Entertaining Asian Cup an inspirational event

JAKARTA: The Asian Cup might have lacked star power but the region's top football competition nevertheless served up entertaining and quality soccer, with a inspirational story to finish it off.

The three-week festival ended Sunday with Iraq beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in a final few predicted as the war-torn country celebrated its greatest footballing achievement.

A gutsy South Korea took third place ahead of Japan, with the top three automatically qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar.

Yet sadness tinged the tournament with Iraq's amazing run sparking big celebrations in the war-ravaged country only for insurgents to take advantage, detonating car bombs that killed more than 50 fans.

The championships produced 83 goals, some edge-of-the seat thrillers, and evidence that the game in Asia is in good shape.

And in comparison to the 2004 finals in China when 17 players were sent off, the 2007 championships were a comparatively sedate affair with just six red cards in 32 games - four of them in the third-placed play-off, of which three were given to Korea's coaching staff.

Surprisingly, few coaches were sacked with Malaysia's Norizan Bakar the only casualty so far, although the coaches of China, Iran and Australia could follow.

Iraqi coach Jorvan Vieira said he would resign after taking his side to the final while Pim Verbeek threw in the towel despite steering the Koreans to third.

While heavyweights Saudi Arabia making the final for a sixth time in their last seven attempts was a reasonable bet, few tipped Iraq to go so far.

Driven by a desire to bring some joy to their homeland, they proved an inspiration and their victory gives them confidence ahead of next year's World Cup qualifiers.

After years of below-par performances Southeast Asian teams grabbed some of the limelight with minnows Vietnam upsetting the odds by making the quarter-finals.

Indonesia and Thailand didn't get that far, but it was a close call with emotional scenes in Jakarta and Bangkok as the two sides pushed more fancied countries to the brink.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was Australia and its star-studded squad who found it difficult to adapt to the hot and humid conditions and learned a harsh lesson of the realities of Asian football.

The Socceroos were fortunate to squeeze through the group phase before being sent on their way by Japan in the quarterfinals.

China was another team not to meet expectations. After looking dangerous in their opening two games, it all went horribly wrong against Uzbekistan and they missed the knockout rounds.

But the only team out of its depth was Malaysia, who failed to get a point in the group stages, sparking a series of resignations at the Football Association of Malaysia.

While broadcast to record television audiences, the tournament had mixed crowds in the host countries - the first time it had been held in more than one nation.

Spectators were sparse in Malaysia and Thailand but at least they came out in force in Indonesia and Vietnam when the home team was playing, with 90,000 cramming the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta for some matches.

Saudi Arabia's Yasser Al Qhatani proved to be a class act, ending the tournament top goal scorer with four alongside Iraqi captain Younis Mahmoud and Japan's Naohiro Takahara.

Meanwhile, players like Japan's Shunsuke Nakamura and South Korea's Lee Chun-soo reinforced their credentials.

Playing in football's shop window, three Thai players - Suree Sukha, Kiatprawut Saiwaeo, and Teerasil Daengda - earned themselves trials with English Premiership club Manchester City.

And China captain Zheng Zhi's performances have reportedly attracted the attention of Newcastle and Birmingham, while Saudi and Iraqi players made clear they felt they were now good enough for Europe.

AFP

(China Daily 08/01/2007 page19)