AFC Champions League
Melbourne eliminated
The 2022 AFC Champions League East Asia group stage is over, and the most surprising thing is probably the elimination of Australian Premier League champions Melbourne City. They did not lose in six group games but did not qualify, the first time since the AFC Champions League was restructured in 2009. Is Melbourne City wronged?
1
All 38 unbeaten in the group have advanced
Since the restructuring of the AFC Champions League in 2009, in the previous 13 years, a team has been able to remain unbeaten in the group stage, and without exception has successfully entered the knockout stages.
In the first tournament after the restructuring in 2009, Saudi Al-Hilary in the West Asia region won 4 wins and 2 draws and accumulated 14 points, advancing as the first in the group, while the other Saudi team, the Etihad, won 3 and drew 12 points, also qualifying as the first in the group. In East Asia, Japan's Nagoya Whale and South Korea's Pohang Iron & Steel both advanced with 3 wins and 3 draws and 12 points, ranking first in their respective groups.
In 2010, Japan's Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka were the only two unbeaten teams in the group stage, the former winning all 6 in the group stage and the latter advancing to the second place in the group with 3 wins and 3 draws.
In 2011, Qatar's THAAD was the only team in The West Asia region to be unbeaten in the group stage, ranking first in the group with 2 wins, 4 draws and 10 points, while in the East Asian region, South Korea's Suwon Samsung and Japan's Kashima Antlers were unbeaten in the group stage, both 3 wins and 3 draws and 12 points, all of which also qualified smoothly.
In 2012, it set a record for the most unbeaten teams in the group stage in a single season, with a total of 6 teams. The West Asian zone includes The Peninsula of the United Arab Emirates and Etihad of Saudi Arabia (both 5 wins and 1 draw with 16 points), Saudi Arabia's Hilal (3 wins, 3 draws and 12 points), and East Asia includes South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai (4 wins, 2 draws and 14 points), Seongnam Ichiwa and Japan's Nagoya Whales (both 2 wins, 4 draws and 10 points).
In the 2013 season when Guangzhou won the championship, Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahli and Japan's Bai Helios both won 4 and drew 2 and accumulated 14 points, and the Uzbek Benyudko team, which was temporarily arranged to participate in the East Asian region, had a record of 2 wins and 4 draws and 10 points. All three teams also advanced as the first place in the group.
In the 2014 season, one team in East and West Asia remained unbeaten in the group stage, namely Pohang Steel in South Korea (12 points from 3 wins and 3 draws) and Vlad in Iran (14 points from 4 wins and 2 draws).
In the following two seasons, only the West Asian zone went unbeaten. In the 2015 season, al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates and Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia both accumulated 12 points with 3 wins and 3 draws; in the 2016 season, Lokomotiv Uzbek Tashkent and Iran's Zopahhan, the former accumulated 10 points for 2 wins and 4 draws, and the latter had 14 points for 4 wins and 2 draws.
In the 2017 and 2018 AFC Champions Leagues, the number of unbeaten teams in the group stage reached 5. Guangzhou's 2 wins and 4 draws in 2017 have accumulated 10 points and 12 points from 3 wins and 3 draws in 2018; Japan's Kawasaki Forward has also remained unbeaten with 2 wins and 4 draws and 10 points in the 2017 season; Qatar's Lehovia (the predecessor of Duhair) has also set a record of 4 wins, 2 draws and 14 points in 2017; and uae's Ain and Saudi Arabia's Hilal have both achieved 3 wins, 3 draws and 12 points in the 2017 season. In addition to Guangzhou in the 2018 season, Qatar's Duhair tied Kashima's record for the highest group stage in 2010 with six total wins, and Saudi Arabia's Al Ahli (4 wins and 2 draws), Iran's Estegrar (3 wins and 3 draws), and UAE Ain (2 wins and 4 draws) also did not lose.
In the 2019 season, Iran's Zopakhan team won 3 and drew 3 and accumulated 12 points, becoming the only team unbeaten in the group stage. In the 2020 season, Beijing Guoan and South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai are both 5 wins, 1 draw and 16 points to remain unbeaten. In the 2021 season, only Iran's tractor factory team accumulated 10 points with 2 wins and 4 draws, becoming the only team to remain unbeaten.
In other words, in the group stage of the AFC Champions League in the 13 years before this year, there were 38 times when the team remained unbeaten in the group stage, and they all made it to the knockout stage without exception.
2
Is Melbourne City wronged?
In this year's AFC Champions League, Saudi Shabab in the West Asian region has the best performance, with 5 wins and 1 draw and 16 points, successfully advancing as the first place in the second group; Iran's Vlad team has 3 wins and 3 draws and 12 points, advancing as the first place in the third group. The only two teams in the West Asia region also qualified.
In the East Asia region, Thailand's Baton United in the seventh group and Melbourne City in Australia are 3 wins, 3 draws and 12 points, and the relationship between the two teams, goals difference and goals scored are the same, but because in terms of total goal difference, Melbourne City is 2 goals less and ranks second in the group, and Baton United is the first in the group to reach the east Asian quarterfinals.
South Korean league champions Jeonbuk Hyundai also won 3 and drew 3 with 12 points, ranking second in the eighth group stage and also successfully reaching the quarterfinals. The Yokohama Mariners finished at the top of the group with 13 points. If you add that Japan's Kobe Victory Boats, which have only played four games in the tenth group, have won 2 wins, drawn 2 and accumulated 8 points, the group is also unbeaten, and the number of unbeaten teams in this year's AFC Champions League group stage is equal to the record of 6 teams set 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, Melbourne City did not qualify without losing. What is even more tragic is that this is the first time that the Australian Premier League team has remained unbeaten in the AFC Champions League group stage. In the 14 years since the AFC Champions League was restructured, of the 464 participating teams (times), there have been only 44 unbeaten in the group stage, with a total probability of less than one in ten (9.5%), and 43 unbeaten teams have advanced to the knockout stage, but the historic first, this 2.3% chance of Melbourne City catching up!
Since the official launch of the AFC Champions League in August 2002, the last team to unbeaten in the group stage and fail to qualify was Changchun Yatai in the Chinese Super League. In the 2008 season, the year before the AFC Champions League was fully restructured, Yatai ranked second in the fifth group with 3 wins, 3 draws and 10 points, behind Australia's Adelaide United (4 wins and 2 draws and 14 points). However, the rule at that time was that the first place in each group qualified for the promotion, and the East Asian region directly produced the final four.
After 14 years, today's Melbourne City team has tasted the "bitter fruit" of the Yatai team, but the situation in Melbourne City is completely different from that of Yatai.
Before the start of this year's AFC Champions League, the Chinese Super League team Shanghai Haigang was trapped by the epidemic and could not go out and temporarily withdrew, leaving only three teams left in the tenth group. As a result, the AFC had to temporarily change the qualifying rules, and when comparing the second place, because there were only three teams in the tenth group, the second place in the other four groups in east Asia had to first remove the results of the two matches with the fourth place team in the same group, and then compare it with the second place in the tenth group. In Melbourne City's record of 3 wins and 3 draws, after eliminating the two victories of philippine united teams, only 1 win and 3 draws, ranking fourth in the second place in the five East Asian group, and can only be eliminated with "injustice"!
Under normal circumstances, if Shanghai Harbour does not withdraw from the tournament, or announces its withdrawal before the play-offs, the AFC can allow the teams that need to play the play-offs directly into the group stage, ensuring that each group is a four-team team. In this case, melbourne city team in the unbeaten, there is no suspense in the knockout rounds. But now, they can only accept the small probability of undefeated out.
To some extent, this is actually a wake-up call for the Chinese Super League team to participate in foreign wars in the future: if you have to choose to withdraw from the competition, you must make a decision early, because in addition to ensuring your own interests, you may also need to consider trying not to harm the interests of your opponents. After all, in international football exchanges, there are no eternal friends and enemies, only unchanging interests. Harming the interests of others, no one knows whether their own interests can be maximized in the future.