AFC Cup - Most popular for 2009
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The Final Score
TWITTER UPDATE
The "Twitter" box had been removed from this blog entry and you can trace whatever I "tweeted" on
the right of the page (under the "BoLASEPaKO" on twitter menu).
PICTURES OF THE DAY & THE SHORT TAKE of THE GAME
Banner boys getting ready
It was indeed a tame affair as compared to ACL, as the crowds were much lesser than expected.
It's been in the pipeline since June. Now, here we are in September, it is looking signed and
sealed. At least it will be by the middle of next week.
And it's more bad news for fans of the SLeague as another one of its big names moves to
Indonesia.
Singapore international Precious Emuejeraye, who presently plays for Woodlands Wellington, will be
swapping mid table oblivion and 1,500 crowds for Sriwijaya, possible AFC Cup football and 25,000
fans per home game.
Persisam are rapidly turning into the Manchester City of Indonesia. Flush with cash they are busy
linking themselves with anyone and everyone.
This story links them with Thai pair Datsakorn and Teerasil even quoting one club official as
suggesting paying Teerasil an unprecedented 500,000 USD a year.
Without doubt the highlight this weekend is the climax of the season in Malaysia with Kelantan
taking on Negeri Sembilan in the Malaysia Cup final at Bukit Jalil. Earlier in the season some
40,000 fans from the north east descended on the nation's capital to see their heroes take on
Selangor in the FA Cup Final only to go home broken hearted.
3rd Round
13 May: Leg 2 Persitara vs Persebaya
Quarter Finals
14 May: Sriwijaya FC vs Persibo
23 May: PSMS vs Persipura
30 May: Persitara vs Persijap (if Persitara beat Persebaya)
2 June: Persebaya vs Persijap (if Persebaya beat Persitara), Persija vs Deltras
13 June: Persipura vs PSMS, Persijap vs Persebaya/Persitara
14 June: Deltras vs Persija
15 June: Persibo vs Sriwijaya FC
Semi final
19 June: PSMS/Persipura vs Persija/Deltras
20 June: Persebaya/Persitara/Persijap vs Sriwijaya FC/Persibo
23 June: Persija/Deltras vs PSMS*/Persipura
24 June: Sriwijaya FC/Persibo vs Persebaya/Persitara/Persijap
Final
28 June: 3/4 Place Play Off/Copa Indonesia Final
* This is an example of the lack of forward thinking prevelant in Indonesian football.
Indonesia Super League
Persijap v Persija 1-1 (Ilham Hasan; Greg Nwokolo) 7,000
PSM v PKT 2-1 (Julio Lopez 2; Josiah Setton) 10,00
Pelita Jaya v Persik 2-2 (Cristian Lopes, Rudi Wibowo, James KOko Lomel; M Roby, Saktiawan Sinaga)
100
PSIS v Arema 1-1 (Nnengue; Rony Firmansyah) 1,030
Deltras v Persiba 2-0 (Sergio Junior, Firdaus Nyong) 3,559
Persita v Persela 1-2 (Adolfo Souza; Carlos Sclucatti, Zainal Arifin) 500
With the ISL wrapped up all eyes are now on the battle to avoid relegation and Firmansyah sure
broke a few hearts with his last minute equaliser for Arema in Semarang keeping the home side
bottom of the table.
So it goes down to the wire. Persib and Persiwa are neck and neck for second spot in the ISL with
Persib having the slightly better goal difference. Wednesday sees the final round of fixtures and
Persiwa are at home to PSMS as they seek to maintain their 100% home record. Sixteen games, 16
wins.
PSMS on the other hand need the points to crawl away from that dreaded relegation play off spot.
Got a call from my friend, Bryan Lim who saw the match where Home United were trounced 4-0 by Hong
Kong powerhouses - South China AA in the AFC Cup knock-out stage.
Here are some of the extracts from his posting filed from Hong Kong...
"I just came back from the game played @ the HK Stadium.
In a historic turn of events the Kuwaiti soccer club will be visiting Iraq for the first time
since the first Gulf War to play in the AFC Cup's quarterfinals. Iraq's Irbil club have been pinned
up against the Kuwait Sports Club in what looks like a battle to the finish. Iraq won the Aisia Cup
last season and have proven themselves the stronger contenders.
Obviously congratulations are in order to PSMS as they have successfully navigated their way
through the group stage of the AFC Cup but what does this say about the standard of football in
some of our neighbouring countries?
The Medan side ended the last domestic season runner's up to Sriwijaya but back then they boasted a
side brimming with quality.
VS
PREVIEW
Home United's fate in the AFC Cup will be determined by the outcome of this fixture after their
away defeat to Vietnamese club Binh Duong.
However, Mr PN Sivaji's men should take some comfort for the fact they had not lost their last two
games since that lost in Vietnam, but there's no room for complacency as the club jolly well know
that further participation in this continental tournament means a victory at all costs against this
Thai side.
Tonight sees PSMS play their final AFC Cup group stage match in Malaysia against Johor and you can
see where their priorities lie. With qualification and a game against Chonburi assured they have
decided to leave behind players like Markus Horison, Elie Aiboy and Zada. On the domestic front
they are still fighting against relegation.
Today sees PSMS take on champions Persipura in the Copa Indonesia at their own stadium in Medan.
With their side still active on three fronts, fighting relegation from the ISL, the Copa and the
AFC Cup, expect PSMS fans to see some changes as they juggle their commitments. Undoubtedly ISL
survival is priority but this is a rare chance to perform in front of their home support so PSMS
will be keen to put on a show.
Things have been quiet on the Semarang Dave front for a while. My one time PSIS correspondant used
to bombard me with text messages and e mails when his heroes were doing well but things have been
quiet of late.
Mathematically they're not down. They're guaranteed a bottom four finish which means they could end
up in a play off spot against the 4th best team from the IPL.
Singapore League Cup
Super Reds v Gombak United 1-0
Home United v Sengkang Punggol 3-1
SAF v DPMM 0-3
Tampines Rovers v Geylang United 3-0
With both Gombak United and SAF going down the point may be argued that they are concentrating on
the league itself while finally Tampines found some goals comfortably defeating Geylang in the
Eastern Derby.
It's been a while since PSMS players haven't lived out of a suitcase. Recent weeks have seen them
take on Sriwijaya somewhere in East Java then head east to Persipura then south to Persiwa.
Next they head north again to Jayapura where they take on newly crowned champions Persipura in
their Copa Indonesia quarter final 2nd leg which they trail 2-0.
(Picture) Coach Raddy (with cap) put his players through the pace.
Good thing was I managed to make it to the national team training session at Geylang Field after
work, when initially I thought some stupid accidents along the PIE would derail my plan to catch
the session.
(Picture) Fahrudin Mustafic doing some stretching on the sideline.
So to think, at the end of next week we'll be halfway through the season and then things will
really start to get interesting. But in this short season, have Canberra United already left their
run too late, despite notching up their first win in Round 4? And have the Mariners already secured
their spot in the finals thanks to a rampaging 5-1 win over Newcastle?
The Thai Port blog is reporting Thai Port, who recently ended a trophy drought of 16 years, are
interested in signing PEA defender Rangsan Vivatchaichok. Which is interesting because I understand
Indonesian side Persib may also be resurrecting their interest in the Thai international.
Persib will have to pull their finger out though as the final registration for players is tonight!
Pelita Jaya have announced the signing of Yuthajak Konjan. The former national team player will be
among familiar faces as he was part of the 2003 Thai SEA Games squad that also featured Kosin
Hatairatkul (Persib) and Phaitoon Thiabma (Persijap).
In the 2009 Thai Premier League the midfielder played for PEA and was a part of their AFC Cup run.
After qualifying for the knock out stage of the AFC Cup PSMS face a more mundane challenge as they
fight to keep their ISL status when they take on PKT at Gelora Sriwijaya in Palembang today. And
they go into the game after a mammoth 24 hour journey home from the Maldives where they defeated VB
2-1 to ensure qualification.
DPMM from Brunei are leading the SLeague. Both Phnom Penh Crown and Bangkok Glass have defeated
SLeague opposition in the Singapore Cup this season with TTM Samut Sakhorn having a go tomorrow.
Add DPMM and we could have four teams in the quarter finals from outside Singapore.
Oh and last December saw the national team get beaten by Vietnam in the AFF Cup semi final.
Kuala Muda v Perak 3-1 (Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli, Faderin Kadir, Anuar Jusoh; Sufi Saadi)
Selangor v Kedah 3-1 (Amri Yahyah, Rudie Ramli, Amirulhadi Zainal; Fauzi Shaari)
Negeri Sembilan v Penang 5-1
Johor v Pahang 4-0 (Saifuddin Riduan , Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan , Wan Rohaimi Wan Ismail, Nor Azlan
Roya )
Perlis v Terengganu 0-2 (Ashaari Samsudin, Abd Manaf Mamat)
KL Plus v Kelantan 2-0 (S.
I was watching Bafana Coach Joel Santana speaking at a press conference on Thursday after he had
announced his 23 man squad for next week's Fifa Confederations Cup and it was quite concerning
hearing what the coach had to say when questioned about South Africa's opening match opponents,
Iraq.
Persipura are champions of course and deservedly so. Some celebration is planned today at their
Mandala tadium in Jayapura when they host last season's champions Sriwijaya, coached by Rahmad
Darmawan who of course guided the Black Pearls to their 2005 title.
Second place is up for grabs with just goal difference seperating Persib and Persiwa.
KUALA LUMPUR: Newly crowned Malaysian Super League champions Selangor have declared their
determination to shine in next year's AFC Cup.
Team manager Zakaria Ab Rahim told the local media that Malaysia's most popular club would now
strive to make an impression in continental competitions.
"It's time to move forward and be counted in Asia," said Zakaria.
MSL in such a pathetic state it badly needs a revamp
ERIC SAMUEL
NO wonder the Super League is being labelled the Super Flop.
On May 23, only 11 fans paid to watch UPB-MyTeam FC play out a drab 0-0 draw with Police in a Super
League match.
This is the pathetic state of affairs of the Malaysian Super League (MSL), which will be going into
its seventh season next year.
With four games to play in the Thai Premier League things couldn't be tighter in an epic title race
between newly promoted Muang Thong United and Chonburi.
1 - Muang Thong 26 16 7 3 41-18 55
2 - Chonburi 26 16 6 4 44-26 54
Just one point between them and they go head to head at the Thunderdome this weekend.
The second season of the Westfield W-League will be different, no questions about that. But how and
why? And what will Westfield Matildas coach Tom Sermanni be looking out for?
Hear from the man himself, who told girlswithgame what he expects when the league kicks off this
weekend, including more impact from international players, some of the players to watch and that
the Number 1 goalkeeping role for the AFC Cup next year is wide open.
Christ...where to begin.
Sunday morning I was down the Thai Port shop checking out a couple of things. Even at the
relatively early time of 10 am there were people hanging around and buying things. They were due to
play PEA that same day but I had to be elsewhere.
Muang Thong Thani is pretty new I think.
" I once described Mani to a Lebanese newspaper as a virus! Once he got hold of you he was
impossible to shake off. I dont know if they understood but the opposition players soon did.
We then progresed through to the AFC cup semi final, an incredible acheivment for such a small club
captained by Mani.
Going into this weekend's Indonesia Super League games this is how the top of the table looks.
1 – Persiba 8 4 2 2 0 13-7 14
2 – Arema 6 4 2 0 6-1 14
3 – Persiwa 4 1 2 18-10 13
4 – Persela 5 4 1 0 5-1 13
The big match is undoubtedly 2nd against 3rd in Malang between Arema and Persiwa.
2010 AFC Cup draw - Preview
The draw for the 2010 AFC Cup takes place on Monday 7th December at AFC House, Kuala Lumpur,
starting at 3pm local time (7am UK time). Thai Port are in the East Asia part of the draw. 12 clubs
from the region will be drawn into 3 groups of 4 teams.
Teams 1-9 listed below, have qualified for the AFC Cup.
2010 AFC Cup draw
The draw for the 2010 AFC Cup group stage took place at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur this morning.
Thai Port were drawn in Group H with Tai Po from Hong Kong, Geylang from Singapore and one of the
losing teams from the ACL qualifying playoff. Presumably we can't be drawn against another Thai
team (Muangthong) or a team from Singapore (Geylang are already in the group), so that would leave
either Da Nang of Vietnam, or Sriwijaya of Indonesia.
Woofoo Tai Po F.C
Here is some video footage of one of our AFC Cup opponents, Woofoo Tai Po F.C from Hong Kong. Their
fans look like a friendly bunch, they even chant in English which is nice of them!
Hong Kong FA Cup victory
Glory Glory Glory Tai Po!
AFC Cup play-off idea dismissed
Dr Vichit Yamboonraung, the Chairman of the Thai Premier League, has dismissed an outrageous idea
to hold a play-off match between Thai Port FC (FA Cup winners) and Chonburi FC (TPL runners up), to
decide who gets the AFC Cup spot. Khun Vichit said, "This idea was presented at a meeting, but had
little chance happening because the qualification rules have already been set" - And they've
already done the draw!
Geylang know what to expect from Thai Port
In an interview with the Singapore League website, Geylang United manager Mike Wong said that
despite not seeing Thai Port in action, he knows what to expect from their AFC Cup, Group H
rivals.
"Looking at Thai Port, a Thai team will always be a Thai team in the way it will play fast
football.
Thai Port set to face S-League opposition
According to Siam Sport, Thai Port are set to host a 4 team tournament in early January
(5th-8th) at PAT Stadium. Along with Port, the participating teams are set to be: TTM Phichit &
Osotspa Saraburi from the TPL, and S-League side, Home United.
2 Thai & 2 Japanese players training with Port
With the AFC Cup player registration deadline on the horizon, Sasom Pobpraserd is busy checking out
new players to bolster the Thai Port squad.
As I reported earlier, Masahiro Fukasawa played for 40 minutes against Chonburi in last week's
pre-season friendly, but nothing has been confirmed since then.
