This is it! Tomorrow is the big day! Enthusiasm has finally reset, and we are set for the first round of the Asia U21 Championships!
Our group currently consists of Philippines U21 (16), Hong Kong U21 (17), Korea U21 (62), UAE U21 (72), Vietnam U21 (76) and Pakistan U21 (96). We are the third seed, ranked 53rd in the World.
Here is a bit of write up, where we take a look at how our roster stacks up against our opponents'.
Pakistan U21: 2nd December 2019As of now, Pakistan has only called up 3 players, two with poor game shape. Would they add anymore player into their roster?
If there are no roster changes, a W would be in the bag as they would have to play with 2 lucky fans.
Vietnam U21: 9th December 2019Vietnam U21 has 13 players on their roster as of today. On Nguyen
(47173044) is their most expensive player, and apart from Amir Quiyum, our roster is comparable to them (since our only other 5 digit salary player has poor game shape and is sadly on a team that has been inactive for a week). Should there be no changes until then, Amir Quiyum should be our difference maker.
UAE U21: 16th December 2019With 17 players in their roster, UAE U21 has a pretty decent squad, with two players earning 5 digits a week. Rahman Isam
(47173182) and Kalil Ibraheem Abu-Najjar
(46865861) both earn 14k and 11k respectively. This is going to be a tough game, hopefully Tan Leong Kwan's manager has logged in and have his game shape sorted out, or else we might face some problems against them. That said, if our players are in top game shape, we might be able to grind out a positive result.
Hong Kong U21: 30th December 2019Gotta be realistic: this is a sure lose game for us. They have 3 players who earn more than Amir, including their great titan Ling Huy Hoang
(46797549) who has a 50k salary, while the player with the lowest salary on their roster earns more than Murphy Ang, who is currently our second highest paid player (due to game shape issues). Probably the only way we can stand a chance is if BB-Anthony trains all our players xD
Philippines U21: 6th January 2020We're in for a bad start to the year (sadly) as we're pitted against top seeds Philippines U21. If the game was played today, right now, we would win 50-0 for sure as they still haven't called up any players yet. But sadly it's still weeks away (and they would probably call up their players tomorrow anyway) so it's definitely a loss against Asia's pedigree team.
Korea U21: 13 January 2020They're ranked above UAE U21, but a first glimpse on the surface of their squad, they seem to not have as good a squad as the latter. However it's still early, and players can improve throughout the course of the season. They currently have two players earning five digit salaries: Kim Hee-Tae
(46905374) with 14k salary and Shin Ji-Dong
(47173081), who earns 10k a week. After two guaranteed losses, it's refreshing to play against a team closer to our quality. Let's hope we can pull off a W from this as well.
Based on the current squad quality (and assuming Philippines U21 are their future self), we should be able to qualify for the next round in 3rd place. However, I hope all managers continue to train their players and manage their game shape well. Our performance is in your hands. Let's hope this will be a decent campaign!
An update on the previous game shape issues:
We had 5 players with poor game shape. I have messaged their respective managers, and only got a response from 1, who has explained about the situation and thus has his player restored into the team. A further check on the managers of the other 4 made me realize that their managers have not logged in for a week, hence I might look to players belonging to more active managers for the meantime.