Continent’s leading football prize, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup for the past fortnight has perceived pulsating football and major disarrays. Fragile teams went on with great guns while the hot favorites posted their worst ever show.
As the matches have progressed to the quarterfinals, the whole scenario has inversely changed with major star-teams looking like to regain their customary drive.
The Koreans and Australians both surfaced back from the brink of elimination after suffering stunning losses, while 2004 runners-up China, the Asian Games gold medalists Qatar and Gulf Cup holder United Arab Emirates all could not even make up to the group stage.
Malaysia completely appeared out of form, while fellow co-hosts Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam performed above expectations with the latter becoming the first team from South East Asia to reach the knockout stage of the Asian Cup in 35 years.
Australia and Japan along with Iraq and Vietnam have already made a berth to the quarterfinals.
The other four teams winning their final group games have now advanced with Saudi Arabia playing Uzbekistan while Iran faces South Korea on July 22.
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia defeated Bahrain 4-0 while Koreans finished second after beating Indonesia 1-0. In Kuala Lumpur, Iran secured top spot with a 2-0 victory against Malaysia and Uzbekistan climbed above its opponent China with a 3- 0 win.
Source: Bloomberg
