Mariner v Mariner action!
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Can somebody explain the new Champions League âEliteâ format for me?
So the Mariners are in a group with 11 other clubs from the âEasternâ side of Asia, however only play 8 teams, in a random home-away structure?
How come they donât play all 11 other teams in the competition?
Presumably so that the elite draw can randomly provide favourable draws for the preferred teams.
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Basically so the countries with three teams in ACLE donât play teams from their own country.
And as a result of being drawn with South Korea, the Mariners donât face any SK teams in the league stage.
So while weâre all still digesting that abysmal performance from us last night, hereâs the results from around the grounds:
Group A:
Uzbekistan 1-0 North Korea
Iran 1-0 Kyrgyzstan
Qatar 1-3 United Arab Emirates
Group B:
South Korea 0-0 Palestine
Iraq 1-0 Oman
Jordan 1-1 Kuwait
Group C:
Japan 7-0 China
Saudi Arabia 1-1 Indonesia
So a few interesting results there. Japan is the only team really who comfortably beat their opponents. Saudi Arabia and Indonesia drawing is beneficial. South Korea only going 0-0 with Palestine, at home is interesting.
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I was thinking this last night. Its not that often we drop points at home to lesser football nations like Bahrain, and weâd have to wait and see how the night panned out. Bahrain will likely prove troublesome for Japan and Saudi Arabia, as well. They could well take a few points off one or both of them.
Always good to see Qatar get done.
Did i hear right that Bahrain hasnât scored against Australia for 18 years until last night?
They still havenât. It was an own goal.
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Their seats look like our trophies.
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On tonightâs display I reckon every A-League teams wins the K League 2 undefeated.
Itâs crazy that Suwon Bluewings went down into K League 2 and have struggled in the middle of the table this season.
Yeah I was looking at the table and saw a lot of former first division mainstays down there. Seongnam, Suwon, one or two others.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant are considered to have withdrawn from ACL Two after failure to report to Tabriz for Group A fixture against Tractor FC on October 2.
Just a few more teams doing that and itâs in the bag for us.
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Imagine the money we could have saved doing that in previous ACL campaigns.
To be fair, it seems they pulled out over safety concerns. It wasnât just a matter of not being bothered to rock up.
Could have sworn an Australian team (national maybe?) had safety concerns and were told to suck it the fuck up not too long ago.
The Aleague pulled out during the pandemic.
They probably werenât actively exchanging missiles with Israel at the time.
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