Other Domestic Leagues 17/18

[HajdukSplit]

Wydad Casablanca won the African Champions League over Egyptian giants Al Ahly. Its their 2nd ever CAF Champions League win and they will participate in the FIFA Club World Cup

Two more spots are up for grabs: The Copa Libertadores final is between Gremio (Brazil) and Lanus (Argentina) while the AFC Champions League final is between Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) and Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia)

 

[Prntscrn]

From Sweden Malmö(1th) will get the chance to qualify for Champions league and AIK(2nd), Djurgården(3rd) and the winner of the swedish cup next spring will get the chance to qualify for Europa League. If Malmö, AIK or Djurgården ens up winning the Swedish cup Häcken(4th) will get that place.

 

[Savi]

Too bad Östersunds won't have a chance to follow up their European campaign with another try next year.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

(AP) — A former Argentine government official has killed himself after being accused of taking bribes, the latest fallout from a widespread corruption probe in professional soccer that has implicated businessmen and top officials in several countries.
Jorge Delhon, a lawyer who worked in the administration of former Argentina President Cristina Fernandez, killed himself on Tuesday by jumping in front of a train in Buenos Aires.

 

[ecemleafs]

American Keaton Parks made his debut for Benfica in a cup match yesterday. Played well and got a hockey assist on Benfica's second goal.

 

[Acallabeth]

Meanwhile in Russia, winter is coming, and nobody could predict this again. That's why we have 3 straight home games for last-place SKA-Khabarosvk, last Sanday CSKA were the victims of the calendar. They won 4-2 and only lost 2 players to fractured fibulas, synthetic field and -17 C frost.

Khabarovsk management don't give up and are going to host a game against Lokomotiv next Sunday, -20 C forecast.

Zenit broke their long goal drought with a 5-0 win over neighbour Tosno and are still trailing Lokomotiv by 3 points, with CSKA and Spartak climbing to 3rd an 4th.

 

[John Pedro]

Younes injury was a blessing in disguise for Ajax. Neres-Dolberg-Kluivert shining. Kluivert with a hat trick against Roda.

 

[HajdukSplit]

BATE Borisov won their 12th consecutive title in incredible fashion, they were losing 3:1 with 12 minutes to play against midtable Gorodeya but they scored twice, including a 95th minute equalizer to win the title on the third tie-breaker (goal difference, they had the same H2H results)

Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds win the Asian Champions League over Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup, their 2nd ever title

 

[gary69]

Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds win the Asian Champions League over Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup, their 2nd ever title

I really like their defender Makino, bit short for a CB, but other than that, he's very solid. I still wonder why he didn't make it in Germany where other Japanese have done very well.

 

[Savi]

BATE Borisov won their 12th consecutive title in incredible fashion, they were losing 3:1 with 12 minutes to play against midtable Gorodeya but they scored twice, including a 95th minute equalizer to win the title on the third tie-breaker (goal difference, they had the same H2H results)

Even more incredible, they trailed Soligorsk by 4 points but not only did Soligork lost 2 of their final 3 games against midtable teams, BATE also benefitted from an FA decision that was overturned in their favour and gave them an extra 3 points.

 

[ecemleafs]

Celtic win the league cup. 4/4 for rodgers in domestic trophies now.

 

[Savi]

The Georgian league also had a pretty epic showdown today. Leaders Dinamo Tbilisi (75 pts) hosted second place Torpedo Kutaisi (73 pts) on the final matchday. Kutaisi scored deep into the second half, but Dinamo Tbilisi had a chance to secure the title with a 96th minute penalty kick, literally the final kick of the game. But the Kutaisi goalie stopped it

 

[HajdukSplit]

Attendances for this week's Croatian league matches, can't think of many leagues outside the minnows of European football with this bad attendance...and the pathetic HNS will continue to say the league is in good shape (it has improved on the field a bit, but largely overblown, Croatian clubs haven't made the knockout stage of Euro competition since the late 90s and only twice since independence, in recent seasons alone we've seen Ostersunds, Partizan, Ludogorets, Maribor, Liberec etc.. do it)

 

[maclean]

Attendances for this week's Croatian league matches, can't think of many leagues outside the minnows of European football with this bad attendance...and the pathetic HNS will continue to say the league is in good shape (it has improved on the field a bit, but largely overblown, Croatian clubs haven't made the knockout stage of Euro competition since the late 90s and only twice since independence, in recent seasons alone we've seen Ostersunds, Partizan, Ludogorets, Maribor, Liberec etc.. do it)

Jesus, how big are these stadiums with 500 people in them, just for a sense of what it must look like?

 

[Acallabeth]

Jesus, how big are these stadiums with 500 people in them, just for a sense of what it must look like?

At least these guy pay for their tickets (I hope). SKA-Khabarovsk made the game against Lokomotiv free, though this time it was just -11. Like 4k fans showed up to watch their idols park their bus like there's no tomorrow, but no bus can withstand a freight train, so Loko won the game in the 93rd minute after a dramatic penalty kick:



Spartak avenged their humilating 1st leg loss with a fiery 3-1 win over Zenit, which included multiple great saves, injuries, Spartak's 98th minute goal and one of the most beautiful goals of the season:



I'm especially happy for this 1st kick guy, because I know him personally.



Lokomotiv's lead increased to 6 points

 

[cgf]

I really like their defender Makino, bit short for a CB, but other than that, he's very solid. I still wonder why he didn't make it in Germany where other Japanese have done very well.

He was only in germany for a year, on a Koln squad that got relegated that season before Stoger & Schmadtke stabilized the club. Dunno if he could've made it in other circumstances, but that wasn't a great situation for anyone to make it in the BuLi.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Jesus, how big are these stadiums with 500 people in them, just for a sense of what it must look like?

Well it helps that there was a perfect storm that all the plastic clubs/Zagreb suburb teams (which is half the league) all played at home. Yet doesn't explain the low attendance for Cibalia-Rijeka, two decently supported clubs and even Dinamo away at Rudes (not positive if the Dinamo ultras are still boycotting, they change their mind every 2 months )

Slaven and Inter are the smallest stadiums, both under 5K capacity, both their grounds are basically the pitch and one main stand, Slaven's ground is basically surrounded by advertising billboards
Slaven: http://drava.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/stadion.jpg
Inter: http://media.gettyimages.com/photos...ium-during-their-croatian-picture-id114112543

Rudes and Lokomotiva share the Kranjceviceva stadium which is very outdated, one seated stand plus standing section on the opposite sides, behind both goals no fan seating/standing. Lokomotiva are a "plastic" club (they have tradition, played many seasons in the old Yugoslav top tier) but prior to Dinamo taking them over as their de facto B team they were toiling in the third tier. They have absolutely no fans. Rudes have no tradition, first ever season in the top flight and only in the 2nd tier for less than 10 years, they promoted unexpectedly and they have a small fanbase to begin with but they are playing at a neutral venue as well as their home ground didn't get a license.
http://sportnews.hr/images/3.HNL_2017_18/Zagreb/IMG_0118.png

In fact that's one of the biggest debates in this upcoming Croatian FA presidential election, how catastrophic the infrastructure in the country is for football when every neighbor, even poor countries, have better facilities and a national team camp. Problem with Suker is he has visions of building a big 60-70K seater in Zagreb which will never be sold out, just so Zagreb can host a CL/EL final one day when the reality is the national team doesn't even have a training camp, most clubs don't have training facilities etc...

sorry for the long post but I'm getting fired up over this FA election yet bound to be disappointed

 

[maclean]

sorry for the long post but I'm getting fired up over this FA election yet bound to be disappointed

It was interesting for me at least! Plus it's always nice to hear about an FA being in even worse shape than the Czech one

 

[John Pedro]

Luan walking over some Argentinians in the Libertadores final. Gremio leading 2-0 in the halftime. Gremio beat Lanus 1-0 in Brazil in the first leg.

 

[ecemleafs]

big win for the rangers over aberdeen to move in to 2nd. came at a price though as summer signing ryan jack was sent off for the 4th time already this season lol.

edit: 5th time. he was also sent off in a behind closed doors match against morton.

 

[YNWA14]

Luan walking over some Argentinians in the Libertadores final. Gremio leading 2-0 in the halftime. Gremio beat Lanus 1-0 in Brazil in the first leg.

Still surprised he hasn't been picked up by a bigger club. Is he the best player in the league?

 

[John Pedro]

Still surprised he hasn't been picked up by a bigger club. Is he the best player in the league?

Hernanes (former Juve/Lazio) has arrived and gave him a run for his money this season, but Luan still is the best one.

In other news, Kluivert scored again for Ajax yesterday, but they couldn't hold on to win... it sucks cause PSV and AZ keep finding ways to win. Ajax needs to at least qualify for UCL to save this season... it's been so frustrating watching them play under Keizer.

 

[John Pedro]

Ajax beat PSV 3-0. Neres scored and assisted, now up to 7 goals and 7 assist in 13 games (3 as a sub).

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Shits going down at Benfica.

 

[YNWA14]

Finally got caught up on some of my Eredivisie backlog.

Have to say Ajax though inconsistent have such an incredibly talented base of young players right now. The obvious ones are Kluivert, Dolberg, Neres, van de Beek and de Ligt who all have very strong ceilings (though I'm a bit lower on Dolberg than most people)...but one guy who has stood out of late in a big way is Frenkie de Jong. Goodness he is a joy to watch on the ball with his technique and ability to spread the ball -- so elegant. He's being used at CB at the moment but something I'm still not 100% convinced on is his ability to keep up athletically. If he develops a little more physically he could be an absolute gem of a player.