Didn’t see that coming (Mariners drawing level).
But back to 2-1 down with a great and somewhat lucky header.
And with that win Johor Bahru practically goes through to the next round of ACLE (they are on 11 points with a +10 GD to the team in 9th with 8 points).
So Malaysia will jump Australia in the table below once the +1.5 (3X 0.5) bonus points are awarded, even if they lose the final round and get no points in the Rd 16.
So really down to Australia and Vietnam (or Sydney FC and Nam Dinh) for the 6th place spot and retaining the ACLE entry for 26/27.
(Unless CCM put in a miracle performance against Kawasaki Frontale in their final ACLE game and actually earn some points)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat Nam Dinh 3-0 in the first leg, and I can’t see them giving that up in the 2nd leg.
Worst case however would be Hiroshima park the bus, and Nam Dinh scores a late goal (so get +2 points (3 X 2/3 X 1), and SFC don’t progress.
A win for SFC against Bangkok would give Australia +1.5 ((3 +1.5) X 2/3 X 0.5) plus the chance at more points in the Rd 16
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Thanks for nothing Central Coast 
Although it’s fair to say if Sydney was in their ACLE group they probably wouldn’t perform much better.
It’s not like SFC has done particularly well in our prior ACL appearances which all contribute to the points tally - two wins and 10 draws from 24 appearances across 2018,19,20 and 22). 2016 was our last decent performance where we got out of the group.
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I’ve also noticed the possibility of a particularly perverse situation.
If Nam Dinh takes the points against Hiroshima, but still lose on aggregate (so earn +2.0).
And we draw at FT (+0.333) but progress in ET or penalties (+0.5), then Vietnam would jump Australia despite not progressing, and we’d to score some points in the next round (likely against Jeonbuk) to keep Australia in 6th
Simply due to Nam Dinh being the only entrant from Vietnam, whereas our earnt points get halved.
Looking forward to A-League clubs only getting ACL 3 spots. Maybe we’ll beat a team from Nepal.
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Could be some cool away trips (Maldives etc)?
I have always wanted to play the Bank of Guam Strykers.
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Mariners play in thirty minutes away to Frontale. Could be ugly for the Aussies.
And Mariners down 1-0 at HT after a pretty clear penalty. Could have given up a couple more in the last ten too
Mariners are losing tonight in the AFC CLE, but this is the youngest starting lineup ever for CCM and they’re all Australian:
Imagine being the old man of the side at 25.
And playing like it too, hard to believe that’s the same Theoharous that destroyed teams off the bench 18 months ago.
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CCM managed to avoid last place because one of the Chinese clubs is considered to have withdrawn after no-show for their last game in Korea.
They were in with a shot of reaching the next round, so the reason isn’t 100% clear to me. Apparently the club announced:
“Due to serious physical discomfort of the players, after evaluation by the medical team, the players were unable to form a team to participate in #ACLElite against Ulsan HD. We deeply regret this and apologize to AFC, Ulsan HD & the fans.”
But there are reports that this is just cover for the real reason: political issues in the aftermath of Shandong fans holding up photos of Chun Doo-Hwan and Kim Jong-un during their last match against a Korean side.
Usually when a team withdraws, they declare all of their results void. But with the single mega group & teams not playing all others, that would leave some teams having played 7 games and others 8.
Shine on AFC, shine on 
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And in ACL2 Hiroshima do the right thing and beat Nam Dinh 4-0 in the 2nd fixture
So no matter what happens tonight Australia just stay up in ACLE for 2026/27
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Also seemingly promotes Johor to #3 and Buriam to #6 (at least according to Wikipedia declaring results void and before the last game) which would mean they play each other in the next round… so one of Malaysia or Thailand gets more points.
Interesting to see how AFC treats this.
Some more background on the ACLE withdrawal.
(Note this is from a generally anti-China source)
