Poor old Harry.
Didnt watch but it must have been a weird game. Old mate sent off in the 10th minute of first half stoppage time…
Not a great couple of months for Kewell, F. Marinos are winless in 6 in J.League now, and currently in 14th place.
On track then.
It’s time to swallow your pride Harry, take an A-League job.
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His wiki for coaching gigs is a crazy read
" On 31 August 2018, Kewell was appointed manager of fellow League Two club Notts County … becoming the club’s fifteenth permanent manager in 10 years, with the club sitting bottom of League Two"
" On 1 August 2020, Kewell was appointed as manager of Oldham Athletic…He became their fifth manager in the last 12 months."
“On 10 June 2021, Kewell was appointed the new head coach of Barnet in the National League, becoming the club’s 26th manager in 10 seasons”
Bar that good 10 wins in 14 at Crawley he’s never really had any good spells as a manager. Least Muscat had success before he was appointed. Guess Ange recommended him because I cant see how else they went for him
His post game rant, I’d imagine, won’t go down well in japan.
“My players were fantastic. It’s just a shame that we got robbed tonight by a bad referee,” said the 45-year-old.
“I thought the refereeing decisions were shocking, they were terrible. They were playing the game and he fell for it. But congratulations.”
Add this to when he accused the referee of cheating during a match, he’s not making many friends.
So as the 23/24 season draws to an end… we look forward to 24/25
AFC shifts to three tournaments next season, with two Australian teams participating
ACLE - Central Coast Mariners
ACL2 - Sydney FC
AFC Challenge - No Aus entries (and probably never any)
ACLE
ACLE is essentially the old ACL but with only 24 team (down from 40) and a very different format. Two groups of 12 (East and West) and each team play eight randomly drawn games. Top 8 from each group go into an East - West Round of 16. Round of 16 is home and away, all other finals single games.
ACL2
Somewhere in between the old Cup and ACL, more like the Europa league, in that the top ranked countries also get one entry. 32 teams in eight groups of 4 playing home and away. Top two from each group go into an East -West round of 16. Home and away finals, other than the one-shot final game.
AFC CL
Kind of a downgraded Cup, only entries from outside the top 10 in each zone (so highest ranked countries are Kuwait and North Korea). Similar to the AFC Presidents Cup which ran 2005-2014.
20 teams qualify after playoffs. 5 groups of 4 with only single games, then straight to quarters
ACLE teams - East region
Just focussing on the East region, almost all of Mariners opponents are set.
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Vissel Kobe - 2023 J1 League champions
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Kawasaki Frontale - 2023 Emperor’s Cup winners
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Yokohama F. Marinos -2023 J1 League runners-uo
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Ulsan HD - 2023 K League 1 champions
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Pohang Steelers - 2023 Korean FA Cup winners & 2023 K-League 1 runners-up
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Gwangju - 2023 K League 1 third place
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Shanghai Port - 2023 Chinese Super League champions
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Shanghai Shenhua - 2023 Chinese FA Cup winners
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Buriram United - 2023–24 Thai League 1 champions
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Central Coast Mariners -2023–24 A-League Men premiers &
2023–24 AFC Cup winners -
Johor Darul Ta’zim- 2023 Malaysia Super League champions & 2023 Malaysia FA Cup winners
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Qualifier - Either of
Shandong Taishan - 2023 Chinese Super League runners-up; or
Thailand 2023–24 Thai FA Cup - either Bangkok United (T1) or Dragon Pathumwan Kanchanaburi (T2)
ACL2 Teams - East region
Just focussing on the East region, most of Sydney FC opponents are set. Assuming the pots will be seeded so we will likely only get one team from the top 4 countries in each of the 4 East Zone groups (my guess at seeding)
- Sanfrecce Hiroshima - 2023 J1 League third place
- Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors - 2023 K League 1 fourth place
- Zhejiang - 2023 Chinese Super League third place
- Bangkok United - 2023–24 Thai League 1 runners-up (possibly replaced by 3rd placed Port if they qualify for ACLE or ACL2 via Cup)
- Sydney FC - 2023 Australia Cup winners
- TBD - 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite qualifying round losers (possibly Shandong Taishan, Bangkok United or Dragon Pathumwan Kanchanaburi)
- Selangor -2023 Malaysia Super League runners-up
- TBD - 2023–24 Vietnam V.League 1 champions
- Hong Kong Lee Man -2023–24 Hong Kong Premier League champions
- TBD - 2024 Philippines Football League champions
- Lion City Sailors - 2023 Singapore Premier League runners-up & 2023 Singapore Cup winners
Qualifying play-off participants (seemingly five of six will qualify)
- TBD - 2023–24 Vietnamese Cup winners
- TBD - 2023–24 Hong Kong FA Cup winners
- Kaya–Iloilo - 2023 Copa Paulino Alcantara winners
- Tampines Rovers - 2023 Singapore Premier League second-best placed local team
- TBD - 2023–24 DPR Korea Premier Football League champions
- Indonesia - 2023–24 Liga 1 champions
All entries will be clear in the next month or so, and full draws on 16 Aug 2024.
Sources… the great folks of Wikipedia.
Could we have an away game in Pyongyang?
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So sounds a bit better than I thought, we might get some interesting opponents for a change
Are they really randomly drawn or are they following the Swiss system that UEFA are switching to?
Not totally clear at this point… but the UEFA proposed system appears to at least initially be randomly drawn, not seeded (like a normal Swiss system)
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Why? Be a fucking miserable trip.
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Japan, Singapore or Hong Kong away, I’m keen for one of those.
My only ever ACL away trip was Kashima Antlers in 2011, which obviously didn’t happen.
I’ll be in Korea and Japan over September/October anyway so hopefully we get one of those in the group. I would prefer a Hong Kong or Singapore trip though.
Singapore away would be perfect, tie it in to business and see what corporate options are on offer
I remember a few years back the Socceroos or maybe the Olyroos had to play in North Korea. There was snow and soldiers lining playing surface.
Why anybody wants to go to North Korea I have no idea.
It has been my dream for more than 15 years to see Sydney FC vs Sanfrecce Hiroshima, my two favourite teams in world football, playing each other.
If that happens, it would be pretty epic.
Sounds good in theory until you have to pick a side!
I’ll do away bay at each ground.