{"id":2903,"date":"2022-10-20T15:08:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T04:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/?p=2903"},"modified":"2026-09-24T21:47:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:17:45","slug":"history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/","title":{"rendered":"History beckons in AFC Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 id=\"kuala-lumpur-last-hosted-the-afc-cup-final-in-2019-when-the-intimate-kuala-lumpur-stadium-provided-the-neutral-backdrop-for-the-clash-between-lebanon-s-al-ahed-and-north-korea-s-4-25\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Kuala Lumpur last hosted the AFC Cup Final in 2019, when the intimate Kuala Lumpur Stadium provided the neutral backdrop for the clash between Lebanon\u2019s Al Ahed and North Korea\u2019s 4.25.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That year, the local team who plays out of the 18,000-capacity venue, KL City FC, were relegated from Malaysia\u2019s top tier, winning just four of 22 games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If any of the KL City FC players or officials watched that year\u2019s final, they could only look on with envy. Continental glory for the small club from the suburbs of one of Asia\u2019s iconic cities was but a pipedream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet, just a few short years later, having survived the COVID pandemic, KL City FC stand on the precipice of completing one of the most remarkable and unlikely turnarounds in Asian football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This Saturday they will host Omani side Al-Seeb, themselves out to create history as the first Omani side to win the competition, in the final of the AFC Cup at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has been a stunning turnaround in fortunes for a club that was for so long a &#8220;basket case&#8221; of Malaysian football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKL football was a basket case,\u201d veteran commentator Dez Corkhill told <strong><em>The Asian Game Podcast<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey were regularly bottom of the table ten years ago, they were mired in all kinds of allegations of corruption and betting scandals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey got very few fans. There was a hardcore, maybe 1500 possibly up to 2000, who turned up to the games week in, week out. They didn&#8217;t have a home, they couldn&#8217;t play at their home stadium and Stan(ley Bernard) walked into that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo the team got promoted as the third-placed team in the Premier League. Stan walked into that and he made some football decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-x\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udc40 Bojan Hodak with his eyes on the prize!<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/AFCCup2022?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AFCCup2022<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/MondayMotivation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MondayMotivation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Pm4yjwwFG1\">pic.twitter.com\/Pm4yjwwFG1<\/a><\/p>&mdash; #ChallengeLeague (@TheAFCGL) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheAFCGL\/status\/1579335937112539136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 10, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey don&#8217;t have the budget of Johor. I&#8217;ve got some inkling of the budgets that he works towards, and I know the budgets are amongst the lowest of the league, certainly amongst the lowest of those who pay their players in the league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo these are football decisions, but have helped Kuala Lumpur overcome supreme obstacles.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He continued: \u201cHopefully crowds will emerge and hopefully Stan\u2019s been able to put the club on a sound financial footing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut what they&#8217;ve achieved in this last year [Malaysian Cup victory] was astonishing enough. This [AFC Cup] is make believe stuff. For this club of this size to get where they have it&#8217;s make believe stuff, but it&#8217;s been done on the back of football decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"the-heartbeat-of-kl\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Heartbeat of KL<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kuala Lumpur is one of Asia\u2019s iconic city. Think of KL and you probably picture the Petronas towers, dominating a skyline of high rise skyscrapers you would expect in a global hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The football club bearing the name of the city is the antithesis of modern Kuala Lumpur. KL City FC is a small club. A club from the suburbs. A club for the working class. Their stadium may have an 18,000-capacity, but it\u2019s not often full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to journalist and broadcaster Keeshanan Sundaresan, the club embodies the spirit of the \u2018original\u2019 Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKuala Lumpur is an incredibly big city, but KL City do not necessarily reflect that,\u201d he explained on <strong><em>The Asian Game Podcast<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat I mean by that, it&#8217;s not in a very derogatory way or negative way whatsoever. It&#8217;s just a reflection of Malaysian society and Kuala Lumpur as a city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remember in the aftermath of that Malaysia Cup final, I remember having a chat with a friend of mine who&#8217;s a fan of KL, and he said something along the lines of, KL is essentially a city where people from all around the country come (and) park themselves here, try to make a living out of it. But essentially, you wipe away the little bits and things that make KL \u2018KL\u2019. The origin story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TAG TV: KL City FC brings pride to the original Kuala Lumpur\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZDXGs0SnfLw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe genesis of Kuala Lumpur city is not something that gets reminded or remembered all the time. Because (when) you come to KL now you&#8217;ve got influences from all around Asia, influences from all around Malaysia, different states, different dialects, different lingo. Everything is in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut what makes KL \u2018KL\u2019, the origins of Kuala Lumpur, that does not get remembered all along.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut through KL City, the individuals that were born and bred in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, in the flats that exists within the small townships in Kuala Lumpur, they get something to hold on to, to be remembered, to have a relationship with the essence of this place as a whole.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He continued: \u201cI think that&#8217;s the most powerful thing about this KL City story. From last year winning the Malaysia Cup, (to) this year, the run it is not about 80,000 people in a stadium week in week out. It&#8217;s about a smaller sized group of fans that have had such an incredible experience so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd I think one of the pinnacles of it was at the viewing parties that have been held right smack in the middle of the city (for) the last two away games. The atmosphere there has been absolutely incredible and they would probably (have had) just about 2000 people, but I could compare the intensity of it to like some stadium atmospheres where it has been 80,000 people packed into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo it&#8217;s been a really special journey so far, not just from a footballing point of view, but I think also from a cultural point of view for the city of Kuala Lumpur and its original people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"omani-history\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Omani History<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While it\u2019s easy to get swept away in the romance of the KL City FC story, their opponent\u2019s on Saturday night are making history all of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In making the final they have become the first Omani side to do so, and having won the West Asian Zone final 4-0 they pose a sizeable threat to the home side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey&#8217;ve got a left side player called (Ali) Al-Busaidi who&#8217;s a super little player,\u201d Corkhill explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe can play left (or) he can play right. I think he&#8217;s got a futsal background, because he can take players on, he can do the little dribbles and he crosses beautifully, but two footed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey&#8217;ve also got a fella who was at Sepahan last year, Muhsen (Al Ghassani) up front, and (Abdulaziz) Al Muqbali. So I think on the breakaway, they&#8217;re not one of these (teams) who\u2019ll pour forward, but when they do break they do get bodies into the penalty area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-x\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A goal reel that&#39;s been expanding with every round for the \ud83c\uddf4\ud83c\uddf2 Omani side&#8230;<br><br>\ud83d\udcf9 Every goal that set <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Seeb_SC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Seeb_SC<\/a> on their way to the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/AFCCupFinal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AFCCupFinal<\/a> \ud83c\udfc6 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/e8NqHlqN7T\">pic.twitter.com\/e8NqHlqN7T<\/a><\/p>&mdash; #ChallengeLeague (@TheAFCGL) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheAFCGL\/status\/1582403146898239491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 18, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBizarrely they\u2019ve sacked their coach since they made it into the into the final. So they&#8217;ve now got a local coach involved. I&#8217;ve never understood that mentality of changing a coach (before a Final).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey&#8217;ve now had the best run of form in the domestic league, where they\u2019re two time defending champions, after only getting promotion in 2017\/18, where they&#8217;d been also runs for a number of years.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He continued: \u201cSo they&#8217;re a newish team under a new local coach. But they&#8217;ve got some big scalps, they did really well they beat three-time&nbsp; winners of this competition in the group phases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWest Asian footballers tend to have this arrogance or cockiness that they are good enough to actually progress through. But traveling Omanis can perhaps just let the occasion get to them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo we&#8217;ll see if Al-Busaidi plays as well as he can do, and if Muhsen can move &#8211; he&#8217;s a very mobile striker &#8211; then KL may have one or two problems. I think it&#8217;ll be very, very cagey in the early stages, because KL don&#8217;t exactly come at you like a house on fire, and I think the Omanis will do the same as well. But then, I think once we get beyond the nervy first 30 minutes this could be a fascinating game of football.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"predictions\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Predictions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KL City FC may be the home side, but are they the favourites? Our expert guests provide their prediction ahead of Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>KEESHANAN SUNDARESAN<\/strong><br>\u201cLook, on Saturday, I&#8217;m going to do the studio show, but for a Malaysian broadcaster, not for the world feed, so I don&#8217;t have to be as objective as Dez is going to be with this prediction. I&#8217;m going to go a bit biased, a vintage KL City (performance), minimal possession, but a major smash and grab, 1-0 victory on the night. So hopefully, that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DEZ CORKHILL<\/strong><br>\u201cWell from a for a purely footballing perspective, you&#8217;ve got to say that Al-Seeb are favorites. Even though they&#8217;re coming to a foreign land, the way they&#8217;ve dispatched their teams in the group stages, the hurdles that they&#8217;ve overcome, and the money that they spend, they spend good money on their local players. Plus, West Asia have won 15 of 17 of the AFC Cups that have been fought for already. So I would say, and I hope I&#8217;m neutrally wrong, but I would say that Al-Seeb come into this match as favourites and they would probably take the win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>STANLEY BERNARD<\/strong><br>\u201cWe are the underdogs. This is absolutely spot on. Thanks for saying that, it helps. That&#8217;s exactly falling into where we are. We love punching above weight. So we will go in, we will keep the expectations realistic. But if they&#8217;re (Al-Seeb) going to win, they&#8217;ve got to work really hard. So my role here will be to keep the expectations a bit realistic and lower the energy a little bit until they get to the match actually. We\u2019re gonna enjoy (it), the club is enjoying the moment. So the approach would be the same; just going in with a lot of belief and try to make history again.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>PHOTO:<\/strong> the-AFC.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Listen to Episode 94 of <strong>The Asian Game Podcast<\/strong> as we preview the 2022 AFC Cup Final<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/theasiangame\/TAG_Episode_94.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kuala Lumpur last hosted the AFC Cup Final in 2019, when the intimate Kuala Lumpur Stadium provided the neutral backdrop for the clash between Lebanon\u2019s Al Ahed and North Korea\u2019s 4.25. That year, the local team who plays out of the 18,000-capacity venue, KL City FC, were relegated from Malaysia\u2019s top tier, winning just four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_gspb_post_css":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[449,514,382],"class_list":["post-2903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-afc-champions-league-two","tag-club-football","tag-kl-city-fc"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>History beckons in AFC Cup Final - The Asian Game<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ro_RO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"History beckons in AFC Cup Final - The Asian Game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kuala Lumpur last hosted the AFC Cup Final in 2019, when the intimate Kuala Lumpur Stadium provided the neutral backdrop for the clash between Lebanon\u2019s Al Ahed and North Korea\u2019s 4.25. That year, the local team who plays out of the 18,000-capacity venue, KL City FC, were relegated from Malaysia\u2019s top tier, winning just four [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Asian Game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-20T04:38:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-24T12:17:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/KL-Celebration.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@www.twitter.com\/PaulWilliams_85\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35d5fc2ea75ad8209bf01bf0eba938f2\"},\"headline\":\"History beckons in AFC Cup Final\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-20T04:38:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-24T12:17:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1700,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"AFC Champions League Two\",\"Club Football\",\"KL City FC\"],\"articleSection\":[\"ANALYSIS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ro-RO\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/\",\"name\":\"History beckons in AFC Cup Final - The Asian Game\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-20T04:38:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-24T12:17:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ro-RO\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ro-RO\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":780},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"History beckons in AFC Cup Final\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Asian Game\",\"description\":\"Your home of Asian football\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ro-RO\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Asian Game\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ro-RO\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Gradient-Main-White%404x.png?fit=1755%2C762&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Gradient-Main-White%404x.png?fit=1755%2C762&ssl=1\",\"width\":1755,\"height\":762,\"caption\":\"The Asian Game\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35d5fc2ea75ad8209bf01bf0eba938f2\",\"name\":\"Paul Williams\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ro-RO\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/PW.png?fit=96%2C96&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/PW.png?fit=96%2C96&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/PW.png?fit=96%2C96&ssl=1\",\"caption\":\"Paul Williams\"},\"description\":\"Paul Williams is an Adelaide-based football writer who has reported on the comings and goings of Asian football for the past decade. Having covered the past two Asian Cups, he writes regularly about the J.League for Optus Sport in Australia, while he also regularly contributes to Arab News. Further, he has previously been published by outlets such as FOX Sports Asia, Al Jazeera English, FourFourTwo, and appeared on numerous TV and radio shows to discuss Asian football.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\",\"www.instagram.com\\\/paul_williams_85\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/www.twitter.com\\\/PaulWilliams_85\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.theasiangame.net\\\/ro\\\/author\\\/paul-williams\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"History beckons in AFC Cup Final - The Asian Game","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/","og_locale":"ro_RO","og_type":"article","og_title":"History beckons in AFC Cup Final - The Asian Game","og_description":"Kuala Lumpur last hosted the AFC Cup Final in 2019, when the intimate Kuala Lumpur Stadium provided the neutral backdrop for the clash between Lebanon\u2019s Al Ahed and North Korea\u2019s 4.25. That year, the local team who plays out of the 18,000-capacity venue, KL City FC, were relegated from Malaysia\u2019s top tier, winning just four [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/","og_site_name":"The Asian Game","article_published_time":"2022-10-20T04:38:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-24T12:17:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":780,"url":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/KL-Celebration.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Paul Williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@www.twitter.com\/PaulWilliams_85","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Williams","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/"},"author":{"name":"Paul Williams","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#\/schema\/person\/35d5fc2ea75ad8209bf01bf0eba938f2"},"headline":"History beckons in AFC Cup Final","datePublished":"2022-10-20T04:38:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-24T12:17:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/"},"wordCount":1700,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1","keywords":["AFC Champions League Two","Club Football","KL City FC"],"articleSection":["ANALYSIS"],"inLanguage":"ro-RO"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/","name":"History beckons in AFC Cup Final - The Asian Game","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1","datePublished":"2022-10-20T04:38:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-24T12:17:45+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ro-RO","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ro-RO","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1","width":1200,"height":780},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/history-beckons-in-afc-cup-final\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"History beckons in AFC Cup Final"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/","name":"The Asian Game","description":"Your home of Asian football","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ro-RO"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#organization","name":"The Asian Game","url":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ro-RO","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Gradient-Main-White%404x.png?fit=1755%2C762&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Gradient-Main-White%404x.png?fit=1755%2C762&ssl=1","width":1755,"height":762,"caption":"The Asian Game"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/#\/schema\/person\/35d5fc2ea75ad8209bf01bf0eba938f2","name":"Paul Williams","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ro-RO","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/PW.png?fit=96%2C96&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/PW.png?fit=96%2C96&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/PW.png?fit=96%2C96&ssl=1","caption":"Paul Williams"},"description":"Paul Williams is an Adelaide-based football writer who has reported on the comings and goings of Asian football for the past decade. Having covered the past two Asian Cups, he writes regularly about the J.League for Optus Sport in Australia, while he also regularly contributes to Arab News. Further, he has previously been published by outlets such as FOX Sports Asia, Al Jazeera English, FourFourTwo, and appeared on numerous TV and radio shows to discuss Asian football.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net","www.instagram.com\/paul_williams_85","https:\/\/x.com\/www.twitter.com\/PaulWilliams_85"],"url":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/author\/paul-williams\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theasiangame.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/KL-Celebration.jpg?fit=1200%2C780&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2903"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9676,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2903\/revisions\/9676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}