Latest news with #Asani
The Age
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
One man's mission to prove Sydney still has a soul
Asani has maintained such a tone as his content has proliferated. His page has identified various 'Sydney creatures' through classifications and attributes such as the 'amazing' eyebrows on a Lebanese man who grew up in 'the area' – a local term for western Sydney – in the early 2000s, or the fact that an 'old lady from the upper north shore' makes the perfect cup of tea. Last year he published a 'mullet map' which showed how the hairstyle differed on heads across the city. To Asani, the hyper-local nature of his jokes and celebratory undertones of his page are part of a worldview best summarised as 'getting people to care about Sydney'. 'My memes are short glimpses and moments in Sydney, and just showing how colourful Sydney is because it has a reputation as being a bit soulless or cultureless, especially compared to Melbourne,' he says. 'People talk about Sydney as being very corporate or being very commercial, and it is really important to me to say, no, actually, Sydney does have a soul.' Asani says that some people are attracted to the page out of a curiosity about different parts of Sydney, with clichés in some areas unknown elsewhere. Loading 'I want people in the northern beaches to be curious about people in western Sydney, and vice versa,' he says. 'I think there are stories and jokes they don't know about each other.' The Monkey Boy page works hard to deliver, with Asani at times posting many times a week. As well as geographically focused content, he makes memes relating to current affairs; elections, union negotiations with the state government, the weather and the Easter Show have all previously featured. Beyond giving his comedic and storytelling instincts an outlet, Asani is motivated by a desire to provide local content. In the absence of TV shows and movies set in and about Sydney, Asani believes a page like his can fill a gap, sharing the many stories the city has to tell. 'I think there is a need for local content,' he says. 'People love it, and the internet has made it more accessible. 'TV channels and media companies don't find it feasible to make shows only about Sydney, but I can. I have no overheads; I can tell the stories I want to.' With such a passionate belief in telling Australian stories, Asani sees himself as a 'kind of nationalist'. 'I think we need to uplift Australian creators. You need to choose Aussie artists over the foreign artists. I definitely, definitely have always viewed myself as someone that champions Australian stories.' But while he wants to celebrate Sydney, Asani is also concerned by the direction the city is taking. To Asani, young people being priced out of housing presents an existential problem to the city and its culture by impeding social movement for young people, restricting them to areas they can afford, and diluting the cultural power that comes with economic freedom. He worries that, without a solution, Sydney could become 'like Dubai', where 'working-class people are in the shadows, and the city is a bit soulless'. 'Even rich people lose out,' he says. 'Who do they think start cool cafes or do any of the cool stuff in the city? It is always working-class people. They bring the culture, and it will be a real shame if they are priced out.'
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
One man's mission to prove Sydney still has a soul
Asani has maintained such a tone as his content has proliferated. His page has identified various 'Sydney creatures' through classifications and attributes such as the 'amazing' eyebrows on a Lebanese man who grew up in 'the area' – a local term for western Sydney – in the early 2000s, or the fact that an 'old lady from the upper north shore' makes the perfect cup of tea. Last year he published a 'mullet map' which showed how the hairstyle differed on heads across the city. To Asani, the hyper-local nature of his jokes and celebratory undertones of his page are part of a worldview best summarised as 'getting people to care about Sydney'. 'My memes are short glimpses and moments in Sydney, and just showing how colourful Sydney is because it has a reputation as being a bit soulless or cultureless, especially compared to Melbourne,' he says. 'People talk about Sydney as being very corporate or being very commercial, and it is really important to me to say, no, actually, Sydney does have a soul.' Asani says that some people are attracted to the page out of a curiosity about different parts of Sydney, with clichés in some areas unknown elsewhere. Loading 'I want people in the northern beaches to be curious about people in western Sydney, and vice versa,' he says. 'I think there are stories and jokes they don't know about each other.' The Monkey Boy page works hard to deliver, with Asani at times posting many times a week. As well as geographically focused content, he makes memes relating to current affairs; elections, union negotiations with the state government, the weather and the Easter Show have all previously featured. Beyond giving his comedic and storytelling instincts an outlet, Asani is motivated by a desire to provide local content. In the absence of TV shows and movies set in and about Sydney, Asani believes a page like his can fill a gap, sharing the many stories the city has to tell. 'I think there is a need for local content,' he says. 'People love it, and the internet has made it more accessible. 'TV channels and media companies don't find it feasible to make shows only about Sydney, but I can. I have no overheads; I can tell the stories I want to.' With such a passionate belief in telling Australian stories, Asani sees himself as a 'kind of nationalist'. 'I think we need to uplift Australian creators. You need to choose Aussie artists over the foreign artists. I definitely, definitely have always viewed myself as someone that champions Australian stories.' But while he wants to celebrate Sydney, Asani is also concerned by the direction the city is taking. To Asani, young people being priced out of housing presents an existential problem to the city and its culture by impeding social movement for young people, restricting them to areas they can afford, and diluting the cultural power that comes with economic freedom. He worries that, without a solution, Sydney could become 'like Dubai', where 'working-class people are in the shadows, and the city is a bit soulless'. 'Even rich people lose out,' he says. 'Who do they think start cool cafes or do any of the cool stuff in the city? It is always working-class people. They bring the culture, and it will be a real shame if they are priced out.'
Al Arabiya
01-04-2025
- Sport
- Al Arabiya
Will Cristiano Ronaldo win the AFC Champions League Elite Golden Boot?
The AFC Champions League Elite reaches its finals stage this month as Saudi Arabia hosts the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final at the end of April. Three Saudi clubs – Al Ahli, Al Hilal and Al Nassr – are among the eight teams vying for continental glory. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. But beyond winning Asia's top club trophy, there is a secondary prize at stake for eight individuals still competing in this season's ACL Elite. One of them will become the first winner of the new-look tournament's Golden Boot – awarded to the competition's top scorer. Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo, Al Hilal's Saudi Arabian skipper Salem al-Dawsari and Al Ahli winger Riyad Mahrez are among those players in contention. Here, Al Arabiya English examines the octet of players out to become Asia's leading goal scorer. Jasir Asani (Gwangju) – 9 Goals The surprise name currently at the top of the ACL Elite scoring charts is Jasir Asani of South Korea's competition debutant Gwangju. Just a couple of years ago, Asani was playing in Hungary for now-Second Division side Kisvarda; fast forward to 2025 and he is fending off the likes of Ronaldo and Mahrez in a bid to be Asia's top scorer, having led the race for the Golden Boot since the very first game week. He scored a hat-trick in Gwangju's opening 7-3 victory over last season's losing finalist Yokohama F. Marinos, and has particularly thrived against Japanese opposition. The Albanian winger also netted the winning goal against Kawasaki Frontale in the group stage before inspiring Gwangju's come-from-behind win over Vissel Kobe in the last-16. Gwangju lost the first leg 2-0 but Asani's late penalty levelled the tie at 2-2 in the second leg, before the 29-year-old hit the match-winning goal with two minutes left in extra-time to send his team through. Salem al-Dawsari (Al Hilal) – 8 Goals A more familiar name sits just behind Asani in the top scorer rankings, with Al Hilal's captain Salem al-Dawsari having netted eight times this season. The two players will come face to face when Al Hilal meets Gwangju in the quarter-finals. Al-Dawsari's standout game so far was Al Hilal's 5-4 away victory over reigning champion Al Ain, in which he scored a 30-minute hat-trick to help his team gain a modicum revenge after losing to the Emiratis in last year's semi-final. The 2021 AFC Champions League MVP and 2022 Asian Player of the Year also found the net against Al Shorta, Persepolis and Al Wasl, while he put the punctuation mark on Al Hilal's last-16 triumph over Pakhtakor with his team's fourth goal in a 4-0 win. The 33-year-old is one of the continent's most decorated individuals but has never claimed an AFC Golden Boot trophy. Al Dawsari is currently fifth on the list of all-time leading goal scorers in the AFC Champions League on 29 goals and has a realistic chance of leapfrogging Brazilian Elkeson (30) and former Green Falcons star Nasser al-Shamrani (32) should Hilal progress further in this year's ACL Elite. The Saudi captain has already made more appearances (100) than any other player in the history of the competition; should he win his first AFC Golden Boot award it would cement his status as one of Asia's greatest ever players. Riyad Mahrez (Al Ahli) – 8 Goals One of two men level with Al Dawsari on eight goals is Al Ahli star Riyad Mahrez. The Algerian ace was a winner of the UEFA Champions League with Manchester City in 2023 and has taken to Asia's equivalent competition like a duck to water in his maiden campaign. Mahrez has scored in each of his past four games for Ahli, including a brace in the last-16 second-leg win against Qatar's Al Rayyan. Having also contributed seven assists, no-one in this season's ACL Elite has more than Mahrez's 15 goal contributions. The Algerian's performances have helped Al Ahli emerge as a genuine contender to win its first ever AFC Champions League title, with Matthias Jaissle's side the only unbeaten team left in this season's competition. The 2016 African Footballer of the Year scored 20 goals in the UEFA Champions League during his time with Leicester City and Manchester City, with seven of those coming in knockout games – against RB Leipzig, Sporting, Real Madrid, PSG and Borussia Dortmund. Ahli will be hoping he can replicate that sort of return in this season's ACL Elite finals stage. Anderson Lopes (Yokohama F. Marinos) – 8 Goals Another player who loves to score in continental knockout matches is Yokohama F. Marinos striker Anderson Lopes. The Brazilian's goals helped Yokohama reach last year's final, with Lopes netting in every round apart from the two-legged showpiece against Al Ain. He picked up where he left off this season and has bagged eight goals in his past eight games to help his team progress to a quarter-final against Al Nassr. Lopes' eight-goal haul includes a match-winning strike in the last-16 first leg away to Chinese Double winner Shanghai Port, while he added two more in a comfortable 4-1 home victory a week later. Lopes would actually be joint-top in the race for the ACL Elite Golden Boot but had the misfortune of having one of his goals chalked off. He scored against Shandong Taishan in the East Asian group stage but the Chinese club was later disqualified from this season's competition – meaning Lopes' goal in the 2-2 draw no longer counted. Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr) – 7 Goals Aiming to end Lopes' hopes of winning the Golden Boot is Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who will be leading his side's line against Yokohama in their quarter-final on April 26. Ronaldo is a seven-time UEFA Champions League Golden Boot winner, as well as the European competition's all-time record goal scorer with 140 goals. He has starred in the AFC Champions League too since arriving at Al Nassr, netting six times as the club reached the quarter-finals last year and surpassing that total already this season. In the 2024-25 campaign, Ronaldo has only featured in six of Al Nassr's 10 matches but has averaged more than a goal per game. Among his seven goals were successive doubles against Qatar's Al Gharafa and UAE's Al Wasl in the group stage. The Portuguese No. 7 has only failed to find the net once – against Esteghlal – in this season's tournament, though he did break through the Iranians' defense at the second attempt; having missed the 0-0 last-16 first leg draw, Ronaldo made a scoring return to the starting XI to helping Stefano Pioli's team to a 3-0 second-leg win that sent it through. Akram Afif (Al Sadd), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Al Hilal), Ivan Toney (Al Ahli) – 5 Goals There are three players a couple of steps further back, who will need to demonstrate every ounce of their goalscoring pedigree if they are to chase down Ronaldo, Lopes, Mahrez, al-Dawsari and Asani. Reigning AFC Player of the Year Akram Afif has produced some virtuoso displays to drag his Al Sadd team through to a last-eight encounter with Japan's Kawasaki Frontale, while Aleksandar Mitrovic is finding his feet again after a lengthy injury lay-off – without which he may have been in closer contention for the ACL Elite Golden Boot. Last on the list of potential Golden Boot winners is Ivan Toney, who failed to score in each of his first four AFC games but has netted five in his past six continental contests.
Reuters
12-03-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Asani strikes late to knock Kobe out of Asian Champions League
KAWASAKI, Japan, March 12 (Reuters) - Vissel Kobe crashed out of the Asian Champions League Elite on Wednesday when Jasir Asani's extra-time winner saw Gwangju FC overturn a two-goal deficit to progress to the last eight with a 3-0 win in South Korea as Kawasaki Frontale also advanced. Asani scored two minutes from the end of the the additional period to take the South Korean debutants into the quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate. Park Jeong-in and Asani netted in normal time to level the tie against the J-League champions. Park Jeong-in gave the home side the lead in the 18th minute, beating Kobe keeper Daiya Maekawa with a looping header from Park Tae-jun's free kick. But it was not until the 85th minute that the Koreans drew level on aggregate, Asani netting from the penalty spot after referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim punished a handball by Takuya Iwanami. Asani smashed in the winner in the 118th minute, cutting inside to strike from distance with a left-foot shot. "It was a very hard game but I'm so happy because it's emotional to win 3-0 at home," said Asani, who joined Anderson Lopes as the tournament's top scorer with nine goals. "I didn't sleep for two days because I was thinking about this game because it's hard for us." Kawasaki overturned a 1-0 first-leg loss to down Shanghai Shenhua at Todoroki Stadium as Shigetoshi Hasebe's side handed the Chinese Super League team a 4-0 defeat to seal a 4-1 aggregate victory. Kawasaki claimed a deserved opener in the 24th minute when Asahi Sasaki smashed an unstoppable shot beyond Bao Yaxiong, beating the goalkeeper at his near post from 18 yards. The home side pulled clear with a dominant second-half performance, Erison claiming the second in the 64th minute with a first-time finish from Sasaki's ball over the top of the defence. Tatsuya Ito threaded a finish between Bao and the defence four minutes later to score the third and Marcinho completed the rout from close range in the first minute of added time. Kawasaki and Gwangju joined J-League side Yokohama F Marinos, and Saudi Pro League trio Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Nassr in the quarter-finals along with Qatar's Al-Sadd and Buriram United from Thailand. The draw will be made on Monday in Kuala Lumpur with the remaining phases of the competition played in a centralised venue in Jeddah.
