Asian Football

 

It's taken me so long to get round to writing this, I may as well not bother with most of it. This column centred mostly around the FIFA shenanigans, with Lord Triesman's accusations of corruption against Worawi Makudi of Thailand, the withdrawal of Mohammed Bin Hammam from the presidential election, and Sepp Blatter's record as FIFA president.

 

It also previewed the quarterfinal draw for the Asian Champions' League and AFC Cup competitions, which would take place on June 7th. South Korea have 3 representatives in the Champions' League: Jeonbuk Motors, Suwon Bluewings, and FC Seoul. Iran have 2 teams: Zobahan and Sepahan. The line-up is completed by Cerezo Osaka (Japan), Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia), and Al Sadd of Qatar.

The AFC Cup has two teams remaining from each of Thailand (Muang Thong Utd & Chonburi) and Iraq (Arbil & Duhok). The other 4 teams are Nasaf (Uzbekistan), Persipura Jayapura (Indonesia), Al Wehdat (Jordan), and Kuwait SC (Kuwait).

 

Stats from the ACL up and including the Round of 16:

108 matches brought 294 goals, avge 2.72/match.

Ha Tae-Kyoen (Suwon) leads the scoring with 6 goals.

 

In the AFC Cup, leading scorer is Serb striker Ivan Boskovic, of Al Qadsia (Kuwait). He's bagged 8 goals, but his team were eliminated in the last round.

 

Finally, an unnamed Asian business group have bought a 70% stake in French Ligue 1 side Paris-St Germain.

 

(with the tenuous link to football cos her bro used to own Man City)

 

 

 

Killen gets his 4th goal (header at the far post from a corner).

 

1st legs will be played on September 14th, with Cerezo Osaka, Al Ittihad, Sepahan & Suwon playing hosts. 2nd legs will be on 27th & 28th September. In the semis, Cerezo/Jeonbuk v Al Ittihad/Seoul, and Sepahan/Al Sadd v Suwon/Zobahan. Semis will be played on 19th & 26th October, with the final on either the 4th or 5th of November. A Korean v Iranian final is a real possibility. The winners will pocket USD1.5M , and the runners-up USD750,000. The champions will also travel to Japan for the World Club Cup.

 

In the AFC Cup quarterfinals, Chonburi (Thailand) face Nasaf (Uzbekistan), 2009 champions Kuwait SC meet Muang Thong Utd (Thailand), Persipura Jayapura (Indonesia) take on Arbil (Iraq), and Al Wehdat (Jordan) play Duhok (Iraq). 1st legs are on 13th September, and 2nd legs on 27 September. The semis will  be played on 4th & 18th October, with the final on 29th October. The two Thai teams and Persipura will be looking to be the first East Asians to win this cup since its inception in 2004.

 

 

 

The Saudi FA have offered Brazilian Roberto Gomes  a 13 million dollar contract to take charge of the national team for their World Cup qualifying campaign.The 46-year old Gomes is a former Brazil international, having been part of the national team from 1984-94, including winning the World Cup at USA '94. The former centre-back played for over 50 matches Fluminese 1982-88, then Benfica in Portugal from 1988-91 (83 apps, 19 goals), Paris-St. Germain from 1991 to 1995 (115 matches, 11 goals) and finally back to Benfica in 1995-96 (17 matches, 4 goals).

 

After his retirement, he began coaching at PSG (1996-98), before moving back to Brazil. There he led many sides, before taking charge of Brazil's Olympic squad from 2002 to 2004. He coached Fluminese in 2004, then in 2005 moved to Bordeaux. Between 2005 and 2007 he led the French side in the Champions' League as well. He was at Monaco in 2007-09. He returned to Brazil with Sao Paulo (2009-10) and most recently was with Vasco da Gama, leading them to victory in the Brazil Cup. The Saudi coaching job will be very tough, with very little job security. The Saudis begin their campaign in the second round of qualifying, to be played in July. If they win that 2-legged fixture, they will enter Round 3, the first group stage with 20 teams. Seeded teams Australia, Japan, South Korea & Iran will provide a tough challenge there. It will be interesting to see if Gomes succeeds in taking Saudi Arabia to the World Cup in his home country.

 

Saudi club Al Shabab have signed former Belgian international goalkeeper Michel Prud'homme as their new coach for next season. Al Shaba finished 4th in the Saudi league, and were knocked out in the Round of 16 in the ACL this season. Prud'homme comes from coaching Dutch outfit FC Twente to second place in the Eredivisie last season.Prior to that he had spells at Genk and Stondar Lierse in Belgium.

 

Oman's national team have approached Frenchman Paul Le Guen to take over as coach. Le Guen previuosly coached Lyon (France), and was in charge of Cameroon at the 2010 World Cup. He will begin by presiding over Oman's qualifying campaign for Brazil 2014. His first match in charge is a friendly with Kuwait on June 27th, followed by another warm-up vs Lebanon. Le Guen will succeed compatriot Claude Leroux, who was sacked after the Gulf Cup.

 

Former German goalkeeper Guido Buchwald has spoken in praise of Japanese 19-year old Takashi Usami. Usami is about to move to German giants Bayern Munich from Gamba Osaka, and is already being compared to the likes of Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben. Bayern are signing Usami on a 1-year loan from Gamba, and have agreed to buy the player should they be happy with him. Former Urawa Reds coach Buchwald says Usami's assets include his speed and technique, and ability to shoot with both feet, and is similar to Shinji Kagawa, who was part of Borussia Dortmund's Bundeliga-winning side this season.

 

Finally (if I've read this correctly), Guus Hiddink has retired from professional coaching, but has accepted an honorary/advisory role with the South Korean national side.

The 6th FIFA Women's World Cup will take place in Germany from 26 June to 17 July. The 16 participating teams are:

Group A: Germany (hosts, champions 2003, 2007), Canada, Nigeria, France

Group B: Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, England

Group C: USA (2-time champions), North Korea, Colombia, Sweden

Group D: Brazil, Australia, Norway, Equatorial Guinea.

 

Asia's representatives are Japan, Australia (Asian Champions) & North Korea. This is the first time that China will not be at the tournament since its inception in 1991. In their absence, Japan are seen as Asia's best hope. The Nadeshiko (Pink flowers) won last year's Asian Games in Gwangzhou, and this is their 5th World Cup. They were quarter-finalists in 1995, and came 4th at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Japan, led by coach Norio Sasaki, are hoping get even better results thanks to the skill and experience of players like Homare Sawa, their 32-year old captain. The veteran midfielder believes that the her team could do well, and place as high as third, or even become the first Asian world champions (China lost the 1999 final to USA).

 

Other important players for Japan include Duisburg forward Kosue Ando, who scored 3 goals in qualifying, and young star Mana Iwabuchi, who made her full international debut in February 2010. Iwabuchi won the Silver Ball at the Women's U17 World Cup in 2008. Another rising star is midfielder Aya Miyama, who scored in a recent warm-up match against South Korea, which finished 1-1.

 

Last week, it was reported that Saudi Arabia and Ricardo Gomes of Brazil had agreed to terms , and Gomes would take the riens of the Saudi national side, with a salary totalling 20 million dollars.However, Gomes' current employers, Vasco da Gama are not prepared to release him. The Saudi Arabian FA are not looking at another Brazilian, Marris Lorinzo, the current Brazilian U-20 coach. It is expected that negotiations will begin very soon, as Saudi have World Cup qualifiying matches next month.

 

Also, the Thai FA appointed German Winfried Schaefer as national team coach this week.

 

 

I'm slowly catching up.

Usami - "Bayern is one of the best clubs in the world, and it will be difficult to gain a place in the first team, but I believe I can learn and get into the team."

Bayern's Sporting Director, Christian Nerlinger - "We've been watching him for a while. He is a player with great ability and attacking skills"

Many people are comparing Usami to the likes of Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben. Usami says He will try to prove himself at Bayern, and intends to be at the level of Robben and Ribery one day. Usami has been at Gamba Osaka since 2009, and made his full international debut in June's Kirin Cup, playing against Czech Republic and Peru. Even at 17, when he first began playing professionally with Gamba, he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory in the AFC Champions League against FC Seoul. Last year, he won the New Player of the Year Award, having scored 7 goals in 26 matches. So far this season he has 1 goal from 6 matches.

 

Japanese players currently getting regular starts and playing major roles for their clubs in Germany include Shinji Kagawa at champions Borussia Dortmund, Atsuto Ujida at Schalke 04, Shinji Okazaki at Stuttgart, and Japanese captain Makoto Hasebe at Wolfsburg.

 

Eminson, a Brazilian striker playing in the J-League with Urawa Reds, is moving to Al Gharafa in Qatar. Eminson has played 226 matches in the J-League since 2004, scoring 109 goals. The former Palmeiras player started at Albirex Niigata in 2004 before moving to Urawa in 2008.

 

Park Ju-Ho has become the first South Korean player to ever play in the Swiss League, going all the way back to the league's origins in 1896. The 24-year old defender moved from Japan's Jubilo Iwata to Basle on June 25th, on a 4-year contract. Korean striker Gi Ka-Cheol agreed to sign a contract with Swiss club Young Boys in January, but changed his mind when an offer came from Wolfsburg in Germany. Park was the captain of Korea's U-20s, and began his career at Mido Holly Hocks in Japan's 2nd tier, before moving to Kashima Antlers, and then Jubilo in December 2009. His decision to move to Basle was influenced by Kashima teammate Koji Nakata, who played for Basle between 2006-2008, before his spell at Kashima.

 

Former Korean international Lee Young-Pyo has turned down a new contract at Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, after his 2-year deal expired. He is seeking  anew challenge, having won 2 league titles  with Al Hilal. He is looking for a new club, either in Europe, or elsewhere in the Middle East. He says he still has no plans to retire, or even to move back to the K-League just yet.

 

Update on this.. Japan are into the semis and face Sweden tonight. Other semi is USA v France tomorrow

 

For everyone except Guangzhou it is a good time to pause and think about how they can stop the Southerners from running away with the title in the next few rounds.

 

 

Killen has been suspended for 4 matches following a scrap with Tianjin's Li Weifeng (the Great Wall of China) - who got a 6 match ban (choking Killen).  Match was played last week.

 

Scrap happened in the 53rd minute and involved most of the players with security stepping in to seperate them.

 

Edit: Finding out a bit more about this incident - Li reacted to a Killen challenge which included an elbow immediatley after another very bad challenge between two other players that left both on the ground.

 

The Shenzhen fans were livid and barricaded the exit for the Tianjin players after the game - demanded that Li apologise.  Comment pages are generally dumping on Li for his violent conduct (has been very well behaved to date in the CSL but this action undoes all that)

 

 

 

 

Have been doing a bit of internet stalking and have come to the conclusion that I wish I was a Thai (called Anusorn Amornchat):

 

 

 

 

 

Instead, they've decided to throw their cash at Frank Rijkaard. As with the other Gomes, it's reported that his contract is for 3 years, and with a salary of around US$1M per year. The Dutchman's brief is to get the Saudis to Brazil 2014. His begins this weekend on July 23rd when Saudi Arabia host Hong Kong, with the return match on the 28th. Victory will put them into the 1st group stage, as part of the last 20 Asian teams.

Saudi's proud history includes winning Asian Cups in 1984, 1988, & 1996, and appearances at World Cups in 1994, 1998, 2002, & 2006. They missed out in 2010 losing the playoff to be Asia's 5th best side to Bahrain, who then went on to lose to New Zealand. this year they were eliminated in the 1st round of the Asian Cup. Their Portuguese coach Jose Becheiro was sacked after their opening loss, before Nasser Al Johar presided over the rest of their campaign, which included a 5-0 hammering by Japan.

Should Rijkaard fail to guide the Saudis to the World Cup finals, it is likely he'll soon be looking for a new job too. However, Rijkaard should have very little difficulty getting the team to adjust to his Dutch style of play, as Saudi Arabia already have a reputation for preferring to play a passing game on the ground.

Rijkaard's playing career summary:

1980-87 Ajax Amsterdam (206 matches, 46 goals)

1987-88 Sporting/loaned to Real Zaragoza (11 matches)

1988-93 AC Milan (142  matches, 16 goals)

1993-95 Ajax (55 matches, 19 goals)

Total 414 matches, 81 goals

 

1980-94 73 matches for Holland, scoring 10 goals, and winning the 1988 European Championships, alongside AC Milan clubmates Marco van Basten & Ruud Gullit

 

Coaching Career:

1998-2000 Holland (resigned after losing semi-finals at Euro 2000)

2001-02 Sparta Rotterdam (sacked after leading them to first-ever relegation)

2003-07/08 Barcelona (won UEFA Champions' League in 2005/06, won La Liga 2004/05, 2005/06, won Super Cup 2005, 2006)

2009-10 Galatasaray

This will be his first coaching post in Asia

 

Japanese defender Yudo Nagatomo has moved to Inter Milan from Cessena, after spending 6 months on loan at the San Siro. In 19 mathces, he scored 2 goals. The transfer fee is 6M euros, plus two players, Luca Caldirola & Luca Garridano, will move to Cessena from Inter.

 

In Australia, 18-year old midfielder Mustafa Amini has signed a contract with German champions Borussia Dortmund. However, Borussia have also agreed to loan Amini back to his club, Central Coast Mariners, for the 2011-12 season, and for the 2012 AFC Champions League until May 2012. Amini is also part of Australia's U-20 squad about to play in the World Cup in Colombia.

 

Omani goalkeeper, Ali Al Habsi, has moved to Wigan Athletic, after impressing during a loan spell last season from Bolton Wanderers. He played 34 of Wigan's 38 league matches, plus 1 FA cup match and 4 League Cup ties, and was voted Player of the Year by Wigan's fans. He has decided to move from Bolton after spending much of his time there on the bench. Since 2006, he's been a back-up to the likes of Jussi Jaaskelainan and Ian Walker. The tranfer fee is about 4M pounds.

 

Andranik Teymourian is moving from Tractor Sazi to Esteghlal both in the Iranian league. The Iranian international midfielder has prviously played in England with Bolton, Fulham, and Barnsley.

 

22-year old Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa has returned to training with Borussia Dortmund, but is still not not ready to play after his long injury layoff. He has stated that he would like to eventually move and play for Manchester United.

 

Another Japanese player, defender Takahito Soma, is returning to the J-League after spells  with  Maritimo and Cottbus in Portugal's Liga 2. Last month, the 29-year old joined Vissel Kobe. He previuosl played fotr Urawa Reds and Tokyo Verde in Japan.He has returned to Kobe for family reasons.

 

In 2014 World Cup Asian Zone qualifying, FIFA have decided that Syria will have to play their home leg of their 2nd round World Cup qualifiying tie with Tajikistan in Jordan, due to security concerns.

Also, ASEAN teams did well, with 5 of the 8 teams progressing from Round 1 coming from the region: Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philppines, Laos, and Myanmar all qualified for Round 2. Vietnam are the leading scorers in qualification so far, having defeated Macau 13-1 on aggregate. Vietnamese player Le Cong Vinh is top of the scoring charts, having scored 8 of those goals.

The 2nd round will be played on the 23rd and 28th of July, with the 15 winners joing the 5 seeded teams, Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Bahrain.

The 2nd round ties are:

Thailand v Palestine

Lebanon v Bangladesh

China v Laos

Turkmenistan v Indonesia

Kuwait v Philippines

Oman v Myanmar

Saudi Arabia v Hong kong

Iran v Maldives

Syria v Tajikistan

Qatar v Vietnam

Singapore v Malaysia

Uzbekistan v Kyrgistan

UAE v India

Jordan v Nepal

Iraq v Yemen

 

 

 

 

This month, Liverpool and Arsenal began tours on July 13. Liverpool began in China playing a match against Gwangdong Sunray (Chinese Div 1), before travelling to play Malaysia on July 16. Liverpool were also supposed to play in South Korea, put cancelled that part of their trip due to a match-fixing scandal in the republic earlier this season.

Arsenal played Malaysia on July 13, and then went to Hangzhou in China, where they met Hangzhou Greentown on July 16.

As for Chelsea, they begin in Thailand on July 24 with a match against a Thai Premier League All Stars XI (which will be missing 23-25 Thai players who are involved in World Cup qualifying the day before), before going to Hong Kong to play in the 'Barclays Asian Trophy' competition from 27 & 30 July. That 4 team tournament will see Chelsea play local club Kitchee, and Aston Villa meet Blackburn Rovers  on the first day, with a loser's playoff and a Final on the second day.

 

However, Manchester United are going to the USA. This isn't surprising, as the club's owners are American. For similar reasons, Leicester City have played in Thailand, & Birmingham City in Hong Kong.

 

In the transfer market, Australian Mile Jedinak is moving from Turkish club Genclerbirligi to Crystal Palace in England's Championship.

Another Aussie is moving home. Dario Vidosic has signed a 3-year contract with Adelaide United. Vidosic is moving from German club Nuremburg, where he played 29 matches, beofre being loaned to Duisburg and Armenia Bielefeld

 

Iran's national side, coached by Carlos Queiroz, had a training camp in Australia from June 28-July 10, as part of their preparation for World Cup qualifiers against the Maldives on July 23 & 28. they will also play a friendly against Madagascar on July 17.

 

EDIT: Many of these matches have been played since printing. Here are some of the results :

 

Guangdong Sunray 3-4 Liverpool

Malaysia 0-4 Arsenal

Malaysia 3-6 Liverpool

Hangzhou Greentown 1-1 Arsenal

Iran 1-0 Madagascar

 

Here is a good article on the Japanese women's team: http://www.asianfootballfeast.com/2011/07/19/the-rise-of-nadeshiko-japan/#more-2463

 

Interestingly:

 

"The recent successes of the national team can be attributed to the �Nadeshiko Vision�, a blueprint for the women�s football development with specific objectives and policies aimed at making women�s football a major sport in Japan, youth development and trying to make Japan one of the top teams by 2015.

...

The 2nd round ties are:

Thailand 1 - 0 Palestine

Lebanon 4 - 0 Bangladesh

China 7 - 2 Laos

Turkmenistan 1 - 1 Indonesia

Kuwait 3 - 0 Philippines

Oman 2 - 0 Myanmar

Saudi Arabia 3 - 0 Hong kong

Iran 4 - 0 Maldives

Syria 2 - 1 Tajikistan

Qatar 3 - 0 Vietnam

Singapore 5 -3 Malaysia

Uzbekistan 4 - 0 Kyrgistan

UAE 3 - 0 India

Jordan 9 - 0 Nepal

Iraq 2 - 0 Yemen

 

They had the same opponents in Olympic quals back in Feb, won 1-0 in Bkk, lost 0-1 away, and won on penalties. They then got disqualified for using a player in Bkk who'd got a red card back in 2008 at an U-18 tourney, and this was the first AFC-sanctioned tournament since then. (Obviously everyone had forgotten in the meantime).

 

Thailand made sure they knew who was suspended this time (1st choice LB), and played pretty well. They dominated, but didn't score after taking an early lead, managing to miss a 94th minute penalty in the process.

concern amongst fans here.

 

As for Malaysia v Singapore, this guy has a bit to say on it as well. http://jakartacasual.blogspot.com/

 

And some more results:

 

Hong Kong 0-5 Saudi Arabia (Saudi 8-0 on agg)

India 2-2 UAE (UAE 5-2)

Malaysia 1-1 Singapore (Singapore 6-4)

Bangladesh 2-0 Lebanon (Lebanon 4-2)

Vietnam 2-1 Qatar (Qatar 4-2)

Indonesia 4-3 Turkmenistan (Indonesia 5-4)

Kyrgyzstan 0-3 Uzbekistan (0-7)

Palestine 2-2 Thailand (Thailand 3-2)

 

Yemen v Iraq, Maldives v Iran not in yet

 

That Jakartacasual dude has a very entertaining style of blog - and some good photos as well.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, a bit of a surprise there, Malaysia have done well in Sth-East comps in the last few years.

 

Met Jakarta Casual a couple of months back on his football tour of Thai/Laos/Cambodia - I'm one of the guys he mentions in the post about going to the bar and not making it to the game.

 

Crunch match tonight with Guangzhou vs Beijing (in Beijing - I mistakenly thought they wer in Guangzhou for this game).

 

Probably a good result for Guangzhou - maintains the 9 pt lead and Beijing still being chased by Liaoning and Shandong (are you reading this Judas?) for the 2nd spot.

 

Edit: Further for Shandong: HAO Junmin made his debut after returning to the CSL from Schalke.  He is clearly the best Chinese player in the national team so he should hopefully help Shandong secure an ACL spot (are you reading this Judas?).