Every now and then I like to start threads to see what public opinion on 442 is, and why.

I much prefer ACL football to HAL football. This is on the occasions when Aussie teams play overseas opposition.

 I'm fed up with the stale old 10 team HAL format with no local team to support. The standard of the opposition  is much higher in the ACL. The domestic teams and domestic players of South Korea and Japan seem better than ours, whilst China have some really high quality imports in their best teams.

Even though some have cogently argued there are only about five regular teams from each of China, Japan and South Korea,  who represent these leagues on a regular basis, interspersed with the odd team from Thailand, Vietnam, etc, it makes for interesting comparisons with our club teams.

Few spectators turn up live to watch ACL football in Australian home games compared to HAL games. It might the the case that Adelaide ACL crowds are closer in size to their HAL crowds.



Thoughts?

I enjoy Aus clubs in the ACL despite the poor showing of late. It is a shame the same level of interest is not shown by the fans it is a lot better watching Sydney play strong teams from Asia then them having a practice run with a Wellington Phoenix.

This has always been my attitude, but others cannot share it given the lower attendance numbers at ACL games.

If the argument proffered is that mid-week football is more inconvenient and difficult to  attend, on the other hand  huge numbers turn up to watch Arsenal and other big European teams even in midweek when they visit Australia.

Some of the players in the CSL teams are as good as the better European players.

For me and other posters in the regions, devoid of a local HAL team, the  ACL also provides parochial interest.

I want any HAL team to beat any foreign opposition.

The quality of the ACL far outweighs the HAL.  It's the best.  The games mean something. 

WSW winning the ACL had more meaning to me than any "grand final" (pfft) in the HAL.  

Agree.  As painful as it is, if there were no other Australian teams left in the ACL, I would support Victory. 

WSW winning the ACL was by far the biggest achievement for me in Aussie club football too. 

The ACL is a joke. Watching the middle eastern teams flop around is embarrassing and if the Arabs didn't have the money to control things, they'd be reprimanded. 

Watching the east Asian Japanese and Korean teams is actually good however, they play some decent football. 

well nothing is perfect BETHFC.
Thats the comp and the middle eastern teams don't bother me tbh just part of the competition.
Agree, the Jap/Korean teams are very worthwhile watching - good football and always a huge challenge for any of our AL clubs.
Chinese are getting better.
Decentric, I support both comps but I do enjoy the ACL for it ads variety/challenge and its the top comp for our region just as euro CL so whats not to like about it, its the yardstick for our clubs competing.
Its a shame crowds aren't bigger locally for the ACL but thats forever going to be a problem in this country from the past to present.

one of the most intresting facts in ACL is playing style from other sides are so different  with domestic clubs, clubs not familiar with each other especially when HAL plays the big three leagues, that makes the matches unpredictable and teams plays wide open football, creat more chances than in domestic tournaments

Not going to lie, also watching some of the big name foreign players the Chinese clubs have is pretty good as well - even better when we beat them.

Fuck that, the Middle Eastern teams poor sportsmanship is a blight on the game. Watching that Saudi team doing everything the could to cheat the Wanderers a few years back was disgusting. If our HAL teams played so embarrassingly we'd be kicked out of the competition. 

The ACL every day, always great to see matches against the best from Asia.

Definitely the ACL is the pinnacle and the highest quality. You want to be competing at the highest level and this is why the current structure that creates a financial eco-system that doesn't let us compete financially at that level and that hampers the development of players is problematic and needs to be addressed.

If the FFA wants football to grow, we need to have clubs that are competitive at the highest possible level in our confederation and we need to be producing players that can compete at the highest level and that makes our national team competitive at the highest international level.

so, whats any different to the similar cheating type teams in the CL we've all watched over the years.
I don't like it just as much - heck watching those acting latinos/euro offenders are just as bad.
Its the refs/officials you should be pointing at more so - they are the ones allowing it in the first place.
Despite those issues they still provide a huge challenge compared to the usual AL comp - even the cheating test your teams resolve/composure that isn't as prevalent here.
It sucks but how it is.

Do you prefer green or blue or apples or oranges or drama or comedy.
Can't you just like both?

I think our refereeing makes us seriously uncompetitive

asian refs are far more harsh with red cards and pens

Yes, one can like both.

However, one league draws bigger crowds in Australia.

Exactly where I am, love em both but the international flavour takes it the step up.
As mentioned by grazor, officials vary, different to the regular comps and thats everywhere.
Thats another challenge not just the your opponent.
We have to get better mentally and technically full stop.

I like the ACL if only to remind everyone that we are the only club to have actually won it :D

i dont like the east and west split. it's clearly just pandering to the middle eastern interests.  

I can tolerate the east/west split for the group stage, but it should be a free for all from the round of 16 onwards.

The West Asian half hasn't won it in a while. 

The only joke is the current HAL teams competing and embarrassing themselves in the ACL. 

The ACL, the best football competition on the continent.

Unlike the predictable a-league where its always the same 10 teams playing week in week out. 

A much harder challenge in the ACL where the games more interesting especially away from home and gives a better indication of the standard of the Australian teams too. 

I was wondering whether we were going backwards or the comp has gotten harder

I thought I'd look at our performance against each nation for the past few years. Its not a lot to go on but you could tell a story that china has improved very rapidly, japan is taking the comp seriously as a result and we have actually improved against south korea

Points per game and GD per game
australia v south korea

2010 1

2014 0.8
2015 0.75
2016 2
2017 1.1

Australia v Japan

2010 0.75

2014 1.5
2015 1.5
2016 1.25
2017 0.5

Australia v China

2010 1

2014 2
2015 1.5
2016 1.5
2017 0.75

It would be interesting to see how Sydney FC will go tonight, in terms of Aussie teams competing in recent years for me its the best squad in terms of quality, experience and top of that a very good coach tactically. 

Like always the quality of foreigners will make that true difference which i feel Sydney have, but most importantly the rest of team have played at this level before which is important.  

The only issue is perhaps the bench depth, but David Carney has shown he can make a difference on his good day. 

this match will be interesting because usually when CSL clubs faces HAL clubs, Australia side will be totally different compare with the season they qualified to ACL, usually they are lower-ranked in HAL ladder when playing ACL but the Chinese side are powerhouses in CSL.

this time things will be different, as the best Australian side play against 11th team in CSL

there is a shift of power in ACL happened in recent seasons, with Chinese Super League tops the ACC ranking for first time in January
https://footyrankings.com/afc-ranking/crank2018/

K-League faces a biggest problem in recent years that is lack of investment, with some of the local talent transfered to Japan and China in early age, their performance in ACL drops rapidlly, in early 2010's almost all of the 4 Korean clubs in the tournament are hot favorites but this season I think Jeongbuk Hyundai will probablly be the only Korea side that have actually chances to go far in the competition.

the follower table shous interest facts of the change of strenghth in ACL quarter-final slots



in early years J League doesn't take ACL seriously, CSL and K-League compete hard between 2004-2006, then 2007-2011 are the years major competition between K and J, since 2012 the situation is geting more and more complex as CSL rises rapidlly 

At least our teams play the game instead of theatrically rolling around or spitting on players.