2015 AFC Asian Cup Final -- South Korea vs. Australia Discussion

On neutral ground, I'd give ROK a slight edge. But in Australia, I think they better play some rope-a-dope and tire the Aussies in the first, using their very good defense to their advantage.

And hit hard in the second with counters, when the locals are tired. It's going to be an interesting game.

 

SK defense is not that good, they have not seen a tough team to challenge them yet. Their defense is always shaky on set pieces.

I would like to see SK cheer up this time because they have been waiting for so long to up hold the cup. They are getting better by each game but still far from what they used to be. Aussies need to wait some more years for that. still not quiet Asian yet!

This competition was not that interesting to me, almost all teams showed weaker faces and made many mistakes. UAE came back from second tier teams in Asia to show a good future for Arab footballing nation and set an example for their Gulf neighbors. SK was weak and barely wining games at group stage but became slightly better at quarter final and semifinal matches. Japan was not the usual itself. Australian squad is aging and its golden generation is gone by now. Uzbekistan was the shadow of its WCQ matches and went down. Saudi Arabia is still out of picture. Iraq is struggling but managed to pull a lucky upset out of Iran. China is getting better but it is still far from a powerhouse. Iran reverted to a defensive mode which can win most matches with one goal and it finally cost them dearly. 2004, 2007 and 2011 was much more interesting competition to me. If this competition was in China, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Jordan,... it had a lot more spectators

 

I have a feeling this game may be decided in the first half. I think if Australia is able to score first in the first half, then they'll probably go on to win because S.Korean team hasn't really showed the ability to claw back from being down first over the past few years or so. But in my mind the longer the game goes with it being scoreless (or if Korea scores first), it will be Korea who will have more of a psychological advantage. IMO we have few things psychologically going our way... one is that we've been on a shutout streak (regardless of how in truth, our D hasn't been all that great), and the other is that we've managed to beat Australia once already in group stage and in that Aussies are the home team; the fact that Aussies are a home team has both psychological advantages as well as disadvantages in my view. While the advantages are obvious, the psychological disadvantage is the pressure as a host team on them.... that they will know in back of their mind that a loss here in the finals in front of a home crowd would be an embarrassment to them, especially to a team that already beat them once in the group. The fact that they were shut out in the last game vs. S.Korea and that S.Korean Defence on paper seem like a wall, will probably also play into their mind the longer it goes without an Aussie goal. Then there is also the fact that they lost 4 years ago in the finals in ET to Japan as well, despite arguably having better of the chances. This S.Korea team on the other hand have already overachieved to a degree, and don't have much to lose as the underdogs coming in... except that chance at breaking that 50+year old jinx of course, but they wouldn't be the first to fail in this regard. On the flipside, I have a feeling S.Korea will be very vulnerable if that shutout streak is broken first, since it'll be the first time in this tournament we'll have to claw back, and lately that's not something we've been very good at.

As far as stamina is concerned I don't think either team has advantage; Korea will have one more day of rest without any travelling involved but Aussies have come through their quarters and semis in a much more comfortable fashion... so I see that as pretty much even. So IMO, the longer it goes stalemate, more the psychology side of the game will have its effect. If Aussies can score first, then I think they will ride that advantage the rest of the way and cruise their way to the cup win. The longer it goes scoreless/if Korea scores first however, more it'll play into the Aussies' mind and better the chance of a S. Korean upset. Of course, if it ends up in a shootout, then it's anyone's game....

May the best team win!

 

May SK win.

 

The question is IF Korea can finish this tournament without conceding? I think they can...Cahill and co will have some shots but their GK seems impressive unless they give away a clear cut chance like a free header or 1 on 1.

I think Korea's got this. As much I would like the hosts to end it on a high, there's a history of hosts killing it in tournament but choke in the final. 1-0 S. Korea AET.

 

From AFC Official App lol

 

Time to call Vegas, the fix is in.

lol

 

You guys were the only other team to score on Australia + gave us S.Korea a real scare in the second half, so you guys fought well in retrospective... just too bad you guys couldn't beat Oman to end it on a good note.

 

I just remembered, four years ago in the 2011 final, the man who scored the ET winner vs. Australia was:



Lee Tanadari, ethnically Korean. May the Aussie's Korean curse live on.

 

May the best team win!
But I hope for S.K because then I can tell everyone that we lost against the winner

 

Quality-wise, Asian football is in crisis right now. We saw it in the World Cup, we can see it in the rankings, and when playing against NTs from other regions. That cannot be hidden. BUT it's temporary, of course. Other confederations have gone through such periods, from Europe in the 60s to South America by the end of the 20th century.

What matters is that the enthusiasm, the fans, are still there. I'm very encouraged by the media following of this tournament. From China to Bahrain, people have been following their team, cheering, and exchanging info that shows they are quite football-aware.

As a lover of the game, I see a lot of hope in this Asian Cup. Here's to hoping AFC NTs come back in Russia a lot stronger!

 

Many confederations have a duality of regions. I think the one where one can say one side is million miles behind the other is in Africa, where East Africa is, basically, a football desert.

I don't think West Asia is that far behind the East. Iran is one of the best teams in Asia, and (IMO) would have had a good shot at making the finals, were not that red card given. Also, Iraq and the Emirates are emerging teams, truly much stronger than anything in East Asia outside the Big Three (JPN, ROK, ATL) and perhaps North Korea.

East Asia has all those South-East Asian countries that are quite terrible at football, even though they have a lot of fans in there: Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines.* The Arab nations are head and shoulders above all of them, and I'd say the distance between them and the Big Three in East Asia is only a bit bigger than the one between the Central Americans and the Big Two (USA & MEX) in CONCACAF.

Also, Uzbekistan is geographically closer to West Asia, and they are a very fun team to watch, arguably the #5 team in the AFC.

----
* I still always watch the often controversial ASEAN Championship. Corruption hurts football big time, main reason why Serie A dropped from Third Best League in the World to about #6 by now. The ghost of match fixing haunts the ASEAN region, just like it haunts the Balkans.

 

Not true, nor even close. The average age of the squad is 24. Take out Cahill (33) and Bresciano (34) who are of the so called golden generation and the average drops to 23. That's a young squad, not an old one

GoonerUnder

 

Eugene Galekovic 33
Alex Wilkinson 30
Mark Milligan 29
Matt McKay 32
Mark Bresciano 34
Tim Cahill 35
Pluse 7 more 26+ in your squad makes your team aging as I said.
check it out yourself
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_national_soccer_team
If you consider the recent call ups then you need to add 6 more 30+ players to this list.

 

south korea will win it. i dont want australia to win it after ben williams exponentially increased their chances of winning by knocking out Iran. winning the asian cup at home by having only ONE competitive match which comes in the final? that is a very cheap trophy. so i want south korea to win it. south korea would also would have only ONE competitive match that matters, also in the final, but at least they dont have home advantage, so it would be slightly more of a deserved cup if they were to win it. it would have been an EPIC cup if Iran and japan were in it and would have showed who was truly the best in asia, but both teams got unlucky.

 

Actually Australia and Korea have already played each other in the group stage. Don't believe Japan or Iran played any of the big four in the Asian Cup and didn't make the semi finals??

 

Of those recent call ups, only 4 are 30+, none of them (except maybe Brad Jones) will ever play for Australia again.
Do you consider the Iran squad an ageing team too, because the average ages are basically the same.
30+ Australia 6, Iran 6
27-30 Australia 2, Iran 5
24-27 Australia 7, Iran 7
<24 Australia 8, Iran 5

 

add 2 to the four 30+ because there are two 29 who turn 30 in (30/1 and may).
Yes, Iran current squad is aging too, but we have good replacement from younger generation (specially from our u23, u20 teams).

 

Australia has plenty of youngsters coming through too. Brillante 21 (Fiorentina), Da Silva 17 (AS Roma), Amini 21 (Dortmund), Rogic 22 (Cetlic), Smith 20 (Liverpool), Good 19 (Newcastle United), Taggart 21 (Fulham), Ikonomidis 19 (Lazio youth) and then there are players in the current squad too:

Ryan 22, Davidson 23, Sainsbury 23, Behich 24, Oar 23, Antonis 21, Luongo 22, Leckie 23, Juric 23.

And on top of that a grassroots development framework was set up a few years ago by the governing body, so probably at least another 5 years until that generation starts to make the u20 teams. Also the national league is only 10 years old and only has 10 teams.

Lastly, I think it is important to realise the sporting landscape in Australia too. Soccer (as most call it here) is not the main sport in Australia. In winter AFL (Aussie rules), NRL (rugby league) and Super Rugby all are the main sports. The main national team during winter is the Wallabies (rugby union). The national soccer comp in Australia plays in summer to avoid clashing with these sports (although all levels below that play over winter). Then in summer the main sport is cricket followed by A-League (soccer comp). At the moment in the papers the Asian Cup article(s) are behind the Australian Open (tennis), international cricket (series on at the moment and World Cup in Australia starting mid Feb), Big Bash League (domestic cricket), and depending which state you live in AFL/NRL pre-season articles.

The Socceroos don't even have a major sponsor at the moment.

 

Saying all that (previous post) it is great to see Australia playing positive attacking football and winning games. I still think we are lacking some of the "cattle" but the team effort is second to none. UAE had some skillful players (Australia wish they had some of those players), but the sum of the whole outweigh a few.

I will be interested to see how Korea approaches this game. They seemed to have improved as the tournament has gone on, and looked really comfortable against Iraq. Can Australia break their clean sheets run?

 

Containing Cahill will be more difficult than the previous battle in the group stage. During that match, he came onto the pitch as a late sub when the flow was going against the home team. It was too late and much for him to turn things around at the moment.

Expected to start in the final, he will be ready to break down our defense from the get-go. Our defense should have their hands full which I expect them to be.