Asian Football Confederation Competitions

[Bannon]

very anti climactic, now to go into the league with the same hope of maybe winning it.

[Mr MO]

We are still in it with a minor chance. 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Mr MO

[haz]

Can we leave Glover in Thailand? Ultimately he has cost us a place in the next round. 

Dump him before he has a brain fart and hands WU the plate. 

[kingofhearts]

Well what a waste of time those two weeks were

[neio]

I'm sorry but the way it's decided who gets through from the 2nd spots is stupid. How we have more points than 6 other teams, and equal with a 7th but with better goal difference and not get through is just wrong. 

I agree we shouldn't have been in this situation and we should have been top, but I don't know how much of a failed campaign it is when we literally qualify through with ease in every other group stage tournament around the world. 

I'm just really puzzled and don't know how to feel 

[bt50]

Definitely aren't out on a technicality, the rules were in place before the tournament started.

Can certainly argue the 4th place points not counting isn't fair, given we were technically the 3rd ranked 2nd place side across both east and west combined across any sort of normal system, but ultimately it is what it is and we needed to do better. We were 100% ridiculously unlucky with how the other results conspired against us. Aloisi would be proud of that set of circumstances for sure.

Ultimately i think we did well overall as a team given the injuries we had and 6 games in 18 days, but its hard not to look at the little things like man management and Glover's indiscretions as being key reason we fell agonizingly short.

[jw1739]

38 minutes ago, bt50 said:

Definitely aren't out on a technicality, the rules were in place before the tournament started.

Can certainly argue the 4th place points not counting isn't fair, given we were technically the 3rd ranked 2nd place side across both east and west combined across any sort of normal system, but ultimately it is what it is and we needed to do better. We were 100% ridiculously unlucky with how the other results conspired against us. Aloisi would be proud of that set of circumstances for sure.

Ultimately i think we did well overall as a team given the injuries we had and 6 games in 18 days, but its hard not to look at the little things like man management and Glover's indiscretions as being key reason we fell agonizingly short.

We have to grin and bear it.

The rules were in place too, for the A-League. They were applied to Sydney, and we benefited from that with an extra goal, and had we lost to Sydney we would have had that result reversed and gained three points. So rules can cut both ways. Tough in our first ACF campaign, but as a club we must learn from the mistakes we made - and we did make them - and make sure we are Premiers again and back in there next time around.

[MHFC-FAN]

Well that was such a Melbourne Heart/City way to miss out on the round of 16...

[belaguttman]

To put it in perspective we didn't play our first choice midfield 3 at all, Metcalfe only played 1 game, Leckie only 1 game

[jw1739]

24 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

To put it in perspective we didn't play our first choice midfield 3 at all, Metcalfe only played 1 game, Leckie only 1 game

Metcalfe we couldn't help - it was COVID. Leckie has been injured for weeks. Possibly a mistake to take him in the first place. This where the failure to play other midfielders during the season comes back to bite us.

[Torn Asunder]

Glover's miss has cost us in all reality 😵

[Mr MO]

2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Metcalfe we couldn't help - it was COVID. Leckie has been injured for weeks. Possibly a mistake to take him in the first place. This where the failure to play other midfielders during the season comes back to bite us.

Leckie was fit again and even played in the league before going out to Thailand. it was PK who re-injured him, he put Leckie in midfield late in the game after clearly being exhausted playing on the wing in the heat. All this with with 1 visa and 1 designated player on the bench, both midfielders.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Mr MO

[belaguttman]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Metcalfe we couldn't help - it was COVID. Leckie has been injured for weeks. Possibly a mistake to take him in the first place. This where the failure to play other midfielders during the season comes back to bite us.

Metcalfe was bad timing, as were O'Neill and Florian's injuries but it meant that we had quite a weakened midfield and we could see how that starved JMac of opportunities and space. It was a mixture of bad luck, bad recruitment (Pucciarelli) and poor squad management

[jw1739]

2 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Metcalfe was bad timing, as were O'Neill and Florian's injuries but it meant that we had quite a weakened midfield and we could see how that starved JMac of opportunities and space. It was a mixture of bad luck, bad recruitment (Pucciarelli) and poor squad management

OK. But other midfielders in the squad are Lesiotis and Oresti - I don't think we took either did we? - and Endoh had had hardly any minutes in the A-League. We really were asking for trouble the way PK has managed the squad this season. I just don't believe that Pucci can be as bad as his non-selection suggests - if he is, then why take him along at all?

[Jovan]

So we basically missed out by 2 goals. Or am I missing something 

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, Jovan said:

So we basically missed out by 2 goals. Or am I missing something 

I think three, then we would have topped the Group. Once we came second, if Kitchee had lost last night we would have qualified as the third "six best of the rest" but once they gained a point they finished on 7 points in their Group of 3 whereas we finished on 6 after losing the 6 points we gained against United City in a group of 4.

We blew it when we conceded a goal in injury time against Jeonnam. We came within two injury time goals of qualifying. Heartesqe. It has dogged us for 11 seasons now. It's almost unbelievable really - I know my guts tighten in those last minutes every time we play - even a two-goal lead isn't enough. In the Heart days I used to say that you couldn't be sure Heart had won until you were back on Richmond station and they actually had.

More than anything we need a manager who can exorcise that demon.

[fensaddler]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

I think three, then we would have topped the Group. Once we came second, if Kitchee had lost last night we would have qualified as the third "six best of the rest" but once they gained a point they finished on 7 points in their Group of 3 whereas we finished on 6 after losing the 6 points we gained against United City in a group of 4.

We blew it when we conceded a goal in injury time against Jeonnam. We came within two injury time goals of qualifying. Heartesqe. It has dogged us for 11 seasons now. It's almost unbelievable really - I know my guts tighten in those last minutes every time we play - even a two-goal lead isn't enough. In the Heart days I used to say that you couldn't be sure Heart had won until you were back on Richmond station and they actually had.

More than anything we need a manager who can exorcise that demon.

I hate to say it, but all we really need is a keeper who can catch.

[MHFC-FAN]

52 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

I hate to say it, but all we really need is a keeper who can catch.

We should be signing the likes of Thomas and not the Wanderers 😕

https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/exclusive-fringe-socceroos-keeper-bound-for-wanderers-579273

[NewConvert]

2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I think three, then we would have topped the Group. Once we came second, if Kitchee had lost last night we would have qualified as the third "six best of the rest" but once they gained a point they finished on 7 points in their Group of 3 whereas we finished on 6 after losing the 6 points we gained against United City in a group of 4.

We blew it when we conceded a goal in injury time against Jeonnam. We came within two injury time goals of qualifying. Heartesqe. It has dogged us for 11 seasons now. It's almost unbelievable really - I know my guts tighten in those last minutes every time we play - even a two-goal lead isn't enough. In the Heart days I used to say that you couldn't be sure Heart had won until you were back on Richmond station and they actually had.

More than anything we need a manager who can exorcise that demon.

The last 5 minutes of every half I go into the foetal position automatically. You can set your watch by my positioning.

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, fensaddler said:

I hate to say it, but all we really need is a keeper who can catch.

IMO it's more than that.

[moops]

4 hours ago, fensaddler said:

I hate to say it, but all we really need is a keeper who can catch.

To think we let Delianov go for Glover.

[jw1739]

On 02/05/2022 at 3:07 PM, Jovan said:

So we basically missed out by 2 goals. Or am I missing something 

@JovanOn checking, yes, you are correct. Two more goals and we would have won the Group on Goals scored. Same GD as BG Pathum, but we would have scored 12 whereas they scored 11. Those two goals sent us from qualifying as top of the group to out altogether.

I'm repeating myself, but in that final match we should have thrown everything including the kitchen sink at United City, (who scored a single goal in the whole tournament). Had Maclaren put the penalty away in the 74th minute we had 15 minutes to score two more. Achievable, but it was not to be.

Anything less than that and we were relying on Vissel Kobe to defeat Kitchee. Which was not the place to be.

[MHFC-FAN]

33 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

@JovanOn checking, yes, you are correct. Two more goals and we would have won the Group on Goals scored. Same GD as BG Pathum, but we would have scored 12 whereas they scored 11. Those two goals sent us from qualifying as top of the group to out altogether.

I'm repeating myself, but in that final match we should have thrown everything including the kitchen sink at United City, (who scored a single goal in the whole tournament). Had Maclaren put the penalty away in the 74th minute we had 15 minutes to score two more. Achievable, but it was not to be.

Anything less than that and we were relying on Vissel Kobe to defeat Kitchee. Which was not the place to be.

As nice as it is to point out the flaws in our qualification attempt, there really is very little point now dwelling on the what ifs. More focused on trying to win our second plate in succession and with it another ACL attempt. 

[Tangerine]

Under normal circumstances, going through the group stage undefeated would have pleased supporters and obviously taken us through. The club will spin that and say we mixed it with the best/competed and represented Australia/City Group etc.

Reality is we had the easiest draw we could hope for and won’t be that lucky again. It’s pretty underwhelming and I think we can all see the trail of errors that led to this point.

 

TLDR: Glad we competed in Asia, should have done better.

…….time to move on.

[MHFC-FAN]

2 hours ago, Tangerine said:

Under normal circumstances, going through the group stage undefeated would have pleased supporters and obviously taken us through. The club will spin that and say we mixed it with the best/competed and represented Australia/City Group etc.

Reality is we had the easiest draw we could hope for and won’t be that lucky again. It’s pretty underwhelming and I think we can all see the trail of errors that led to this point.

 

TLDR: Glad we competed in Asia, should have done better.

…….time to move on.

Yeah you make some good points there and I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses for our failings in qualifying for the round of 16...but the 40 team ACL group stage is a bit of a farce then to throw in what happened due to one group only having 3 teams in it kind of validates that it has become a bit of a mickey mouse tournament in it's current format. 

If the AFC want to try and become the "UCL of Asia" then they need to go back to the 32 team group stage and top 2 make the round of 16.

Rant over 

[Zanty]

https://www.the-afc.com/en/more/afc_competitions/news/afc_competitions_committee_recommends_strategic_reforms_to_elevate_asian_club_football.html

Was not sure where exactly to put this but a bunch of chances happening to Asian club football

[jw1739]

Absolutely great news. My remaining football dream is to see City playing at home in an AFC competition.

Australia needs to take the AFC seriously if we are to grow the game here.

[Baka1]

So when do we play ACL again? Still confuses me as the Asian leagues aren’t always in line with us 

[Zanty]

5 hours ago, Baka1 said:

So when do we play ACL again? Still confuses me as the Asian leagues aren’t always in line with us 

2022 ACL finish in May 2023 with the next one starting August 2023 and ending May 2024