Al-Nassr 2 - 3 Kawasaki Frontale
On we march to the final! Now we can legitimately say that we are the ‘No. 1 or 2 Club in Asia’. I believe someone else said something similar a while ago without getting as close to making it a reality. With the myriad of things stacked against all the teams who aren’t owned by the Saudi Royal family in this totally unbiased competition, (the ACL would never sell itself out for money, right?), this is a truly amazing achievement. So amazing and unpredictable that I now face the prospect of watching the final in a hotel room in Morioka about 12 hours after finishing a nomihodai beer festival. Could be messy. But in a way perhaps the tiredness brought on by the beer festival might encourage me to have a nap in the early evening and I’ll be able to watch the game completely refreshed sleep-wise, just as the hangover kicks in. Perhaps in previous incarnations of this competition we might have dreamed we could get this far but it really didn’t look like it would happen this year. Surely I wasn’t right when I said that I felt we’d been holding back a bit in the league with this competition in mind? We’ll see I guess. I suppose the only other interpretation could be that the Saudi League, in spite of the massive amount of money spent is actually not that good? I’ll have some more to say about that later. Once again, as I watched online I’m not going to write too much as you probably have watched the game yourself. So let’s get this done and dusted as I’m on a train now and won’t have long to post this tonight before I’m on another train tomorrow morning.
Us -
Absolutely bonkers starting line up from Hasebe which I think shows he really knows what he’s doing. I can’t imagine Oniki rotating this much. Actually I can’t imagine him rotating at all at this stage of the competition. But Hasebe left Erison, Wakizaka, Ienaga and Sasaki out and didn’t even bring in Yamada up front. Instead we had Kanda and Ozeki as our two furthest forward players. And Ozeki scored! (Apparently he’d told both of them before the game that they’d be playing only the first half and would then be changed. This is wild stuff for a Frontale manager to do). And when Hasebe did freshen things up in the second half it was the two subs who combined for what turned out to be the winner. Ito’s goal was absolutely marvelous. As was Erison’s assist for Ienaga’s goal. Clearly with the schedule we’ve had and will continue to have till the final, we’re not going to be able to keep playing the same players. I guess the only worry is that a few players can’t be rotated and have played almost every minute. Hats off to Takai, Maruyama and Miura and to Yamamoto and Marcinho who’ve played a lot too. Hopefully they can recover sufficiently before the final. It was good to Tachibanada back to his best again in this match. Hope his injury isn’t serious. Before the game we were 6-1 outsiders to win. I don’t think the game reflected those odds at all. Certainly Al Nassr had a lot more possession but I think that up until the final stages we’d had better chances than them. We did have to withstand a bit of an onslaught at the end but by that stage the game was a total mess with our players being knackered due to the schedule. We really had to hang on, but we did. Bravo! It was a great team performance and if the playing field had been a bit more level, with perhaps a decent break between games and a home and away leg, I reckon we could have really battered them. Great team work! Unlike…
Them -
Al Nassr have a lot of expensive players on high wages. And plenty of dodgy neck tattoos. Team is definitely not the word when it came to them. More a collection of disappointed rich individuals than a team. Ronaldo’s face was quite hilarious for most of the game, constantly gurning and grimacing as if he was being constantly cheated. Their passing veered from being speedy and dangerous to absolutely useless. Same with their shooting. There definitely seemed to be a sense of entitlement from their players, staff and some of their fans. They definitely thought it was going to be a walk in the park for them. Delighted that it wasn’t. I enjoyed the fact that they made a double sub in the 42nd minute. Just bizarre! And the fact that after a while they reverted to dirty long throw tactics. And very happy that Ronaldo giving the ball away led to our second goal. Enjoyed the close up of his face after that. And don’t forget the fact that some rich guy bought all the Al Nassr seats in the stadium and gave them away for free to try to further tilt things in their favour. And even when they gave away tickets for free there were still swathes of empty seats in the stadium. I’m sure Al Nassr have some fans who love football and I’m sure there are people who are real football fans in Saudi Arabia. But on this showing it looked a lot like people weren’t interested even when they didn’t have to pay for it. But money talks, and as long as players are happy to move to a country with a very strange league just because they’ll get a lot of money, disregarding the fact that they might be able to challenge and better themselves elsewhere, I’m sure the Saudi League will continue to attract big names, and initially a few fans who want to see them play but soon get bored of the experience.
Ref -
Dunno what’s going on recently, maybe I’ve mellowed. But I thought he was pretty good again. And even the guy in the VAR room stood up to some strong pressure against absolutely non-existent penalty calls from Al Nassr towards the end of the game. Presumably this means that we’ll get an awful ref in the final. Knowing the AFC it will probably be someone who’s a member of the Saudi royal family.
So, next up Al Ahli. We’ve done great to get this far so well done to all the players. Two days between games is going to absolutely cripple us so I’m not hugely optimistic for the final. Of course part of me regrets that I am not there but perhaps the beer festival on Saturday will make up for it. Fingers crossed the players can enjoy the next game as much as I will enjoy the festival.
Us -
Absolutely bonkers starting line up from Hasebe which I think shows he really knows what he’s doing. I can’t imagine Oniki rotating this much. Actually I can’t imagine him rotating at all at this stage of the competition. But Hasebe left Erison, Wakizaka, Ienaga and Sasaki out and didn’t even bring in Yamada up front. Instead we had Kanda and Ozeki as our two furthest forward players. And Ozeki scored! (Apparently he’d told both of them before the game that they’d be playing only the first half and would then be changed. This is wild stuff for a Frontale manager to do). And when Hasebe did freshen things up in the second half it was the two subs who combined for what turned out to be the winner. Ito’s goal was absolutely marvelous. As was Erison’s assist for Ienaga’s goal. Clearly with the schedule we’ve had and will continue to have till the final, we’re not going to be able to keep playing the same players. I guess the only worry is that a few players can’t be rotated and have played almost every minute. Hats off to Takai, Maruyama and Miura and to Yamamoto and Marcinho who’ve played a lot too. Hopefully they can recover sufficiently before the final. It was good to Tachibanada back to his best again in this match. Hope his injury isn’t serious. Before the game we were 6-1 outsiders to win. I don’t think the game reflected those odds at all. Certainly Al Nassr had a lot more possession but I think that up until the final stages we’d had better chances than them. We did have to withstand a bit of an onslaught at the end but by that stage the game was a total mess with our players being knackered due to the schedule. We really had to hang on, but we did. Bravo! It was a great team performance and if the playing field had been a bit more level, with perhaps a decent break between games and a home and away leg, I reckon we could have really battered them. Great team work! Unlike…
Them -
Al Nassr have a lot of expensive players on high wages. And plenty of dodgy neck tattoos. Team is definitely not the word when it came to them. More a collection of disappointed rich individuals than a team. Ronaldo’s face was quite hilarious for most of the game, constantly gurning and grimacing as if he was being constantly cheated. Their passing veered from being speedy and dangerous to absolutely useless. Same with their shooting. There definitely seemed to be a sense of entitlement from their players, staff and some of their fans. They definitely thought it was going to be a walk in the park for them. Delighted that it wasn’t. I enjoyed the fact that they made a double sub in the 42nd minute. Just bizarre! And the fact that after a while they reverted to dirty long throw tactics. And very happy that Ronaldo giving the ball away led to our second goal. Enjoyed the close up of his face after that. And don’t forget the fact that some rich guy bought all the Al Nassr seats in the stadium and gave them away for free to try to further tilt things in their favour. And even when they gave away tickets for free there were still swathes of empty seats in the stadium. I’m sure Al Nassr have some fans who love football and I’m sure there are people who are real football fans in Saudi Arabia. But on this showing it looked a lot like people weren’t interested even when they didn’t have to pay for it. But money talks, and as long as players are happy to move to a country with a very strange league just because they’ll get a lot of money, disregarding the fact that they might be able to challenge and better themselves elsewhere, I’m sure the Saudi League will continue to attract big names, and initially a few fans who want to see them play but soon get bored of the experience.
Ref -
Dunno what’s going on recently, maybe I’ve mellowed. But I thought he was pretty good again. And even the guy in the VAR room stood up to some strong pressure against absolutely non-existent penalty calls from Al Nassr towards the end of the game. Presumably this means that we’ll get an awful ref in the final. Knowing the AFC it will probably be someone who’s a member of the Saudi royal family.
So, next up Al Ahli. We’ve done great to get this far so well done to all the players. Two days between games is going to absolutely cripple us so I’m not hugely optimistic for the final. Of course part of me regrets that I am not there but perhaps the beer festival on Saturday will make up for it. Fingers crossed the players can enjoy the next game as much as I will enjoy the festival.
Team
GK 98. YAMAGUCHI Louis
DF 31. VAN WERMESKERKEN Sai
DF 2. TAKAI Kota
DF 35. MARUYAMA Yuichi
DF 13. MIURA Sota
MF 8. TACHIBANADA Kento
MF 77. YAMAMOTO Yuki
MF 37. ITO Tatsuya
MF 16. OZEKI Yuto
MF 23. MARCINHO
FW 32. KANDA Soma
Subs
GK 1. JUNG Sung-Ryong
GK 21. ANDO Shunsuke
DF 5. SASAKI Asahi (on for VAN WERMESKERKEN 70')
FW 9. ERISON (on for KANDA 46')
MF 14. WAKIZAKA Yasuto (on for OZEKI 46')
DF 15. TANABE Shuto
MF 19. KAWAHARA So (on for TACHIBANADA 60')
FW 20. YAMADA Shin
FW 28. PATRICK VERHON
FW 30. SEGAWA Yusuke (on for IENAGA 82')
MF 41. IENAGA Akihiro (on for MARCINHO 64')
DF 44. CESAR HAYDAR
GK 98. YAMAGUCHI Louis
DF 31. VAN WERMESKERKEN Sai
DF 2. TAKAI Kota
DF 35. MARUYAMA Yuichi
DF 13. MIURA Sota
MF 8. TACHIBANADA Kento
MF 77. YAMAMOTO Yuki
MF 37. ITO Tatsuya
MF 16. OZEKI Yuto
MF 23. MARCINHO
FW 32. KANDA Soma
Subs
GK 1. JUNG Sung-Ryong
GK 21. ANDO Shunsuke
DF 5. SASAKI Asahi (on for VAN WERMESKERKEN 70')
FW 9. ERISON (on for KANDA 46')
MF 14. WAKIZAKA Yasuto (on for OZEKI 46')
DF 15. TANABE Shuto
MF 19. KAWAHARA So (on for TACHIBANADA 60')
FW 20. YAMADA Shin
FW 28. PATRICK VERHON
FW 30. SEGAWA Yusuke (on for IENAGA 82')
MF 41. IENAGA Akihiro (on for MARCINHO 64')
DF 44. CESAR HAYDAR
Goals
ITO (Frontale) 10' 0-1
MANE (Al-Nassr) 28' 1-1
OZEKI (Frontale) 41' 1-2
IENAGA (Frontale) 76' 1-3
YAHYA (Al-Nassr) 87' 2-3
Highlights
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