Just a little correction on my part for my earlier post, even if Korea loses to Oman, there will be no worries of not making it to the Asian cup since I just remembered that second place in the group qualifies as well. So never mind that (was it Asian cup in 92 in Japan we didn't even make it to the final tournament? for whatever reason?) I just hope that playing in the middle east was the main reason was the main reason for this freak result (since we never do well there... and we did whip the same Vietnam team 5-0 in Korea) but I suspect that it's not. It probably has to do most with our atrocious finishing with our inability to successfully pierce through 11-man defense with any creativity. Korea also probably took Vietnam granted as well (being overconfident), a big mistake they shouldn't make against ANY team.
The goal of Vietnam http://up.love-body.com:8000/uploda/source/up20031020222427.mpg.html Wonderful goal.
S.Korea's consistent track-record in qualifying for the World Cup has given rise to a false and misleading picture of their overall consistency and record in Asia. This is not the first time the S.Koreans have lost to a lesser Asian side. In 1992, as I recall, they failed to even qualify for the Asian Cup after losing to Thailand. In 1996, they finished only 3rd in their group in the Asian Cup, losing to Kuwait in the group stage, only to be hammered 6:2 by Iran in the quarterfinals. In the 1998 Asian Games, they lost to Turkemnistan in the group stage, and were knocked out of the competition losing to a 9 man Thailand team. In the 2000 Asian Cup, the Koreans again lost to Kuwait in the group stage, finishing merely 3rd in their group, although they did pass the quarterfinal stage somewhat fortutiously after beating Iran in extra time. This is not meant to put down S.Korea's team. After all, my own team has suffered some of its most humiliating and costly defeats at the hands of 2nd tier sides in Asia. If Iran had defeated Qatar in its last game of the qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup, we would have won the group we had led from day one. Instead, we lost that match 2:0! If Iran had defeated Bahrain in the last World Cup qualifiers, we would have won our group but instead lost 3:1. Inconsistent results, against lower ranked teams that aren't complete minnows, is not a very unusual picture in football more generally. There are many teams in Asia, which although weaker than the top Asian sides, are capable of pulling an upset. For that reason, often times the luck of the draw -- and the stage in which you suffer one of these upsets -- more than anything else divide which of the top Asian sides come home with the goods.
i'm sure a lot of 2nd tiers from west such as qatar, iraq, kuwait, syria, bahrain, and oman give an upset to the top side quite often but vietnam?? impressive. i have been expecting the mighty jappan's total domination with likes of nakata on pitch in the upcomming east asia champ but now i guess we have to downgrade our lineup once again to adjust the strength to our opponents' level. otherwise it'll just get boring seeing a 5-0 game everytime. i wonder if gon nakayama is still available.
No joke. You guys please do us a favour and destroy us at the Olympic qualifications. Then maybe we'll finally wake up. Gosh, this is dispicable.
i told you oman in mascut was the sure bet. i just earned back my lost $20 in the previous bet and made some extra. we didn't do the vietnam game coz we thought it would be just a joke, but damn i should have pushed them. is it to me that bs became quiet as the certain posters disappeared all of the sudden ?
hmmm its getting competitive..i love it..and by the way do u think ASIAN CUP should invite another team outside the region to join in the next asian cup?
No thanks. If we beat you then we wont be able to wake up for a while, and unfortunately thats the truth even though I want us to win...
Korea 7:0 Nepal. now that's better. Korea now officially qualifies for the 2004 Asian Cup... however, we have some freaking work to do.
I'd say no. Copa America and th Concacaf Gold Cup do it because there aren't many competitive teams in either tournament and the teams play each other a lot, so inviting teams to make it exciting makes sense. Asian Cup has enough teams with a realistic chance of winning, plus eastern nations and western nations don't play each other very often.