If you look the right way, you will realize the bigger picture. Let's say during the past decade. Semi Finalist Saudi (five times), UAE (twice), Qatar (twice), Uzbekistan (twice), Iran (once) Finalists Qatar (winners), Saudi (three times), Iran (twice), UAE (twice) All of these 5 countries are ACL contenders of the Western Regions.
Then what's the point of having more teams if they are not going to be competitive? I was looking through the teams that Victory and Sydney started last season, they fielded pretty strong teams which explain why they did ok. This season you have Western Sydney starting outcasts like Borda and Hamill in defence in both home and away games. They are not even good enough for A-league standards.
Sorry, I just don't see it. If you compare entire leagues then maybe you have a point. But the 3-4 teams in the ACL? Very even and the West is wide open between those four leagues right now. When I moved to Dubai at the end of 2004 there was a noticeable gap between Saudi/Iran and the UAE/Qatar. That gap has all but disappeared. Even the occasional Uzbek team mixes things up. It all changed when the UAE decided to fully professionalize its league and I believe Qatar had a similar initiative. Keep in mind that Qatar is the only Western league to have won the ACL in over a decade. Now let's look at "Western finals" since the full geographic split happened in 2014. 2014 / Al Hilal (KSA) - Al Ain (UAE) 2015 / Al Hilal (KSA) - Al Ahli (UAE) 2016 / Al Ain (UAE) - El Jaish (Qatar) No Irani club in there...
Asian clubs performance after two rounds of group stage matches Iranian clubs: 4 clubs, 4 W, 2 D, 2 L, 12 GF, 8 GA, 14 P Saudi clubs: 4 clubs, 4 W, 2 D, 2 L, 10 GF, 9 GA, 14 P Qatari clubs: 2 clubs, 2 W, 1 D, 1 L, 8 GF, 5 GA, 7 P Emirati clubs: 4 clubs, 2 W, 1 D, 5 L, 9 GF, 15 GA, 7 P Uzbek clubs: 2 clubs, 1 W, 0 D, 3 L, 4 GF, 6 GA, 3 P Chinese clubs: 3 clubs, 5 W, 1 D, 0 L, 18 GF, 4 GA, 16 P Japanese clubs: 4 clubs, 4 W, 2 D, 2 L, 18 GF, 10 GA, 14 P Korean clubs: 4 clubs, 2 W, 2 D, 4 L, 15 GF, 13 GA, 8 P Thai clubs: 1 club, 1 W, 1 D, 0 L, 2 GF, 1 GA, 4 P HongKong clubs: 1 club, 0 W, 1 D, 1 L, 1 GF, 8 GA, 1 P Aussie clubs: 3 clubs, 0 W, 1 D, 5 L, 2 GF, 20 GA, 1 P Overall gained points ratio per country Chinese (16/18) 88.9% Thais (4/6) 66.7% Iranians (14/24) 58.3% Saudis (14/24) 58.3% Japanese (14/24) 58.3% Qataris (7/12) 58.3% Koreans (8/24) 33.3% Emiratis (7/24) 29.2% Uzbeks (3/12) 25% HongKongs (1/6) 16.7% Aussies (1/18) 5.5% Top 3 overall scoring goal ratio Overall Chinese clubs scored 3 goals per match Overall Japanese clubs scored 2.25 goals per match Overall Qatari clubs scored 2 goals per match Top 3 overall least scoring goal ratio Overall Australian clubs scored 0.33 goals per match Overall Hongkong club scored 0.5 goals per match Overall Uzbek/Thai clubs scored 1 goals per match Top 3 overall least conceding goal ratio Overall Chinese clubs conceded 0.5 goal per match Overall Thai clubs conceded 0.5 goal per match Overall Iranian clubs conceded 1 goal per match Top 3 overall most conceding goal ratio Overall Hongkong club conceded 4 goals per match Overall Australian clubs conceded 3.3 goals per match Overall Emirati clubs conceded 1.87 goals per match Best defense: Esteghlal Khuzestan (Iran) with 0 conceded goal Worst defense: Western Sydney Wanderers (Australia) with 9 conceded goals Best offense: Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) and Guangzhou Evergrande (China) with 9 goals Worst offense: Brisbane Roar (Australia) and Al-Jazira (UAE) with 0 goal Overall Chinese clubs have shown the best results and Australian clubs failed miserably.
Eastern 1:1 Kawasaki Frontale I dislike Eastern but I am glad they got their first goal and first point in the ACL for Hong Kong. We need the results to keep our ACL allocation for next season.
Some insight behind horrendous Australian results so far. Robbie Slater’s warning to FFA: ‘There is a revolt on its way’ A REVOLT against Football Federation Australia is on its way because they have lost their way and are not listening to the people they need to, according to Fox Sports football expert Robbie Slater. Slater believes the FFA are mostly concerned with protecting themselves, and that’s contributed to “horrendous” Asian Champions League results. Slater cited the scheduling of fixtures as one example that’s made Australia “the embarrassment of Asian football at the moment”. Brisbane Roar played their ninth match in 28 days against Ulsan, which resulted in a 6-0 Asian Champions League loss, while Western Sydney Wanderers played their eighth match since January 22 and were thumped 5-1 by Shanghai SIPG. “What is going on is not acceptable. It’s been going on for quite a long time,” Slater told Bill & Bozz. ‘DEPRESSING, MIND-BOGGLING’: ACL rout torn apart THE CONTRADICTION KILLING OUR GLOBAL AMBITION Western Sydney Wanderers' midfielder Mitch Nichols. Western Sydney Wanderers' midfielder Mitch Nichols.Source: AFP “Two weeks before they [the Wanderers] play an ACL game, they go to Perth, get beat in Perth, and then they have to travel to China. “Brisbane travelled back [from China] a couple weeks ago. They caught a plane on a Thursday night — an overnight flight in economy — landed on Friday and had to play on a Saturday. “That is not acceptable. It’s not safe for the players to play in those conditions. “Then you get to the point where Brisbane’s squad is stretched so thin that they’re playing young players who have potential but shouldn’t be playing at this level at the moment. “We’re embarrassing. There’s no doubt about this. “There is a revolt on its way. There is a revolution coming in this game.” Slater also noted that “shameful” harm had been done to Australia’s youth system, and it’s impacting the Socceroos. “We don’t qualify for youth cups anymore, we don’t qualify for the Olympics anymore,” he said. “They were feeder teams to the national team. “The curriculum, the way we’ve coached our young players; we’ve taught them it’s OK not to win. That is completely wrong. “Individual players are no good, we produce robots.” He added: “There’s one thing that can help our players and that’s expansion.” It follows on from Ange Postecoglou’s comments that individual Socceroos are lacking ambition, which he said will impact his selection for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Iraq and UAE. While Slater believes Australia will qualify for the World Cup, he noted that Postecolgou speaking about these topics sets off “alarm bells.” He also said that Australia over-achieved with the players they had at the 2015 Asian Cup, but now the Socceroos simply don’t have players good enough to play at the levels of those from the ‘Golden Generation’. The Fox Football Podcast gang are back as Adam Peacock, Simon Hill and Daniel Garb run the rule over the game’s big issues. http://www.foxsports.com.au/footbal...y/news-story/09c58a9281919bc74342997bf5d172d5 http://forum.insidesport.com.au/2493398/Robbie-Slaters-warning-to-FFA-There-is-a-revolt-on-its-way
To be fair, until the AFC at least bothers to make the qualifying games two-legged affairs, it doesn't really matter a huge deal how many Hong Kong or Thai teams are there.
Either AFC should expand the ACL to be more inclusive than just give the "fringe" countries less than half a chance to get in, or make the pre-qualifiers a two legged affair. It is not fair that the "fringe" countries have to play away. Alternatively, make it a small tournament for 3 clubs. For example, Hanoi T&T, Kitchee and Ulsan Hyundai can play each other once with one of the clubs as hosts, then the best club progress. It will only involve 3 matches and can be done in a week or so.
Of course, that's what we've been talking for ages here. It's a shame that AFC goes that way - this way they give everyone chance, but assure themselves of minnows qualifying. Although, Kitchee took Ulsan to penalties. I'd change format to: MAs 1-2 3 direct slots + 1 preliminary slot MAs 3-4 2+1 10 direct slots, 4 preliminary slots - played between themselves 12 slots (out of 16) for top nations, more than enough. MAs 5-6 1+1 MAs 7-12 0+1 2 direct slots, 8 preliminary slots - played between themselves 4 slots for mid-level nations, enough considering their quality (which in current setup can't progress). Each of eliminated teams (8) would continue their campaing in AFC Cup.
Eastern Longlions 0:1 Suwon Bluewings It is slightly disappointing but I hate Eastern Longlions so it is okay.
Pretty disappointed today. We lost a match that could be a rather smooth victory, because of our stubborn coach playing a garbage LB, Rabihkhah, despite the fan grilling him in last 10 matches. He didn't allow our RB national team player to accompany the team for some personal feud with him. Two out of three goals we conceded today was because of our LB not doing his job. Our coach brought our main LB, Ansari after we conceded 3 goals already in last 5 minutes replacing our creative CM! Defensively, Branko has nothing to offer but his offensive tactics are entertaining if Taremi does not play as forward. I wish we had kept our last year players to show traditional attacking style of Iranian football. We lost two great CBs Maric and Umania and replaced them with 35 year old NT veteran and using our best LB Ansari as CB. We changed our LB and RB who were key players in our offensive plans last year with a more defensive minded player Mahini as RB and a total trash called Rabihkhah as our LB. We lost our excellent DMF Nourollahi and replaced him with none! Lost a great and fast LW/SS player who was full of energy, Omid Alisha, to replace him with another LW/SS who is careless in passing and finishing, Vahid Amiri. We kept a wasteful striker who is a great player in creating opportunities but a horrible forward losing countless easy goal opportunities while scoring few hard goals in scale of 6-1. (6 lost easy goals vs 1 complicated goal). The only added plus side to our team since last season are a good goal keeper Beiranvand, who has turned to average after breaking his hand in half season and a great creative CM, Soroush Rafiei. Defensively we have regressed, but our offense has remained relatively good but with less accurate finishing touches.
Iranian teams win-draw-loss after 3 rounds for 4 teams is 6-3-3 (21/36) => Same %58.3 overall ratio but Persepolis loss despite playing well has a bitter taste. We see Qatari and Emiratis in Azadi and our team is better to show his real power while winning with ease.
Australia and Asia are much bigger than your typical European country and Euro league wide tournaments.
Here I go again repeating myself! Same ole problem with no visible solution from our coach. Earlier this week our coach expelled our best RB and one of our most in form national team player for his previous feud and non resolved matters. Persepolis played vs Al Rayan in Azadi. Our coach listened to us and didn't play our garbage LB, Rabihkhah, that was the only relief we got. No Rabihkhah means no wide open left back position and no horrendous back passing. The team kept pushing and pushing and Al Rayan were defending most of the match. Same usual story of our forwards being careless and losing opportunities one after another. We got a PK which our wasteful striker, Taremi, decided to score with a chip kick! It wasn't even on target, went out and all the fan were upset. The match continued until almost the end with same story of Persepolis keep attacking and Al Rayan keep defending with 8 -10 players. Finally Al Rayan defender committed another obvious penalty which was totally ignored by the Japanese referee Mr. Sato. (This penalty was so obvious that it could be a class case for referees in training courses. Even a fan could recognize this but not Mr. Sato!). In last five minutes, our coach decided we didn't want to score any more goal so he took out our CMF play maker and brought the famous garbage LB, Mr. Rabikhah (his closet lover). There, Qataris saw the gap in our LB position and had two perfect opportunities to score goal. Soria was in 1vs1 position with our goal keeper but luckily hit one right into our goal keeper's hand and the other one to the post! The Qatari goal keeper pulled a Manuel Neuer today and was great for Al Rayan. He simply saved his team in at least 5-6 occasions single-handedly. Finally the match ended 0-0 and with it our hope to advance to the next round almost faded away. Another chance for an Iranian strong team to grab ACL title got away with bad team management and wrong subs. If we could keep Maric and Omid Alisha, our team could have a better chance and not fail in defense and offense respectively. This team has declined immensely compared to last season PGPL and the only reason we are on top of PGPL this season is that we had a good start in first half of the season and some of our previous players were still in our team. Now we are missing 3 good players whom two were key to our success in last year.
Huge win by Muangthong today. 1-0 against Ulsan. Next matchday they host Brisbane and win takes them to the second round (or draw if Ulsan fail to beat Kashima). They are one of eight undefeated sides in the competition. Interesting fact: Kawasaki Frontale are the only side with all four draws - their first loss will see them eliminated (as they play Suwon who are four points in front while Guangzhou plays Eastern). Jiangsu secured second round yesterday (first team to do so), Urawa and Shanghai are 99% in.
CSL teams looking great and it seems Japanese clubs would replace Korean teams with the end of the competition this year, it's absolutely disgraceful by the Australian teams and the A-League should be embarrassed to have such performances. Muangthong United who are the surprise package this season.