Looks like Beleza is pretty much resting in this game. One more goal in 2nd half should be enough... unless ISPE will tire and the bag will open.
Beleza seem determined to dribble the ball into the net Edit..does goal difference matter in this competition
Kudos for Myanmar players as they really worked hard for this result. Now, if Suwon beats Naegohyang later on then Beleza needs to beat Suwon in last match in order to top the group while the draw is enough for Suwon to do the same. Tbh if Beleza can't beat Suwon then they have no buissness to look for the final.
So far, I'm not overly confident that Kusunose has learned his lesson from the previous edition. He had an opportunity in this match to practice scoring goals against an opponent playing a very low block... and he didn't take advantage of it. When, at some stage of the competition, he again faces a team sitting deep and playing counter-attacking football but with players who are much better athletically, he will have problems again.
Wow, I missed a match with Rumi Utsugi and Azusa Iwashimizu on the pitch! 2011 vibes! I anyway have to wonder how seriously Beleza are taking this cup: they were supposed to shore up their goal difference in this match. On the other hand, maybe the lesson from last season was that winning the group is not necesserily an advantage: didn't the eventual champions of Wuhan Jungda qualify as a third-place team, thus completely warping the quarter-finals?
ISPE 0 - 1 Tokyo Verdy Naegohyang 2 - 0 Suwon Tokyo Verdy ------ 2m ----- 6p ----- 5-0 Naegohyang ----- 2m ----- 3p ----- 3-4 Suwon ------------- 2m ----- 3p ----- 5-3 ISPE --------------- 2m ----- 0p ----- 0-6 It looks like tiebreaker between teams its H2H first and then GD if equal on points.* Group winners and best ranked runner-up are seeded in quarterfinal. @Manchester Nadeshiko I am sorry, my friend, but I may have misled you earlier. The tiebreak rules differ on the official AFC website and on Wikipedia, or rather the table on Wikipedia is wrong as rules clearly state H2H first.
Well, after watching Beleza's match vs them, I wasn't expecting the North Koreans of Naegohyang to be able to beat their souther cousins of Suwon. Now, a draw vs Suwon would be enough to qualify as the winners of the group (but a loss with any score would put us behind them, if head-to-head is indeed the tie-braker). Of course, since the other groups haven't even started, we don't get to know in advance if being first-placed won't actually turn into a trap like it did last season.
Oh, right, they would all be at 6 points, and each would have won the head-to-head vs one of the opponents, so the goal difference would get back into consideration!
I think the problem Suwon have is they play a summer league. They were champions in 2024, crowned 12 months ago. This year they finished 7th of 8 teams. So the team playing at this competition could be drastically different to the team that won their league. Just a guess though