Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Jakarta: Home United capitalised on a series of defensive blunders from Persija Jakarta to seal a historic 3-1 win and with it a place in the 2018 AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal Final.
The visitors looked the more assured side all night and never looked like surrendering the 3-2 advantage they held from the first leg, eventually running out 6-3 winners on aggregate.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Jakarta: A brace from Shahril Ishak helped Home United to a stunning 3-1 win over Persija Jakarta at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on Tuesday, sealing a 6-3 aggregate victory in their AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal Semi-final on Tuesday.
With three wins in their previous three matches at home in this campaign, the Indonesian side came into the second leg confident they could overturn the 3-2 deficit from the first leg but were dealt an early blow when a mistake from goalkeeper Rizky Darmawan gifted Ishak his first of the evening.
But no less than a minute later and the home side were gifted an equaliser when Novri Setiawan was taken down in the box, with Marko Simic converting the resulting spot-kick.
Scores weren’t level for long, however, as the referee again pointed to the spot, this time awarding Home United a penalty after Rezaldi Hehanusa was adjudged to have fouled Ishak in the area.
The 34-year-old Singaporean international stepped up to take the spot-kick only to see his effort saved by Rizky, but the keeper could do nothing about the follow up as Ishak made amends for his miss to restore the visitors’ lead.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Jakarta: The 2018 AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal Semi-final second leg match between Indonesia's Persija Jakarta and Home United of Singapore on Tuesday set a new match attendance record of 62,198 fans.
Persija, however, were unable to overcome their visitors, losing 6-3 on aggregate but The Kemayoran Tigers fans exited this year’s competition boasting an incredible record in AFC Cup history.
The Gelora Bung Karno stadium first made headlines when Persija welcomed Tampines Rovers in their Group H campaign in February, attracting a crowd of 49,056, before hosting Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim on Matchday Five which broke previous AFC Cup records with an attendance of 60,157.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Kuala Lumpur: The-AFC.com has announced that Al Ahed's Mohammad Kdouh is the winner of the Goal of the Week presented by Allianz for this week's AFC Cup games after a public vote on the AFC’s official website.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Yangon: Ceres Negros of the Philippines made it through to the AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal final for the second year in a row on Wednesday, progressing 6-5 on aggregate despite falling to a 3-2 loss to Myanmar’s Yangon United in their semi-final second leg.
The first leg finished 4-2 to Ceres, but anyone at Thuwanna Youth Training Centre Stadium who thought the outcome was a foregone conclusion was forced to reassess in just the second minute, as Yangon burst out of the traps and took the lead through a wonderful Kosuke Uchida strike.
Ceres reacted well to that early blow and restored parity and their two-goal aggregate advantage just six minutes later, as Manuel Ott robbed Aung Yan Lin deep in the Yangon half, fed Stephan Schrock, and then tucked home a return pass from Schrock after the German-Filipino had powered past the challenges of Kyaw Khant Min and Kekere Moukailou.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Beirut: Reigning AFC Cup champions Air Force Club secured their place in the West Asia Zone final for a second straight year with a 5-3 aggregate victory over Al Ahed after a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their West Asia Zonal Semi-final on Tuesday.
Needing to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg, Al Ahed had the better of the early running at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, with Mohamad Haidar in particular looking quite threatening.
But against the run of play it was the visitors who took the lead when Iraqi international Humam Tareq threaded a perfectly weighted ball through to Hammadi Ahmad who made no mistake to put Air Force Club ahead after 23 minutes.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Dhaka: India’s JSW Bengaluru clinched the Inter-Zone Semi-Final qualification ticket from Group E with a thumping 4-0 away victory against Bangladesh’s Dhaka Abahani Limited on Matchday Six of the 2018 AFC Cup group stage on Wednesday.
The visitors started on the front foot and were ahead inside 13 minutes when captain Sunil Chhetri led a quick counter-attack, embarking on a solo run from the halfway line before squaring for Daniel Segovia who was left with a simple tap-in to open the scoring.
Chhetri was again the side’s prime creator three minutes later, as he controlled Erik Paartalu’s long pass inside the opposition area and laid off a pass for Nishu Kumar to strike into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Bengaluru’s dominance continued after the break as Kumar doubled his tally in the 58th minute. Chhetri set up his teammate with a lobbed pass behind the defence and the number 22 chested the ball down before applying a composed finish on the half-volley from close range to make it 3-0.