Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: The AFC Cup has reached the knockout stage in both the West and ASEAN Zones, with the first legs of the Zonal semi-finals to be played in the coming days.
Crucial fixtures with take place in Jordan, Iraq, Singapore and the Philippines between Monday and Wednesday, ahead of which the-AFC.com picks out four things to look out for as excitement builds on the continent.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Singapore: Persija Jakarta and their Croatian striker Marko Simic have enjoyed a memorable AFC Cup so far. Both know a new challenge arises with the Knockout Stage beginning on Tuesday against Home United.
Indonesia's Persija Jakarta have already broken a series of records in this year's AFC Cup - twice setting attendance records in the Group Stages - but the milestone that the club would most like to achieve is becoming the first Indonesian side to lift the continental title.
To do so, they will need to overcome several hurdles, the first of which being Singapore's Home United in the ASEAN Zone semi-finals with the first leg coming at Jalan Besar Stadium on Tuesday, before the return meeting on May 15.
The-AFC.com spoke to Persija's top scorer in the tournament, Marko Simic, to get his thoughts on the tie as well as his experiences of the competition so far.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Amman: An all-Jordan encounter between Al Jazeera and Al Faisaly will kick off the AFC Cup knockout rounds when the sides meet in the first leg of the West Zonal semi-final on Monday.
Al Jazeera’s form in the group stage was excellent as they won four of their six games and remained unbeaten to finish above 2016 and 2017 champions Air Force Club of Iraq to repeat their feat of 2015, when they also advanced to the knockout stage.
Al Faisaly, meanwhile, finished on top of Group C after also winning four of their six games, and the Amman side have pedigree in the competition, having been crowned champions in both 2005 and 2006, before finishing as runners-up in 2007.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Fans were treated to yet another scintillating week of AFC Cup action across the continent last week as eight spots in the knockout rounds were confirmed.
A glut of penalties and away wins, as well as the competition's leading scorers continuing to produce the goods are among the highlights of the-AFC.com's look back at the most eye-catching statistics from the latest round of fixtures.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: The-AFC.com looks back on the week's AFC Cup action through the words of some of the key men involved. The Knockout Stages were the main focus this time out, with the West Asia and ASEAN Zone semi-finals decided.
We started very hard in Johor. We saved I think eight players there from our first 11 and we lost three-nil. After that we collected points from all our home games and today we could win, so it’s very good for Persija.
Persija Jakarta coach Stefano Cugurra hailing his side’s performance in this year’s AFC Cup after they qualified for the ASEAN Zonal Semi-finals
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Singapore: Indonesian giants Persija Jakarta booked their spot in the 2018 AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal semi-finals with a comprehensive 4-2 win over Tampines Rovers on Tuesday.
The visitors were in control of the match throughout the 90 minutes and scored four goals in a game for the third time this campaign as they made it four wins from six in one of the competition's most hard-fought groups.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bacolod: Two late goals from Izzdin Shafiq and Song Ui-young earned Home United a hard-fought 2-0 win over Ceres-Negros on Wednesday and with it a spot in the 2018 AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal Semi-finals.
The Filipino side knew just a draw at home would be enough to secure their spot in the knockout rounds, but they weren’t content with just sitting back for the point they needed.
Instead they dominated the proceedings in the first half, with the visitors pushed back deep to defend, but couldn’t find the key to unlock the Home United defence, with stars Stephan Schrock and Bienvenido Marañon guilty of wasting chances to give Risto Vidakovic’s side the lead.
That trend continued in the second half, with Marañon in particular proving to be incredibly wasteful in front of goal, while Rudy Khairullah also stood tall with a number of decisive saves.