Well, here we have another football tournament, this time focusing on the Asian Federation. The Asian Cup has been held since 1956 and this year is being held in China. There are 4 groups with 4 teams each vying for supremacy and bragging rights. Below is a link to the offical Asian Cup site for those who are interested. No televised games that I can see, maybe someone on the forum can give us some info if they are able to see the matches. Korea Republic are the favorites in this tournament, although we all know favorites and rankings go out the door once the footballers hit the field.
https://www.asiancup2004.com/en/
Some results from today:
China 5 - Indonesia 0
Bahrain 1 - Qatar 1
Edited: malexander on 21st Jul, 2004 - 8:03pm
Well the Group rounds are over and the Final 8 teams have been set. They are as follows:
China vs Iraq
Korea Republic vs Iran
Uzbekistan vs Bahrain
Japan vs Jordan
The biggest non-show from this group of 8 were the Saudi's who finished dead last in their group. Pick your winners from the final 8 if you will. I think an Iraq - Iran matchup somewhere down the road would be intriguing!
In what can only be described as a shocker, Iran defeated Korea Republic 4-3 yesterday and in doing so advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup. In other results, China defeated Iraq 3-0, Bahrain over Uzbekistan 2-2 regulation, 4-3 on penalties and Japan over Jordan 1-1 in regulation 4-3 in penalties. The Semi-finals, minus favorites Korea are as follows:
China vs Iran
Bahrain vs Japan
Both games will be on Aug 3, with the third place game Aug 6 and the Final on Aug 7. Stay tuned.
Well, the finals in the 2004 Asian Cup is now set. Here were the semifinal results:
China 1 - Iran 1 China wins 4-3 on penalties
Japan 4 - Bahrain 3
Pretty close games, so the disparity between the top and bottom teams does not seem to be that much. The final will be as follows:
China vs Japan
Clash of the East!
Well the Japanese won 3-1, but the second goal was done Maradona style Yep, the player hit the ball into the net with his hand. This drove the Chinese players and fans crazy to the point that the Japanese fans were not able to leave the stadium until it was clear of the Chinese. Wow, I thought Liverpool and Manchester was bad.