Asian Cup 2007

South Korea just beat Iran 4-2 on penalties (the match ended 0-0 after extra-time). Pretty impressive stuff from them, considering that many of their best players like J.S. Park and Seol are missing.

There's a chance that the Final could end up being a Korea-Japan match-up. If anyone knows anything about the relations between these two countries, they'll certainly expect a lot of fireworks from both sides. That is, of course, if both teams advance. I'm certainly hoping they can. :3d smile:

 

congrats kr on japans win. makes me even more mad that the Aussies got through to the knock out stages only to lose because had they been out before, I would've seen Cahill live against RSL...when are the semi-finals?

 

To be honest, the Aussies were quite lucky to even get past the group stages. If Oman didn't fall victim to Cahill's equalizer in the first match, we probably would have played them in the quarters. There's a lot of talk about the Aussies' FA hiring Gerard Houllier, but that's just a rumor at this point.

The semifinals will be on Wednesday, again early in the morning. The Korea-Iraq match will start around 6:30 ET, followed by Japan-Saudi Arabia at 8:30 ET.

 

I can't stand any Japanese national team no matter what sport after what Ichiro said about beating Korea in the WBC. He said they would beat them so bad it would take them a few decades to get back up to level with Japan. And that day, Korea beat them, and they did it again. But in the semis, Japan pulled it off and I was sad.

My Uzbeks lost 2-1 to the Wahhabis.

 

Takahara has been immense for Japan thus far, scoring four goals in as many matches (all classy finishes, at that). I don't see him leaving his club in Germany for the foreseeable future, though. At any rate, I don't exactly think he has the pace to cope in the EPL.

Yasser al-Qahtani has made a lot of waves in the tournament thus far, as has this player for Iraq whose name I can't recall. I just know the latter player had an offer from Sunderland, but turned it down because of family issues. Haven't seen much (ok, any) of the Korean matches thus far, but I would imagine that their players have been impressive as well. Most of their players hail from the K-league, which is arguably the best league in East Asia, so there's definitely quality on that team.

As far as our sporting arrogance is concerned, well we couldn't win the last two Cups (as well as the WBC) without being confident about our chances...

 

Iraq and South Korea headed to extra-time. And I must say, it's really reassuring to know that the Koreans, over five years after the 2002 WC, are still getting so many calls and non-calls in their favor...

 

Iraq are now through to the final after the Koreans missed two pens in a row at the end. :shock: For a team that many people didn't think were going to get out of the group stages, this is a very, very impressive feat.

The Samurai Blues set to take on the field in about 15 mins.

 

Saudis strike first blood after about 35 minutes after al-Qahtani (the player I mentioned in the last post) pounces on a defensive error.

One minute later at the other end, Nakazawa gets in on a corner kick and heads it into the net.

GAME ON.

 

Quite gutted that we lost. Our defenders looked disjointed all night which was surprising, considering that we had been rock-solid throughout the tournament. And once again, our final ball went begging too often.

This is what I was referring to when I was lamenting the omission of Daisuke Matsui and Alex from the squad. We survived well into the Cup up until this point, but we needed an extra bit of class, an extra touch of quality to push through to the final. And there's no doubt in my mind that the players I mentioned would have provided the cure for what ended up ailing us at the end.

That said, the Saudis really took the game to us and I really can't begrudge them for beating us to the final. Congratulations to them and I wish them and Iraq the very best of luck in the final.

 

RE: that

I havent been following it all that much, except for a few hilites on FSC... but I have an opinion, anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, the team/player skills/strengths might as well be equal.

So given that, who is the 'underdog' here and who should be favored?

I'll go for the winner being the one who is playing the role of 'underdog' while they really arent.

Iraq, far and away.
They are the team that is playing with the attitude of 'most to prove' all the while being the most free and unfettered from outside and national pressure. The only pressure that Iraq will feel is self induced, to score their first goal. IOW, the only way they might lose is if they dont score.

Once they get their first goal, the hounds will be turned loose and SA will wonder what happened to them.

 

RE: that

Why do the Aussies seem to have the worst luck. They went out to a quality side, but I thought this was their tournament to take. Unfortunate... I think Iraq will take the final, but then again this tournament has shown that anything can happen and often times does.

 

RE: that

I think the Aussies used up all their luck in the World Cup last summer.

 

Re: RE: that

They got jobbed in stopage time against Italy, terrible terrible dive even by Italian standards. Hardly lucky.

 

Re: RE: that

That's a fair point - I was thinking more about their comebacks against Japan and Croatia.

 

Re: RE: that

I think the only team that got lucky against Italy in that WC were the Americans...and all that was a tie. Italy was diving/playing defense on another level vis a vis their opponents.

Regarding the Asian Cup: I wouldn't doubt Saudi Arabia so much. They have made the AFC finals 6 of the last 7 tournaments (winning it 3 times) and they did make it to the last 4 WCs (94, 98, 02, 06). They're not bad. Plus, they have this awesomely phallic crest for their federation.

I think it'll be a good competition.

 

Re: RE: that

The Aussies still had a few ounces of luck left; otherwise, they wouldn't even have gotten to the group stages. Aside from the Thailand match, they never played like the world-beaters everybody assumed they would be.

Iraq has done extremely well to get to the finals up to this point, but I think Saudi Arabia will be too hard for them to overcome. They looked exceptional on the counter against Japan, and took full advantage of the chances that were presented to them. They took down the two-time defending champs, so they're definitely a force.

That said, most of the matches have been played in front of very small crowds. Even the semifinal between the Saudis and Japan drew no more than 15000 people. There's a good chance that the final of the most important football competition in Asia could be played in front of a vast sea of empty seats -- which would be a shame, since this has been a great exhibition of the rising quality of Asian football as a whole.

 

RE: Re: RE: that

Japan lost to Korea after (yet another) penalty shootout, and also lost the 3rd and final automatic qualifying spot in the next Asian Cup in the process. I was going to type out a long rant about the state of our team, but I'll save that for another time. Eventually...

The grand finale is due to start in about 7 hours or so. Also, the next Cup venue will be announced before the match. It's widely expected that Qatar will be the next host, but we'll have to wait and see.

 

RE: Re: RE: that

Iraq has completed their incredible run in the Asian Cup by winning the competition. 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia, with Younis Khalef the only goal after about 70 minutes.

What an incredible moment for the country, yeah?