Seemingly provisionally approved but needs new lighting and temporary stands.
It’s got a smaller capacity than the ground we played at.
Seemingly provisionally approved but needs new lighting and temporary stands.
It’s got a smaller capacity than the ground we played at.
Vintage AFC.
Jalan Besar being approved for the rest of the comp but not the finals translates to “we never thought you’d make it this far”.
So the other team refuses to play at JB stadium, I’m guessing as it’s got synthetic pitch. We should have tried that
We don’t have the clout in the AFC that the Saudis do. That’s what this comes down to.
So I had no idea the ACLE went into tournament mode from the QF’s onwards. More stupidity from the boffins at AFC HQ, totally undermines their “elite” club competition.
Single legs only with every game in Jeddah. 3/4 quarters yesterday, all won by Saudi sides, the final QF match today is Kawasaki Frontale vs Al Sadd from Qatar. Semi’s are then midweek with the final on Saturday.
How JB “stadium” gets approved to ACL standards I dont know. I suspect some palms greased. I think its a psychological ploy to make the visiting team feel like they’re not playing a serious match because of the training ground feeling.
CRonaldo currently munching balls, Kawasaki have done the football gods work knocking out the Qatari’s and now Al Nassr.
ACLE final will be Sat night / Sun morning our time, Kawasaki vs Al Ahli (featuring future SFC marquee Bobby Firmino, Riyad Mahrez and Ivan Toney). ‘mon Frontale!
Narrator: Frontale did not, in fact, c’mon
Bugger. Did not watch and neglected to check the score this morning, but hey, two assists for Bobby is still kinda a win.
Lion City Sailors say that the ACL2 final is a sell out.
Even though it’s only 10k, still not bad.
I didn’t realise that Bishan Stadium’s original capacity was a paltry 2.8k, and they’re having to hastily build not one, not two, but three additional stands to get to the required 10k capacity (plus a bunch of other upgrades to media facilities, lighting, pitch etc.)
Anyway, glad they got to keep their home final (even if it’s not actually their home ground), and 10k should make for some good atmosphere.
C’mon Sailors.
Bishan Stadium is actually their normal home ground, they were just using JBS for the ACL games this season.
Presume they are using temp stands from the Singapore F1 GP, which will be reused in October.
Reminder: Final is 10pm tonight for anyone still interested in this shit competition.
0-0 at half time. Pretty dire game. Sharjah probably best of chances, but hot and wet, and Lion City sitting back like they did against us at home.
Still can’t believe we aren’t hosting this
Anyhow into F1 for me.
This has been a tough watch.
Sharjah has spent half their time either rolling around on the ground (no surprise there), or offside.
Ramsellar with the best chance just now and puts it over the bar.
Sharjah have been putting in loads of through balls/long balls and LCS have been pretty good at cutting them out, so even if we hadn’t let this chance slip through our fingers, I’m not sure our defence would have been as effective at preventing shots on on goal.
Edit: and right on cue, Sharjah get their goal
Sailors equalise in 1st of 11 minutes stoppage time
Edit: and Sharjah answer in the 6th minute. 2-1 to UAE with 5 to go.
And 2-1 it’s it…
13 lap sprint in f1
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has officially announced that starting August 2025, matches on artificial turf will be banned in most competitions.
This ban applies to:
Final Round of AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers
AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers
FIFA World Cup Qualifiers (from Round 2 onward)
Women’s Olympic Qualifiers
AFC Champions League Elite
AFC Champions League Two
AFC Women’s Champions League
Was sure to come after the Sailors situation and chatter.
Good call tbh.