2007 Asian Cup

[fp]

... kicks off tonight.

fp's pre-tournament armchair analysis:
With almost half the teams in the competition a realistic chance of winning the cup, the tournament promises to be an exciting one, especially when it moves past the group phase and into the sudden death knockout rounds.
The traditional regional heavyweights are of course all expected to feature, Japan, Iran, Korea Republic and even Saudi Arabia, despite their poor form since last years World Cup and beyond seeing them sit at their all time low in the FIFA World Rankings, one still has to consider them to be an outside chance. They might be ready to bounce back into top form after a year in the doldrums.
Uzbekistan are considered to be the dark horses for the tournament, perhaps rightly so after narrowly missing out on a spot in the World Cup. I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see them go as far as the semi-finals... that is if they can defeat China PR in the group stage. And my spidey senses are telling me that Qatar could also cause a bit of an upset in the quarter finals... hopefully not against Australia though.
Speaking of Australia, it's the Socceroo's first Asian tournament since becoming a member of the AFC 18 months ago. Many critics, reporters and public pundits alike believe that Australia will win the tournament rather easily. I want what they're smoking. Australia's form is notoriously erratic. They can beat the world's best one day, and lose to a team of nobody's the next. Look at last weekend, for example, footballing minnows Singapore completely dominated the first half of the game and were unlucky not to go into half time a few goals ahead, before Australia turned the tables in the second half.
The last thing we need is for the team to believe the hype and go into the competition overconfident and underestimating the opposition. The other teams must be loving this hype, taking the pressure off themselves and placing it on the Aussie's shoulders.

All in all, it promises to be a thrilling tournament. I can hardly wait for tonight's opening match (which I may not even see... damn you work party!), let alone Australia's first game tomorrow night.

N.B. - the top three placegetters in the tournament get a bye to the 2011 Asian Cup finals. So it either way it's going to be bittersweet for Australia. That is to say, it'd be great to do well this month, but it sucks that doing so will result in less games being played in 2010, and vica-versa.


A couple of random bold predictions...
Grand Final - Japan 3 def. Australia 1
Largest winning margin - Uzbekistan 8 def. Malaysia 0
Most prolific poster in this thread - fp

This post made in loving memory of theSlab.

[Scuderia_Alan]

I have the same fears about Australia not living up to expectations due to them making hard work out of nearly every match they play. I also hope they don't succumb to the hype despite what they say.

My concerns about Australia's performance pre-tournament have been with coaching. We can't really criticise preparation for a tournament this time around since the money is there and most of the good ideas have been taken on board with the new administration.

What I'm worried about is Graham Arnold, Guus had the advantage of kicking arses until he got what he expected, I'm not sure Arnold has the same sort of clout within the team. I also wonder about his strategy and tactics. This was highlighted for me was when it was reported he intended to put Kewell further up front, going to the darker days of Farina, when Guus and any club coach Kewell has been under have played him successfully out wide despite Kewell's successful protests to Farina. To his credit though he is trying to change the team's playing style towards possession in order to conserve energy in the heat and humidity as opposed to the more typical run and gun approach which would probably leave them gasping by half time.

Viduka has been an enigma for Australia, always a goal threat and closely marked but never a prolific scorer. Here's hoping he can shrug off his markers and let loose a torrent of goals this time around. One thing I've wondered about is what happened to Kennedy. I would argue during the World Cup that Australia's fortunes improved dramatically each time he came on. I know he had a bad injury last year but I have heard nothing since.

My fears for the defence is inexperience. Nothing will be worse than conceding a soft goal in oppressive conditions thanks to an amateur mistake.

Midfield to me is the biggest positive with plenty of creative, attacking and holding players available.

I think climate is still going to be a factor despite having been in camp for weeks now. It will be interesting if they get past the group stage to see how they will hold up in the knock-out stages.

As for the other teams I expect Japan to lead the charge. South Korea should also feature. China won't recover from any setbacks. The host countries will simply fill the numbers. The Middle East countries along with Uzbekistan can do well depending on how soft any knockout opponents will be. They have strong clubs but I don't think the national sides are as competitive to (say) Japan or South Korea.

Unfortunately thanks to Fox stitching up the Socceroos matches I won't see it on television but there's a good chance there will be a stream somewhere.

[fp]

For the uninformed...

Australia's group games..
vs. Oman - 19:30 on July 8
vs. Iraq - 19:30 on July 13
vs. Thailand - 22:30 on July 16

All games live and exclusive on Fox Sports 2.

Don't lost heart if you don't have Fox Sports, there are hundreds of public venues around the county where you can watch the games. Hopefully you can find a venue near you -> http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/as ... screening/

[fp]

Oh Tim Cahill, we love you.
We love you Cahill, we do.
Hail Mark Schwarzer, we love you too~!


Completley disgusted by the Omanis diving and wasting time at every opportunity while they were ahead, and extremely dissapointed at the lack of yellow cards for time wasting.
When they were actually playing football and not rolling around on the pitch pretending to be in pain, Oman certainly looked like a team worthy of walking away with 3 points. Australia's defence wasn't the best, but Schwarzer got them out of jail with some brilliant saves.
Great defending by Oman in the 84th minute too, I thought Australia were a certainty to score right there.

edit - and sincere apoligies to Gjeddi... poor cat was sleeping peacefully on my lap until the equalizer celebrations. Poor thibng is still wondering wtf happened to cause all the comotion.

(which I may not even see... damn you work party!)

Birthday boy decided to have a go at the yard glass at 8:30. Couldn't handle his liquor, so the night ended dissapointingly early. Got home just in time to miss the first goal of the tournament. Great result for Thailand, who played well above their weight, could luck themselves through to the second round with an unlikely win in their next two fixtures.

[Scuderia_Alan]

Too busy watching the F1 to comment sooner.

Missed most of the first half but I caught the goal. Quality of the stream wasn't the best but it looked to me like the Australians were exhausted before half time. Thank God for it getting darker and the rain coming down I guess to get them through the second half. Some absolutely hopeless defending at times, the worst example being 3 defenders watching the Omani in between all of them take two headers from the 6 yard box. Australia struggled to do more than just loft it or chip it to the edge of the penalty area yet when Oman got the ball they made themselves a threat far more often.

Yeah Oman did their bloody best to kill the game off with some suspect behaviour but hey welcome to Asia and welcome to international tournaments. This happens, just watch what happened to Adelaide and Sydney (I assume) in the ACL when the score line wasn't going their way. The ref can't really book players if they're complaining of cramp or an awkward fall, all they can do is not tolerate their crap and come down hard on some of the other stuff like that throw-in which (full credit to him) rarely draws a yellow that early in the match.

However I don't think Oman's conduct absolves Australia for yet again making hard work for themselves and looking unconvincing against a team that can put up a bit of a fight. The Argentinean coach must have done a good job at kicking their arses into line because they looked quite well drilled and made Australia look amateur at times.

I think some of my predictions about climate, defense, attack and even the coach all played a part here, thankfully Arnold had enough of an idea to put Cahill on.

Oman were unlucky not to win is all I can say.

Now McEwan has won from nowhere yet again in Le Tour so overall it's been a good night.

[Nigel]

Didn't get to watch it. It was hard enough switching between the Cycling and F1.

[somebloke]

Australia were ordinary, we never even challenged on goal. Yet Oman were slipping through our defence.

God bless Mark Schwarzer, he's a hero and saved Australia from an embarrasing loss. Tim Cahill gets it done though, love his celebrations.

Overall though, not looking good if we finish second in our group and have to play a top team in the quarter finals, especially with the amount of challenges on goal that were blocked, higher teams like Japan will put them home.

Very lucky game.

Disgraceful by the Oman guys though, no need for that bullshit acting, they played well, they had nothing to fear.

[Threeps]

The last thing we need is for the team to believe the hype and go into the competition overconfident and underestimating the opposition. The other teams must be loving this hype, taking the pressure off themselves and placing it on the Aussie's shoulders.

I reckon that was a good prediction fp. They indeed looked over confident in the first half. We were passing it around and taking all day to do anything. The passing was flat and slow and there was nothing in there to give the most die hard fan some hope that we would get the job done. Schwarzer was a bloody legend, he is the only reason we aren't being laughed about all over the globe today. Tim Cahill is always there when he's needed, great goal, real nice volley from Grella leading up to it.

I think that game is exactly what the Socceroos needed. Hopefully the next performance will be a lot better then that one.

[Peptis]

The Socceroos (I hate that name) seem to do better when they are rank underdogs, being the favourite doesn't really suit them. They also seem to do a lot better when they have a decent coach at the helm...

[fp]

The last thing we need is for the team to believe the hype and go into the competition overconfident and underestimating the opposition. The other teams must be loving this hype, taking the pressure off themselves and placing it on the Aussie's shoulders.

I reckon that was a good prediction fp. They indeed looked over confident in the first half. We were passing it around and taking all day to do anything. The passing was flat and slow and there was nothing in there to give the most die hard fan some hope that we would get the job done.

I actually believe that the slow movement of the ball in the first half was part of their plan to not wear themselves out too early.
The problem with that plan though, is when you openly state such a place in a press conference a few days before the game, the other team has time to make a counter plan. And that appears to be exactly what happened -in the first half, Oman looked like they were trying to make the Aussies chase the game and run around while they were in posession.
Australia looked great during the last 10 minutes though, and especially envigerated after Cahill's goal. If only they could play like that for an entire half, if not the entire game, they'd be very hard to beat.

~

Huge congratulations to Vietnam, the lowest ranked team in the tournament are the first to win a game. http://video2.foxsports.com.au/video.ph ... 26&id=3524

Coupled with Thailand's result, it looks as though the host nations aren't going to be the easybeats most people expected them to be. Three games and three somewhat upset results, already proving to be an interesting tournament.

Really dissapointed with the crowds in Bangkok. Opening game of the tournament with the home side playing, and the stadium was under 50% capacity. Looks loke the Thai leg is being run by the same mob who organised the Cricket World Cup, with bugger all promotion of the tournament and tickets costing an average person's weekly wage.
In Hanoi, however, not only was there a crowd, the place seemed packed and full of atmosphere. Great to see.

Only one game tonight, Japan vs. Qatar, the top two ranked teams in Group B - Should be a good'un.

[Nigel]

If the game is a draw does that mean its a Thai ?

[petey]

If the game is a draw does that mean its a Thai ?

*slap*

[Scuderia_Alan]

* SPOILER *






Halftime - Australia vs. Iraq.

Who would have thought a Thai football pitch could be more treacherous than the streets of Baghdad, Iraqis falling every where.

Such a soft goal to concede.

This time the ref is definitely being duped, he is calling such soft fouls.

GOAL for Australia, go Viduka!

1-1 47th minute.

[Montey]

We just witnessed the utter implosion of Australian international football, and we will likely not recover for several years.

We saw Iraq completely outplay a team that has a net value probably in the order of $100mil more.

Graham Arnold has proven what most already knew, that he is not up to the job. He might be a very capable assistance, but he does not have the tactical or strategic capabilities to run a national team.

Arnold was right in one thing however, regardless of how politically incorrect it was to state it on live international TV. There are clearly a number of players who simply do not want to be at this tournament. However, his stating this was a complete kick in the nuts for the whole team.

This was shown by Viduka's reaction. When he was first asked about Arnold's comment he did not verbally say much, but his facial expression was "I can't believe the f'n bastard said that!" The follow-up question to Viduka was whether he agrees, which he emphatically said he didn't. So we now have the Coach and Captain openly disputing each others opinions on international TV.

The post match TV analysis made the comment that this competition may also convince some players that they don't want to come back to the region for future world cup qualifiers because of the environmental and travel issues. I think they are right and it will be some time before we qualify again for the world cup. However, whilst I think the short term impact will be quite drastic, once we do manage to qualify again using home nurtured players we will be far more likely to keep qualifying.

Anway, thems my 2 cents.

[fp]

Too bitterly dissapointed to comment on the game at the moment.

A week ago, I don't think that even the most pessimistic punter honeslty expected Australia to be eliminated in the group stage... and now, even a win in Monday's final fixture may not be enough to keep the team in the competition.


I didn't hear Arnie's comments just then, but by the commentator's reactions, it must have been pretty disgraceful. Did anyone catch what he said?

Can't really complain though, we joined Asian to play agaisnt better opposition, and that's exactly what we've got. Let this disaster be a lesson to all for the next big tournament... be better prepared. I'm not sure if any other team play only one warm-up match. And don't be so arrogant and underestimate the opposition.
Would rather suffer from these results now and improve for the future than go back to Oceania and thrash tiny island nations something-teen to nil.

Largest winning margin - Uzbekistan 8 def. Malaysia 0

Looks like it could be a real possibility. Malaysia didn't shine at all against PR China, and were absolutley threashed... and Uzbekistan will be desperate for a good showing after not scoring a goal in their loss to Iran

However, I won't be home to see if this comes true... heading up the coast to the first A-League pre-season match of the pre-season season...
Hoping for a more inspiring result than what I witnessed tonight.
GO YOU ORANJE BASTARDS!

[Scuderia_Alan]

Well Australia could still do it but most of the second half was appalling. That third goal makes the job even harder.

Unable to capitalise on the amount of possession we had after the equaliser and some truly woeful defending from our back line gifted them golden opportunities that they fully exploited. That initial burst in the beginning when the equaliser was scored looked promising until some more woeful defending cost us that goal.

Neill's second yellow, I presume for dissent, made me wonder too about the commitment of some of the team. A number of them stopped running even though I thought physically they were holding up much better than their first match.

Unfortunately with Australian football, defeat means a return trip looms large to the typical obscurity football in this country usually suffers from. Our consolation, we now have an opportunity every 1-3 years to make amends.

[Scuderia_Alan]

and Uzbekistan will be desperate for a good showing after not scoring a goal in their loss to Iran

Uzbekistan did score. It finished 2-1.

EDIT: OK own goal.

[fp]

WTF was that?

That was not the same team that played last week.

Bring on the quarter finals.

[Scuderia_Alan]

Well 4-0 does not represent Australia's nor Thailand's performance.

It was only in the last 10 minutes that I upgraded my assessment of Australia's performance from absolute shithouse to unconvincing.

Australia could never hang on to the ball for most of the match.

The second half gave me that typical heart attack style of play which Australia does so well even when they're playing better. For almost the entire second half they were losing the ball easily as Thailand did an awesome job of limiting the time each Australian had on the ball. To make it worse Australia was panicking in defence, undecided as to who would step up to the ball and ending up having to clear many, many times from within their penalty area.

What pissed me off apart from looking completely disorganised was a lot of the complacency in the team. They would clear the ball and simply walk away, thinking their job was over whilst the Thais had already stopped the ball from going out and were getting ready to put another dangerous cross in.

The ref was alright, unfortunately though the team less able to stay on its feet are rewarded better again. That's not to suggest cheating/diving/simulation, I simply mean that it's been restricting Australia's advantage of a strong but fair physical presence.

I only hope that late burst when Thailand had capitulated will do some good in pulling them back together. I think the players making their tournament debut tonight acquitted themselves as good if not better than others. Viduka was pretty solid and Emerton seemed much closer to his usual form.

[somebloke]

Yeah have to agree there Alan.

Was really good to see the new guys step up and play well.

Still not 100% heading into the game against Japan, they've got guys that like our strikers will put away any chances. Maybe it it will solely come down to taking the chances and who's defence holds up best against the strong challenges.

Have to agree with the commentators, Kewell was a lot better coming off the bench, and Cahill was a great addition to the attacking midfield. Probably good having the stronger Aloisi up forward alongside Viduka to begin with.

Do we know a day and time for the quarter final game yet?

[Scuderia_Alan]

Japan vs. Australia:

My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi, VIE

21/7/07 17:20

There's a 2.5 hour difference between Vietnam and Adelaide so I make it as 19:50 here in Adelaide.

[plastik8]

Japan vs. Australia:

My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi, VIE

21/7/07 17:20

There's a 2.5 hour difference between Vietnam and Adelaide so I make it as 19:50 here in Adelaide.

Hehe perfect timing. Summer holidays start here on Friday. Gonna be world cup re-match!!

[Scuderia_Alan]

Quarter-finals are now decided. Here are my somewhat ignorant thoughts.

Japan vs. Australia

I think this match is going to follow the sort of encounters prior to 2006 where Australia struggles and Japan makes the most of its chances. I don't think Australia will be able to rely on a bit extra in the tank as they did in Germany. I think Japan's only obvious weakness (without seeing them play) is the incredible pressure being put on them at home, particularly by the media, which might see either the coach or players crack.

Iraq vs. Vietnam

Big congratulations to Vietnam for being the only host to get into the quarters. I didn't see them play but I think Iraq will be too much for them. They're playing in Thailand, probably without as crowd support and as Australia has seen, Iraq is very good at finishing amongst other strengths.

Iran vs. South Korea

Both performed similarly in last years World Cup. However Iran seemed a stronger side in the group stages. To add to that, the depth of the Korean squad has been criticised and the Dutch coach's tactical ability questioned after previously serving as assistant in two World Cup campaigns under Hiddink and Advocaat.

Saudi Arabia vs. Uzbekistan

Saudis usually seem rather mediocre to me yet they consistently achieve (The Germany of Asia?). Uzbekistan seem to have been one if not the most exciting team in the tournament. Apparently they played an excellent tactical match to deny China yet again a berth in the knockout stage by holding back and letting them tire before going for the knockout punch in the second half.

[Righteous]

IF you want to watch the match live, it starting now and you can use this player to watch it.

http://www.tvunetworks.com/

Download the player, watch star sports channel. It's all free and not a bad solution if you don't have pay TV

[fp]

Beauchamp - it's French for 'mullet'