[Archived] The Afc Asian Cup 2007 [afc Conf. Area]

[stowell]

Going quiet since last night, are we Dillo?

Is Oguro not in the squad for the Asian Cup?

...I have his old Gamba shirt sitting in my cupboard

[Sydney Rovers]

How's typhoon in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia.

According to TV news, It's a pretty strong...

Yeah, and I got caught in the monsoon after the Australia v Oman match. Less said about the match the better as Timmy Cahill saved our arses.

You can see photos of our trip here < Linky >

[stowell]

There was a black-out during the South Korea vs. Saudi Arabia match in the 85th minute. Play was suspended for about 10 minutes til they rectified the situation- was hilarious to watch.

[Nate]

Dear oh dear. Lucas you tosser

[neekoy]

Are they kidding themselves

Beaten by a pack of :ph34r:

[Rover4ever]

Iraq beats Australia 3-1 in a bit of a surprise, Lucash being sent off in injury time

[neekoy]

For the first time in my life I feel like an Englishman, that's how disgraceful this defeat was.

[dillo_dillo]

This Asian Cup is dragsville. It's reckless condetion, high temperature, high humidity .... Every player play to save their energy. games were very slow.

Japan's 1st game, v Qatar is ...monumentally dull..., today's game , v UAE is little bit better than 1st game, but dulland boring.

I still don't watch today's OZ game, Ist OZ game is boring,too. but I have say "WELL DONE OMAN ! you're almost WIN!!" ... OZ thought AFC is easy to get the pass of W-cup...*giggling* Hey OZ, you should back to OFC.. or Where are you going to next? CONCACAF?

[dillo_dillo]

There was a black-out during the South Korea vs. Saudi Arabia match in the 85th minute. Play was suspended for about 10 minutes til they rectified the situation- was hilarious to watch.

I watched it. The interrupt was 25 min. It helped Saudi Arabia. They've been dead before the interrupt.

(Poor Stadium!!)

[dave birch]

I'm glad they got tubbed.

Ever since the WC they (the FFA and the team) have done absolutely nothing except talk about how good they were. They have done nothing to progress the code or their own game.

Perhaps now, they will realise that Arnold is not the bloke for the job (he's too close to the players), that playing every now and then with half the team they should have is simply not good enough.

[dillo_dillo]

Perhaps now, they will realise that Arnold is not the bloke for the job (he's too close to the players), that playing every now and then with half the team they should have is simply not good enough.

I don't know well about Arnold. He has a tactics?

v Iraq game, He looks like to take plainly-wrong tactics. I think It's not players false.

If Oz blame to players, It's wrong.

Every countries suffer from crazy climate condition and AFC referee.(*)

but, that's 2nd game!

(*)Referees always mysterious& inconsistent judge.

[dave birch]

Dillo, a lot of the Australian squad thought all they had to do was to turn up and they'd win. Complacency, nothing less.

Arnold hasn't a clue, he's now playing with the bigger boys, hopefully there'll be a coach, an international coach, much like Hiddink, who can get the best out of this team.

They are clearly better than their last two results, but hey, welcome to International Football.

[dillo_dillo]

Japan go to knockout stage.

Good luck Socceroos.

[dave birch]

The Aussies came back. I think the verbal shellacking they got caused a bit of food for thought.

A brave Thailand didn't give up though.

Anyway they now meet Japan in the 1/4ers. That will be a test for both sides as many thought they'd meet in the final.

Dillo, I hope that everything is OK after the earthquake.

[dillo_dillo]

Anyway they now meet Japan in the 1/4ers. That will be a test for both sides as many thought they'd meet in the final.

Dillo, I hope that everything is OK after the earthquake.

I don't watch v Thai game.( Not on the air in Japan... maybe tommorow ?on it?)

Japanese today's News paper said "The return match" or "Revenge" , I thought they said it !

I really find it annoying ...

I hoped the final is Korea v Japan game....

What's happened Korea!

... I know they have not perfect squad by some players injury... but I'm surprised.

and, Thanks. I'm fine. ... Now. Japan in rainy-season. I'm really worried about Niigata.

[Sydney Rovers]

I don't know well about Arnold. He has a tactics?

No, he doesn't know wha he is doing. Although the blame for the Iraq game has to also sit with the players, they looked like they didn't want to be there at all. Which is great considering the amount of effort/time/money spent by the Aussie fans.

As for the Thailand game, Arnold did something bold and included players who looked like they wanted to be there. From a Sydney FC perspective it was great to see Mark Milligan and David Carney get onto to the starting eleven. Milligan especially did his chances of an overseas contract no harm by playing a brilliant game an thankfully leaving Kisnorbo on the bench for the rest of the matches.

So now it's Japan, the re-match of the first round WC game. Thankfully we were able to get tickets after the FFA and the GGA screwed fans travelling independantly. So there will be a block of 60 of us cheering on the Socceroos, just hope it's a repeat of the game in my signature.

[dillo_dillo]

Japan v OZ. It's not a thrilling game. yes, It's dull and boring again.(expect Pen shoot out. Super Kawaguchi!!)

Good result with Rovers. Emmo will be back soon for Rovers!

...and japanese are going to enjoy the Asian Cup. Back to OFC, OZ!

[emerton]

I thought Australia came out and played well, took a deserved lead onyl to fal lback through a poor attempt of a clearance through Milligan.

After Grella was sent off (undeservedly in my opinion) Japan pushed forward and took a better grasp on the game.

Dare i say the result may have been different if not for a few referee decisions, the Yellow cards for Kewell and Carney for diving were ridiculous.

[evukovic]

I agree the refereeing was poor, Grella shouldn't have received the red, but I've seen them given in the past, even in EPL matches. I felt tactically Arnold was all over the shop. His selections were poor, his substitutions even worse and I felt that once we went down to ten men, he didn't know how to react. We needed to win, so what does he do? Takes off a striker for a midfielder, then plays him out of position.

I reckon Grella had an absolute mare of a tournament and didn't belong in the team. Culina should have taken his role as DM and Carle should have been included a lot earlier. I agree though, the A-League players did well when finally given the chance, but I think Arnold should have taken more risks, considering the situation. Archie could have been used, he has speed, flair and reasonable close control, and definitely knows where the goals are. Aloisi has never impressed me, and there's no point really in having two frontmen who essentially play the same way, though Dukes does it with better technique. It was a terrible tournament, and upon reflection, I'm kind of glad that we failed so miserably. Hopefully now something will done about this side, some youth injected into it and we can make a fist out of qualifying for 2010. We were the oldest side there...

[emerton]

It was a lose - lose situation

If we win the tournament, we lose by Graham Arnold staying on....

If we lose the tournament, we lose the tournament.

Probably a good thing in hindsight that we didn't do as well, as we need a world class coach to take us forward.

Time to start playing players who are going to be there in 2010

[Shaddy]

It was definitely a red card offense, based on precedent. These things happen in football... The big danger for Australia is that the next generation of players don't look up to scratch

[emerton]

I dont think it was a red card, It wasn't a "swinging elbow" and there didn't look to be much intent in the contact.

The problem with football these days (especially Asian teams) is that you wouldn't no longer know how injured a person is because there seems to be aroudn 3 or 4 snipers in the stands in any given game

[stowell]

i was very impressed with Carney and Milligan in the final couple of games- took me by surprise really

it was an unfortunate way for Milligan to finish the competition sadly

[Sydney Rovers]

It was definitely a red card offense, based on precedent. These things happen in football... The big danger for Australia is that the next generation of players don't look up to scratch

I wouldn't totally say that, we do have problems up front (Brett Holman = ), so hopefully someone like Nathan Burns, Dario Vidosic or Bruce Djité could fill the void, our midfield looks alright and our defence (hopefully without Patty Kisnorbo) looks pretty good. Someone like Mark Milligan is only getting better every year and you have Beauchamp, Spiranovic earning experience in the Bundesliga.

As for the game, Australia did play well until Grella's stupid decision to lift his arm when going for the ball which give the ref any option but red card him. Also can someone, anyone explain what Arnold was thinking with his subsitutions, using all your subs within 70 minutes is a stupid move. The Japanese on the other hand seemed to go into their shell the moment Australia went down to 10 men.

Thankfully Arnold is gone, but this talk of Dick Advocaat worrys the hell out of me.

[neekoy]

Advocaat is better then Arnold, I would rather Houllier