Episode 59: ACL Elite, ACL Two, FIFA ASEAN Cup, Gulf Cup, International Friendlies, Asian Games

Yeah.

Um, we're gonna start off, uh, with the club side of things, like always.

Uh, the AFC Champions League Elite, recapping match day one.

Uh, we'll start off with the west region.

Um, all right.

So, in match day one, Neftchi of Uzbekistan beat Air Force Club of Iraq, one-nil.

Shabab Al-Ahli beats Tractor one-nil.

Um, Al Shamal and Al Ettifaq drew one-one, a very exciting game, and Al Shamal, uh, played very well.

Um, Al Ahli of Saudi, defending, two-time defending champions, drew against Pastorkor one-one as well.

Um, you know, like their city rivals, Al Ettifaq, they also, uh, got a, a last-minute equalizer.

Uh, Esteghlal defeated Al Sadd three-nil, um, winning against them for the first time in, I believe, over two decades, if I'm not mistaken.

Uh, and Al Qadsia, who are making their Champions League Elite or Champions League debut, they beat Al Wasl of the UAE 2-1 in a very good performance.

Al Ain defeated Al Nassr 4-0 in a game where, uh, we're gonna be talking about, and then Al Hilal, record title winners, beat Ararate 2-1.

So Arya, I'll come to you first.

Um, any, anything, uh, you wanna mention about any of these games?

Um, I guess let's just go one by one.

Neftchi against, uh, Air Force, probably the, the, the game that probably the least amount of people watch.

It's, on paper, doesn't look like the most interesting game, but it was a, it was a very good, very good game.

Um, if you're like a football or Asian football nerd, this is the type of game that you're gonna enjoy.

It was very good.

Um, as for Shabab Al-Ahli against Tractor, we, we talked about Tractor.

We talked about the whole situation about Iranian football, which we're gonna talk about in abundance today.

Uh, they were straight doo-doo.

I'm not gonna lie to you.

Tractor were awful.