We Are The Reds

CCM gave up after 1-0. They haven't had a minute to catch their breath these last few days.

Expect them to play better come round of 16.

Onya Mariners.

Watched Seongnam take apart Beijing last night. A great game that ended with 10 on the field from Seongam and only 9 from Beijing (all double yellows). Some good end to end football and plenty of drama.

I'd love to see CCM give Evergrande a real run for their money. Highlight to these cashed up guys that there is loads of cheap talent just past Indonesia.

2-0 down at HT, 4-1 down on aggregate. Long way back from here.

3-0 now. Scorer was offside by a fairly clear margin.

Buriram are through to the quarters after doing over our old bunnies, Bunyodkor.

A superb effort from the Thai outfit.

Great news! Definitely love the underdogs!

Quarter finalists are:

China Guangzhou Evergrande
Iran Esteghlal
Japan Kashiwa Reysol
Qatar Lekhwiya
Saudi Arabia Al-Shabab
Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli
South Korea FC Seoul
Thailand Buriram United

Tomorrow is an interesting day, fellow Reds. For tomorrow is quarter finals of the ACL. This is the realm that AUFC dares to tread, where the rest of the A-League quibbles. This is the place that makes us different from the rest.

We have:
Kashiwa Reysol v Al Shabab - the little club that could vs the oil bags. How Reysol are still in the top flight of Asian football given their resources is simply astounding. Love these bogans in yellow.
Guanghzhou Evergrande v Lekwhiya - the Chinese oligarks vs a team I've never heard of before but now has the biggest budget in the Qatari league (I've never, ever felt anything but contempt for Guanghzhou; yet however distasteful it may be.......... go Evergrande!)
Esteghlal v Buriram - a shitty fixture for me as I like both of these clubs. Both are clubs with a very enthusiastic fan base and play good football. This is pick of the round for neutrals.
Al Ahli v FC Seoul - Heavy weight fixture of the round and one that should be worth watching.

That's our line-up, fellow Reds, and I do hope that some you manage to catch a game or two. I will

Buriram is Gombau's old team yes ?

I wouldn't mind watching that to see if they still play the same and how they fare post gomby

Kitchee was his last club I think.

Buriram knocked the roar out in a qualifier. They played very well in that game.

Kashiwa and Al Shabab played out a rather dull 1-1 raw.

I am now watching China Money Bags vs Qatar Money Bags. A much better game and Guangzhou are showing some ability. Lekhwiya look to be in trouble.

One thing with both games is the crowds. In the first game Kashiwa Reysol had a packed stadium with every single individual in yellow. Every one. A zoom on the crowd showed they had handed out yellow ponchos to anyone who didn't have a yellow shirt! In China the stadium isn't as packed (it is rather wet and a big stadium) yet from the noise I'd say there's a fair sized crowd behind the cameras staying dry in the leeward side of the stadium. A lot of people in red.

Having watched the ACL for a few years now it is great to see its steady growth.

We need to get back there

So quarter final results are in

Al-Ahli 1–2 FC Seoul
Esteghlal 3–1 Buriram United
Kashiwa Reysol 3–3 (a) Al-Shabab
Guangzhou Evergrande 6–1 Lekhwiya

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_AFC_C ... Evergrande

Sad to see Buriram go out but happy three out of the four semi finalists are east Asian.

The semi finals are as follows

FC Seoul v Esteghlal
Kashiwa Reysol v Guangzhou Evergrande

With the games being played on 25 Sep and 2 Oct.

An interesting one will be if Cleo who is on loan with Reysol is allowed to play as he's on loan from Evergrande.

I watched the Buriram game; they played the far better football but just couldn't find the back of the net. Easily the better side over both legs. Such is football.

I watched the Buriram game; they played the far better football but just couldn't find the back of the net. Easily the better side over both legs. Such is football.

In that case we should probably start calling them Buriram Roar!