The Player
It was only a few weeks ago that I was left intrigued to see whether Muangthong United could go further than any Thai club had gone before and fight for the Asian Champions League title. Both the team’s and my dreams came down to earth with a thud however, with a 7-1 on aggregate reverse to Kawasaki Frontale, who themselves can now regard themselves as the next dark horse to compete for the ACL trophy at the end of the year. Skippered by the growing of age Yu Kobayashi, the last two weeks have illustrated what threat they and in particular Kobayashi can produce at this level.
Muangthong went into the knockouts with the joint best defensive record in the competition, having only conceded 1 goal at home in their group stage encounters. In a swift second half performance in Thailand, Kawasaki made a once impenetrable defence look anything but. Kobayashi was in devastatingly clinical form; scoring a stunning volley to make it 2-1, before racing clear down the right to assist the third. Back in Kawasaki, with a comfortable lead to hold onto, the home side were clearly not settled on sitting back; Kobayashi opened the scoring with a neat cut inside and finish, before assisting the second after a perfectly timed run down the flank. The cherry on top came late on, with an audacious by-line backheel to set up Frontale’s 4th on the night. “Welcome to the big leagues Muangthong!”
Kobayashi remains to a degree under the radar in Asian football, but continues to contribute impressive goal and assist stats that make him one of the leading lights of Japanese football. When called upon for the Samurai Blue he hasn't disappointed either; one of their best performers in October against Iraq and Australia, Kobayashi has subsequently been bumped out of the starting lineup, not by any fault of his own but for the vast array of attacking talent coming into form in Europe. At 29, his time to move West looks to have gone, but taking up the mantle of go-to goalscorer after the exit of legendary Japanese striker Yoshito Okubo earlier this year, his career’s crowning glory may yet still be to come.
The Team
With an even group stage period now long gone to the memory, the business end of the competition is in full flight, with the big names upping into the higher gears, encapsulated by Al Ain’s ruthless performance against Esteghlal this last week. With an array of talent at their disposal, we were always likely to see someone on the wrong end of an Emirati masterclass, and the Tehran giants, back in the ACL for the first time in three years were the unfortunate recipients of a mauling.
The first leg was tight, and in hindsight poorly played tactically by Al Ain. The idea of playing talisman Omar Abdulrahman as the furthest forward player has rarely worked (reminiscent of last year’s ACL final first leg), his creative ability which was so devastating in the second leg, couldn't be harnessed into the first game, Brazilian Caio admirably joined Amoory in attack, but for all their possession the Emirati side could only muster one shot on target. A lapse in concentration gifted Esteghlal a win late on after a misguided handball in the penalty area.
The week after however couldn’t have been a starker change; Nasser Al-Shamrani started in attack, allowing Abdulrahman to drop into a free role, where he caused havoc. Caio continued in a rich vein of form, scoring twice before half time, before Lee Myung-Joo, playing his final game for the club got in on the act. In the end the 6-1 scoreline flattered Esteghlal, who could have conceded more. The variety in attacking areas make Al Ain heads and shoulders ahead of anyone in West Asia. But for the potential of a quick turnaround of players in the summer - Lee has now gone, Amoory could finally be off to Europe - back-to-back final’s appearances look a distinct possibility.
The Talking Point
This week saw the curtain close on a couple of the continent’s biggest names, with Al Ahli Dubai and Lekhwiya bowing out of the Champions League for the last time. Both clubs will hope to be allowed to continue in the next year's edition of the competition, however this time it’ll be under different guises with both clubs set to conduct their own set of mergers over the off season. With some confusion on whether either club could continue, either under their previous moniker or their new one if they progressed to the quarter-final stages in August, was quickly made irrelevant as both limped out of the tournament this week - no doubt to the relief of the AFC!
The summer will be a period of transition, which will create plenty of speculation and hype as both new team’s shape up for their new domestic league campaigns. Al Ahli are set to merge with Al-Shabab and Dubai CSC to form the less than originally named Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC, while Qatari champions Lekhwiya will join forces with last year’s semi-finalists El Jaish to form Al-Duhail SC. Neither side as yet have been confirmed by the governing body as a participant in next year’s ACL tournament, yet we’re unlikely to hear too much on the subject given the AFC have a good 6 months to debate resolutions that will no doubt be best suited to benefit themselves.
The prospect of having two super-clubs representing the Middle East region is a tantalising one. Neither the UAE or Qatar have a real standout side that can count on domestic domination let alone continental success, the one exception being Al Ain, who despite succeeding on the continent fell outside the ACL qualification spots in last term’s Arabian Gulf League. Both cases should however be considered in isolation, with a different set of resources and expectations being affixed to their individual mergers.
The Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC merge, brings together two clubs with moderate standings with another fallen giant going through financial struggles. With Al-Ahli already set to ship star player Everton Ribeiro back to Brazil and club captain Ahmed Khalil to domestic rivals Al-Jazira, it’s clear that the first step is to strip the decks and make the club profitable again, something that may hamper their debut season on the pitch. Al-Duhail on the other hand have a wealth of talent to choose from, as they merge two of the best teams in Qatar, while initial takeaways suggest no such trimming is required purely to balance the books, rather out of preference.
Lekhwiya have shown a consistency that the Qatar Stars League had previously lacked, making it through to the knockout stages of the ACL over the last three editions. With the return of old favourites Al Sadd directly into the group stage next year, we could be hovering over a greater dominance for the diminutive peninsula for seasons to come. With talents such as Nam Tae-Hee, Youssef Msakni and Romarinho all potentially set to dovetail, next season could be a hell of a breakthrough year for Al-Duhail.
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