Well, Japan has won their Asian Cup group. Group D - Japan, Jordan, Iraq, 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winner
You guys think some of the J-league players should be given a try in the group stages before using the first team for the knock out stages? Hope to see Yamashita, Ogihara, Haraguchi and Usami given a try.
Meeting Japan again.. I love our group I think Japan will end up first and the runners up goes between Jordan and Iraq.
Rather good. We dominated easily a group with Jordan and Iraq last year. My preference was to face to Saudi Arabia (they did well during qualifiers). Maybe in quarter finals ? In this group, we'll have to be serious against Iraq and Jordan, but the game against AFC Challenge Cup winner promises to be useless... It would be a fail to not finish top of the group. Don't be hypocrite. There will be a battle between Jordan and Iraq for the second place. I prefer Iraq but if they are disorganized as in WC qualifiers...
Not 100% we'll top the group, but probably ~90%. Jordan and Iraq have the potential to screw us if we're not careful (remember we tied Jordan in the 2011 tournament and lost to them in WCQ) but our chances look good. The Challenge Cup finalists, shockingly, look like a pretty sorry bunch. I'd bet on the Philippines coming through. Oddly enough, the Challenge Cup's being hosted in the Maldives; they can't possibly have enough space for more than a couple stadiums.
Haha, I'm a fan of these small east asian teams. I put my bet on Myanmar, but they have a "tough" group with Palestines and host Maldives. I hope so, especially since it would mean getting the 2nd team from group C
it's not possible. You can't change the members between the group stages and the knock out ones. So before that has any chance to happen, they have to actually earn a spot in the team. Of course, against the AFC Challenge winners there will be a turnover.
So it is possible to repeat the same path as 2011 in the knockout stages. Qatar in QF, Korea in SF and Australia in the final.
No more Australia in a final match please. I can't stand them as an "asian team", they don't deserve to win the Asian Cup imo (they are simply off-topic ). I wanna a final against SK. The best match and at the same time the toughest/hardest and eventually the best possible enjoyed victory. About AFC Challenge Cup, thai footballers are allowed to use muay thai moves? If so I will cheer for them!
You may want to look again at the competition and its partecipants. There is no Thailand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_AFC_Challenge_Cup_qualification here are the qualifiers.
I'm rooting for some team who has never been to AFC Cup. So no Turkmenistan or Laos. Palestine would be amazing. Or Philippines.
Wut? AFC Cup is a competition for teams. I'm not sure if you meant the Asian Cup, but I really don't think Laos has ever played an Asian Cup? This is even the first time they qualify to the AFC Challenge one, so... Btw, I remember that your club has or had a laotian player in their youth ranks. edit: oh and their coach is japanese
Palestine is probably the team who is most affected by the foreigners problem. Their best players play abroad, I think there is one on the swedish first division. I'm not sure if the Challenge CUP is a FIFA "official competition" - I mean, I don't think you're forced to release players for this competition - so it hurts them in the end.
Iran is not really rivals with any of those teams. Our regional arch-rival is Saudi Arabia. We also have a football rivalry with South Korea.
While KSA is your arch-rival, I do remember quite a few of Iran fans during 2010 WCQs expressing strong dislike for other nations that fall within KSA's sphere of influence. I don't remember exact circumstances, but apparently there have been allegations from Iranians that several of these teams have rolled over so that KSA could qualify for WC in the past. Specifically there was some instance of KSA winning by a highly improbable 5 or 6-goal margin against UAE or Bahrain in one case that got them through ahead of Iran on goal difference ?
Is that the sentiments in Iran with the Iranians regarding a rivalry with the Koreans? How did they react to the KNT's behaviour after the match in which you guys won and qualified? How do they view Japan?
In the 70's, and 80's...now Iraq is pretty much a harmless little brother to Iran, and is on the same page as Iran on pretty much all the regional issues and conflicts etc. Iran's regional arch-rival in everything including football is Saudi Arabia. Middle East is pretty much in a cold war with Iran and its allies on one side and Saudi Arabia and its allies on the other side. We also have a footballing rivalry with South Korea pretty much due the fact that we seem to meet them in every AFC competition and a certain level of hate has developed between the die-hard fans, the players and the coaches over the years. With Japan though, we have no rivalry since we rarely meet each other in AFC.