2020 AFC Champions League

Discussion in 'AFC: Tournaments' started by dinamo_zagreb, Jan 21, 2020.

  1. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    New edition of the elite Asian competition started last week with first qualifying round matches.

    Last I-League participation ended on first obstacle as Chennai City lost at home to Al Riffa. From next season ISL will represent India.

    Today we saw two upsets in second qualifying round - Istiqlol Dushanbe defeated Loko Toshkent away and Ceres Negros won at Thai Port.

    Iranian FA threatens to pull out their teams if AFC keeps on their plan to ban Iranian teams from hosting matches due to insecurity. Two matches (with Iranian teams) of second qualifying round were not played today: Esteghlal - Al Kuwait and Shahr Khodro - Al Riffa.

    Bunyodkor will host Al-Zawraa tomorrow.

    This is the last edition with 32 teams (in competition proper) as in 2021 comes 40-team tournament. Teams like Istiqlol and Ceres will qualify directly to group stages then, without need to win multiple away matches vs teams from richer/stronger leagues.

    [known] last qualifying round matchups (next week):
    WEST
    Al Ahli Jeddah - Istiqlol

    EAST
    Seoul - Kedah
    Shanghai SIPG - Buriram
    Tokyo - Ceres Negros
    Kashima Antlers - Melbourne Victory

    Group stage play starts on February 10.
     
  2. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Bunyodkor defeated Al-Zaawra 4-1. Iranian teams played their home matches in UAE and both won.

    Final qualifying round is now set.

    WEST
    Al Ain - Bunyodkor
    Al Ahli Jeddah - Istiqlol
    Al Sailiya - Shahr Khodro
    Al Rayyan - Esteghlal

    EAST
    Seoul - Kedah
    Shanghai SIPG - Buriram
    Tokyo - Ceres Negros
    Kashima Antlers - Melbourne Victory

    All matches are set for Tuesday. Shanghai - Buriram will be played without spectators due to corona virus outbreak.
     
  3. Fureeku

    Fureeku Member

    Feb 9, 2011
    Maldives
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Maldives
    That pitch in the Tokyo - Ceres Negros match was in no condition to play football. Really should have been postponed.
     
  4. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Melbourne Victory surprisingly defeated Kashima away and qualified. That means J-League team lost in the qualifying round for the first time ever and there will be a group without Japanese team for the first time since 2008 (two berths only + one for title holder) - Beijing, Chiangrai, Melbourne and Seoul.

    Istiqlol lost to Al Ahli in stoppage time. Both Iranian teams won in Qatar and qualified.
     
  5. Harper Pestinger

    Harper Pestinger New Member

    Arsenal, Melbourne Victory
    Australia
    Jan 30, 2020
    One of the best wins in Melbourne Victory history! First time winning away in Asia, coming off a flight delayed by six hours and with one of the worst squads we've ever had!
     
    dinamo_zagreb repped this.
  6. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Chinese teams' matches moved forward due to corona virus, they will start play from matchday 4 (April 7).
     
  7. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Champions League restarted today with matches in groups A and B. Whole Western zone is played in Qatar in net 10 days. Knockout stage follows immediately with West final being played on October 3.

    UAE team Al-Wahda failed to show up due to several players being positive on corona virus. They are excluded from competition with previous results anulled.

    Eastern zone matches will be played in second part of November.

    Final is scheduled for 19 December.
     
  8. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Group A
    Al-Ahli qualified for the knockout stage. On last day, Esteghlal looks for a win against them or Al-Shorta will qualify.

    Group B
    Al-Hilal qualified. Pakhtakor will face Shahr Khodro (already eliminated, failed to score a goal) and qualifies with win. Shabab Al-Ahlii needs to defeat Al-Hilal and Pakhtakor must not win to see Shahab qualifying.

    Groups C & D will see their 5th matchday played today.
     
  9. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Title holders Al-Hilal has been expelled as many of their players are covid positive and they could not provide 13 players for today's game.

    Now, we have two second round pairings:
    Al-Ahli (KSA) vs Shabab Al-Ahli (UAE)
    Pakhtakor (UZB) vs Esteghlal (IRI)
     
  10. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Al-Taawoun scored in 86th minute to defeat Al-Duhail and qualify over them for second round. A guy with a head bandage scoread a winning-header over a guy with a head bandage.

    They lost to Sharjah 0-6 on matchday 5, who lost to Persepolis 0-4 on last matchday and finished fourth in the group.

    West zone second round pairings are now set:
    1 Al-Ahli (KSA) vs Shabab Al-Ahli (UAE)
    2 Pakhtakor (UZB) vs Esteghlal (IRI)
    3 Persepolis (IRI) - Al-Sadd (QAT)
    4 Al-Nassr (KSA) - Al-TaAwoun (KSA)

    Quarterfinal
    winner 1 vs winner 3
    winner 2 vs winner 4
     
  11. 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
    Pakhtakor through to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009. Estaghal's goal was scored by none other than.... Ali Karimi.... but not THE Ali Karimi I see...
     
  12. Bluewings21

    Bluewings21 Member

    Suwon Samsung Bluewings
    Apr 26, 2018
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Knockout Stage for Eastern Bracket:
    - Yokohama Marinos vs. Suwon Samsung Bluewings
    - Beijing Guoan vs. FC Tokyo
    - Vissel Kobe vs. SIPG FC
    - Ulsan Hyundai vs. Melbourne Victory
     
  13. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Beijing and Ulsan progress to quarterfinal.

    Disastrous year for Guangzhou Evergrande. Lost Chinese title, lost Chinese Cup being thumped by second-league team (they played their other team as first team was in Qatar for CL tournament), now failed to qualify from Champions League group. They are having first trophy-less season after 10 years (one second league title, eight first league titles, two cups, four supercups, two Champions leagues).
     
  14. dinamo_zagreb

    dinamo_zagreb Member+

    Jun 27, 2010
    San Jose, CA / Zagreb, Croatia
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    Ulsan wins it all, 2-1 against Persepolis in today's final. They will represent the continent at the Club World Cup in February, also to be played in Qatar.

    This is their second title (first in 2012) while Persepolis suffered second defeat in their second final (first in 2018).

     

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