The Back-Blocks of Asia

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The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:49 pm

The team with the world's worst mascot, V-Varen Nagasaki, have been admitted to J2 by the J-League Board (they needed to have their facilities pass in order to be promoted - they had been denied in the past). My 2nd favourite club on the planet so I thought I'd let you know. Machida are not happy with the result though, they've now been relegated to the JFL.

In other thrilling Back-Blocks of Asia news Phnom Penh Crown FC have taken new strides in Cambodian football by not engaging 190cm 110kg Africans as foreign players but have gone for French Khmer who want to return to Cambodia and learn about the country. An interesting approach that puts cohesion and talent above brute strength. It most surely has piqued the interest of the Khmers here in Cambodia and we all wish them well.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:54 am

It seems life in Laos as an African footballer isn't fantastic (nor is it in most of SE Asia for African footballers, to be fair). Two years after a BBC report on Lao football's involvement in people trafficking, the AFC have hit the Lao Football Federation with a USD700,000 fine for their role in the entire affair.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43835887

Also of interest is disciplinary action against the PSSI (Indonesian FA) for failing to deduct points from clubs who will not abide by decisions made in FIFA's conflict resolution chamber/mechanism. It seems the lack of love between FIFA/AFC and the PSSI has a long way to run.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Sun May 06, 2018 10:07 am

So it appears Leeds United are touring Myanmar this week. Needless to say there is some controversy.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43921044

They have a game in Yangon on the 9th against an 'All-Stars' team and another game in Mandalay on the 11th against the national side. I can only assume the 'all-stars' side is the foreigners plus a few locals who didn't make the national team.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Sun May 13, 2018 11:43 am

Leeds ended up losing their first game 2-1 to the All-Stars side in front of 20,000 and then bounced back to beat the national side 2-0 in Mandalay. The games certainly were controversial back in the UK due to the Rohingya crisis.

In other news an interesting scandal has arisen regarding an international friendly between Iran and Sierra Leone. It turns out the Sierra Leone Football Federation President was unaware the match had been arranged and an "odd" squad turned out for the game. The SLFF President tried to get FIFA to suspend the match but was unable and reluctantly allowed the game to proceed. She has asked for FIFA to investigate the match (Iran won 4-0) for match fixing. Echoes of the fake Togo team that toured Bahrain in 2010.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Sun Jun 17, 2018 12:57 pm

Whilst the World Cup is raging, other developments have been occuring in some of the less storied parts of Asia.

Terry Butcher has taken on the job of Azkals coach, looking to lead the Philippines into the Suzuki Cup later this year. Normally I am not a fan of Butcher's coachign style, however the Azkals need bit of a boot up their collective bums and Terry is probably the man to deliver said footwear.

In other news it is being reported that Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are considering a joint bid for 2034. Given the sheer logistics of a 48 team competition the concept may not be without merit.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby Obarizk Sun Jun 17, 2018 7:14 pm

Are they really going to give the world cup to a group of 3 countries as weak as these 3?
Not one of them is ranked inside the top 100 in the world.
Also there has been talk that China would bid in 2034. 2030 is apparently going to South America with Uruguay definitely involved as it will be 100 years since the first world cup in Uruguay.
Also going from 2018 till at least 2038 would be a long time for their not to be a world cup in Europe so there might be a general view that 2034 should be in Europe.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:39 pm

I suspect by 2034 these countries won't be as weak (relatively), however on the rest of your reflections you are most likely correct.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:18 pm

The 18th Asian Games kick off in Indonesia in August and it includes an U23 mens football tournament (with 3 overage players allowed). The Indian Olympic Association has decided not to field a football team as they have deemed the Blue Tigers "incompetent" to win any medals. It is a huge blow for the Blue Tigers who were planning on using the tournament as preparation for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Remaining in Indonesia, the Asian football association that has probably more governance grief than any other over the past 15 years, the PSSI, is at it again. The Chairman of the PSSI Edy Rahmayadi, has been elected as the mayor for North Sumatera. It is unclear as to whether he will relinquish his post as Chairman of the PSSI however one thing is clear, football and politics are as intertwined as ever in our neighbour to the North. It is a pity as Indonesia truly should be a football powerhouse and these types of issues continually hold it back.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Tue Jul 24, 2018 11:15 am

It is still July and Alibrex Niigata have taken out the S-League, a competition that runs until October. It came with a draw against Balestier Khalsa, a result that ended their 17 game winning streak. Given the side is a development team recruited from Japanese Universities it says a lot about both the strength of the Japanese production line and the continuing slide of Singaporean football.

In Thailand the top scorers in the league continue to be foreigners, and one of those foreigners is Aung Thu from Myanmar. The 22y.o. has banged in 10 goals for Police this season and is really setting the league alight. It is good to see a SE Asian striker amongst the Brazilians, Spaniards and Nigerians that dominate the scoring charts.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Thu Aug 02, 2018 4:49 pm

Chaos galore at the Asian Games, and it hasn't even started! The Asian Games are being hosted by Indonesia and the mens football component is an U23 competition with 3 overaged players allowed (though many of the more serious sides dispense with the overage players).

A draw was undertaken to determine the composition of the six groups (comprising of 4 teams). There was one problem. After the draw had been completed and published, it was discovered that there were actually 26 teams, not 24, and UAE & Palestine had been accidentally ommitted from the draw! A re-draw was too late so they slapped the UAE and Palestine onto two other groups, making them groups of 5 and subsequently throwing many teams' plans into a spin.

Now it appears Iraq has withdrawn from the tournament. A recent U16 tournament saw Iraq fielding overage players and a review of their Asian games squad showed the same. The Iraq Olympic Committe yesterday withdrew the squad and sacked some officials. Now with the tournament only 8 days away there are two groups of 5, three groups of 4 and one group of 3.

I am happy to report the Womens draw appears flawless.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Thu Aug 30, 2018 9:36 am

Terry Butcher lasted a total of three weeks as Azkals coach and quit before he even set foot in the country. No one is really sure why, is statement on the matter is rather vague, however it seems he took the job without looking into what it entailed. Perhaps a blessing if he isn't someone who does their homework.

The Palestinian FA boss, Jibril Rajoub, has been handed a one year suspension and a 20,000 Swiss Franc fine for inciting violence and hatred. For those who are unaware, Rajoub asked all Arab football supporters to burn their Messi shirts and destroy any images of him if a planned Israel-Argentina friendly in Jerusalem (in a stadium allegedly built on an ex-Palestinian village) went ahead. It will be interesting to see if there is any fall-out regionally from this though you have to feel for poor Messi whose had little to do with the entire affair (for the record, the friendly did not go ahead).

And Son Heung-Min is still on target to be exempt from military service if South Korea win gold at the Asian Games. They needed a penalty (which Son could not watch) to overcome 10-man Uzbekistan. Nervous days for the lad who is missing the start of the EPL in his bid to avoid 2 years in green.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:44 am

Malaysia and Cambodia played a friendly in Phnom Penh over the break, with the Honda-led Angkor Warriors going down 1-3. What is amazing though, is that 50,000 turned out to Olympic Stadium for the friendly; a capacity crowd. Having been to Olympic Stadium on numerous occassions throughout the years I can confirm that such a turn-out is not the norm. The Honda effect?

The Chinese u-21's reportedly have a new coach - Guus Hiddink. With Lippi as the senior men's coach one can only shake one's head in disbelief at the wage bill. I can only surmise there is better value in the wage bill for Qatar and Bahrain's coaches, given that China failed to defeat either side (0-1 and 0-0) over the break.

17 y.o. Ganbold Ganbayar has made history by becoming the first Mongolian to play fully professional football in a top-flight club as he signed a deal with Puskas Academia in Hungary. He signed just prior to his 18th birthday, which has just passed, so now can join the senior ranks. Oddly enough, Puskas are the development team for Videoton FC, who play in the same league.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:35 am

Something is in the water in Tajikistan. The football development in the country appears to be yielding a return with the recent Grand Final appearance in the AFC U16Competition (knocking out both North and South Korea along the way) seemingly being repeated in the current u19 competition having defeated Uzbekistan to qualify and knocking off China a couple of days ago. Malaysia are next tonight for the surprise package from Central Asia. They may be ones to keep an eye on in the coming years.

Further North, and many degrees celcius South, Mongolia has finally managed to lay an artificial pitch to enable the national teams to train in the country rather than travelling to Japan & Korea. Given it is an outdoor pitch, once can only surmise that for most of the year the trips abroad will continue. With the relatively recent MFF Football Centre in the heart of Ulanbaator (also artificial), it seems the opportunities for teams to play on decent surfaces are on the rise; albeit rather slowly.

Closer to home, the AFC has handed out 8 suspensions of between 12 to 20 months for match fixing. The eight players in question....................... Laos U-16's. There's a long way to go in parts of SE Asia when it comes to match mixing. A long way indeed.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Wed Oct 31, 2018 10:43 am

Plenty happening in some unsung parts of Asia at the moment.

The Maldives
have continued their inconsistent approach to football, being undecided as to whether they are champions or whipping boys. In this year's SAFF Suzuki Cup in Bangladesh (a tournament originally scheduled for 2017) they decided on the former and took the cup in the final against India. This is in stark contrast to their World Cup Qualifying campaign where their only respite came against Bhutan, and then only just. Still, the SAFF Suzuki Cup is bit of a happy hunting ground for the Red Snapper, with the 2008 cup already in their grasp and semi final appearances in 2011 & 2015 (both times going down by a goal to India).

Still in Maldives it seems the Football Association of Maldives is looking to introduce a salary cap in order to bring some financial security the league. The verdict is yet to come in as to whether this is a good idea, primarily due to concerns as to the capacity of the FAM to administer such a mechanism.

And in another set of islands, it appears that Sven Goran-Eriksson is the new manager for the Philippines and will be leading the Azkals into this year's Suzuki Cup and beyond. What Terry Butcher could not do, Sven apparently can. Given the Suzuki Cup kicks off in a little over a week one can assume Sven will have time to learn the names of his players and that is about it. Good luck, Sven.
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Re: The Back-Blocks of Asia

Postby blahblah Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:13 pm

The AFC Cup came to its conclusion and Iraqi side Air Force Club, once again has taken silverware, this time from Turkmenistan's Altyn Asyr. Altyn Asyr have run away with the domestic league however just came up short in their first final at the continental level. Given the final was played in Basra they were conceding home advantage which no doubt did not help.

In India, 16 y.o. Gourav Mukhi had his record as the youngest scorer in the ISL overturned when it transpired the Jamshedpur FC player was actually 29. Yes, 29. The AIFF suspended the player for 6 months, though given he was already turfed from a national u-16 camp in 2015 for being overaged one can but shake one's head. Due diligence appears a rare ingredient in ISL circles.

Finally in one of our more random associate members, the Northern Mariana Islands are trying to get their football programmes restarted after the islands were flattened by Supertyphoon Yutu. Efforts have been in made by one of our more random full members, Guam, to raise money to assist, Kudos to the Guam FA.

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