player from an AFC country. All of them can play at the same time.
Was wondering because I saw that Ceres had 4 Europeans on their roster, but seems like Nazari was incorrectly listed as Swedish when he should have be Iranian.
Nazari is half Filipino, half Iranian. He has a Filipino passport I believe and is considered a local in the PFL. He was born and grew up in Sweden but played for Iran in the West Asian Football Championships. He is therefore eligible to get passports from 3 different countries. Ceres's Asian player quota is filled up by Japanese player Takumi Uesato.