After an exciting round of quarter finals, the semi finals of the inaugural Melbourne Asian Cup will be played this Sunday February 23 at the Darebin International Sports Centre.
After an exciting round of quarter finals, the semi finals of the inaugural Melbourne Asian Cup will be played this Sunday February 23 at the Darebin International Sports Centre.
All Melbourne Victory fans are being encouraged to attend the semi-finals this weekend at Darebin and show their support.
Lebanon qualified for the first semi final with a comprehensive 7-2 defeat of Iran and will match up against Australia who beat Zambia 3-2 in a thriller.
The Australian side is made up of students from Melbourne Victory’s SEDA program, who have gone on to show their impressive talents both on and off the pitch.
The second semi final will feature a battle of the underdogs with Iraq qualifying courtesy of a comprehensive 5-1 upset over tournament favourites Japan and will play Hong Kong who beat Indonesia 1-0.
In the Golden Boot Award, Hong Kong’s Vito Tsang leads with 9 goals over Lebanon’s sharpshooter Dori Nasra with 7.
Ken Lam, President of the Melbourne Chinese Soccer Association said: “The quarter finals featured some upsets with tournament favourites Japan beaten by Iraq and Hong Kong continuing its fairytale run. Combined with the heavyweight clash between Australia and Lebanon we are looking forward to another great day of football”.
“The winners of the semi finals will get to play at AAMI Park before a Melbourne Victory game so the stakes are high.” Mr Lam added.
The tournament is organised by the Melbourne Chinese Soccer Association with support from Melbourne Victory FC, Football Federation Victoria and the AFC Asian Cup 2015.
Melbourne Asian Community Cup semi final schedule:
Date: Sunday February 23, 2014
Venue: Darebin International Sports Centre, 281 Darebin Road, Thornbury
10am: Hong Kong v Iraq
11.55am: Australia v Lebanon
Grand Final: Friday March 7, 2014 – Curtain Raiser ahead of Melbourne Victory’s match v Central Coast Mariners at AAMI Park.
