Surprise group winners...BG Pathum United striker
Ikhsan Fandi celebrates scoring against United CityWORLD SERVICEThe one Saudi team to not
make it, Al Taawoun, fell foul
of Al Duhail. The free-scoring
Qataris, taken over by Argentine
Hernan Crespo in March, have the
firepower with EdmilsonJunior finishing
as top scorer in the group stage with
eight goals. With Kenya’s Michael
Olunga and Qatar’s star striker Almoez
Ali in attack, they have a front-line that
can score for fun, yet the defence has
issues – despite the presence of
Belgium centre-back Toby Alderweireld.
Al Rayyan, even without injured
ColombianJames Rodriguez, made it
through as one of the best runners-up
to give Qatar a second representative in
the second round.
The UAE saw Sharjah and AlJazira
exit but Shabab Al Ahli recovered from
a shaky start to give the country a team
in the last16, while Foolad made sure
that Iranian fans have a club to cheer
following the disqualification of giants
Persepolis and Esteghlal. Nasaf Qarshiof
Uzbekistan complete the eight teams
from the western zone.
There were encouraging
performances from Mumbai City who
became the first Indian team to win
a game in the tournament and even
finished second behind Al Shabab.
From 2005 to 2019, only one
western team (Al Sadd in 2011) lifted
the trophy as the east dominated. Yet
that era feels over now with Al Hilal
winning two of the last three.
On the eastern side, the Southeast
Asian countries Vietnam, Malaysia and
Thailand hosted the five groups. While
Japan and South Korea contributed
five of the eight teams to progress
(Urawa Reds, Yokohama F. Marinos
and Vissel Kobe from theJ.League and
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Daegu FC
from the K-League), others floundered.
With the Chinese Super League
season scheduled to start at a similar
time (though it did not), teams knewthey would struggle to either leave the
country due to lockdown or return home
in time due to strict entry requirements.
It led to Shanghai Port withdrawing and
the other two, Guangzhou FC (Asian
champions in 2013 and 2015) and
Chinese champions Shandong Taishan,
to send youth teams. They collected
just one point between them, scoring
two goals and conceding 48.
Australian woes in the tournament
continued. Melbourne City looked like
becoming only the second A-League
team to progress to the second round
since 2016 but stumbled right at the
end. Sydney FC however,
were never in contention.
The surprise in the east was
that 2012 and 2020 champions
Ulsan Hyundai of South Korea
as well as Kawasaki Frontale,
who have won four of the last
fiveJapanese titles, finished behind
Johor Darul Ta’zim and were eliminated.
JDT became Malaysia’s first-ever
representatives in the knockout stages
and, while they were helped by playing
all the games in their home stadium,
it was a significant achievement.
Southeast Asia has another team in
the next round as BG Pathum United
of Thailand won their group. Another
notable name in the knockout stage
is Kitchee of Hong Kong squeezing
through behind big-spending Vissel
Kobe ofJapan.
The eastern zone starts its second
round in August while those from the
west have to wait until next February. It
means that the sense that there are
two separate tournaments in Asia has
strengthened but it still looks like one of
the big names will be there at the end.
For a full results round-up and the
final standings, turn to page 94.Eliminated...Al
Sadd midfielder
Santi CazorlaHolders...
Saudi side Al
Hilal safely
advanced
throughAl Sadd were seen as good enough
to not only get out of their group
but to win the whole thing