1st match of the ACL Elite

Shandong are 5th in china


CCM team is a 442 by the looks of it after losing nisbet and balard

----------------------------Pavlesic--------------------------
---Doka-----Kaltak-----sainsbury----mauragis-------
-----------------------Tapp---------------------------------------
-Ngor----------------------------------------Feijao-------------
-------------------Mccalmont----------------------------------
------------Kuol--------Edmonson------------------------

di pizio away with u20s so early stages of the cup will be tricky

So excited to see sainsbury back 

I think 2-1 to them though it'll be hard to win in China 

will be hard especially with their squad gutted
but hoping for something special and eager to enjoy a game where i care about the result

sloppy goal to concede

keeper in no mans land neither claiming or sitting back for the save

ccm having most of the ball and chances in the first ten minutes so they might be in this despite conceding

Mariners have space to attack I think we can get one back 

ccm with not much ball and not very threatening the last 10 minutes 

set pieces have been really poor for ccm so far but the general play is pretty even at worst

They haven't played any competitive games it's a bit unfair 

tapp with a good drive through the midfield leading to a parry from the gk but no one is there for the follow up

I wish nisbet stayed 

it's reigning yellows, every time we have a transition shandong do a rugby tackle

have to reserve judgement on ngor and feijer so far. They've recruited well in the past even if players have had a slow start...

Feijar had kuol making a run into the box out wide but did a very poor shot from range instead

yeah acl elite+a league >spl for prepping for international football and we are probably a chance of going deep into the tournament with him

I really like how mariners play very attacking and direct 

doka and kaltak look like they are in preseason with some sloppy moments

still, had enough promising signs to feel we have a chance in the 2nd half?

Soft penalty but we'll take it 

what a gift of a penalty! should be another yellow too

would have 4 pens in the last international window if they start calling those

1-1!

Reckon we are good enough to win this, but even a draw away from home would be brilliant!

some dumb yellows from doka and edmonson, take the high ground and maybe shandong give away a couple more yellows which could cause real problems for them

watching the replay it was very poor reffing, doka did nothing wrong and there should ahve been a couple of yellows to shandong

how is the ref not giving a yellow for backchat there?

under the pump here in the 2nd half

this is how i expected the game to go, mariners ride it out at least for now but they don't look too comfortable absorbing pressure

poor giveaway from kaltak leads to a goal conceded

him and doka uncharacteristically off the pace this game

sainsbury hits the inside of the post off a corner, better delivery. The lead up was better too. A take on on the left wing opened up the space

set pieces much better since dokka replaced by roux

get the feeling if we can get out of this game with something it will really set the ccm up nicely

gotta find a way....

plays like that frustrate me

3 on 2 on the break away and we recycle posession then lose the ball

ccm concede a 3rd, all over

oh well

lots to work on

brantman has looked promising apart from finishing so far