Group A : Japan Saudi Arabia Yemen India Two best advance to the finals ! Easy group ? Saudi Arabia will probably start with Yemen away on feb 22 then Japan at home on March 1. Last match could be postponed to September 1 because of World Cup preparations...
Well... the only tough and hard side for the Saudis in the group is Japan. I don't think if Saudi Arabia has ever beat Japan in a crusial encounter. Though, Saudia did drew with Japan 0-0 at Doha in World Cup'94 qualifier. Apart from that drawing result, I haven't found any result declaring Saudi victorious against Japan. Saudia Must Win its Home match against Japan by atleast 3 goals with out reply in order to stand a chance of qualifying to Asia Cup as Japan is capable of scoring more than 3 against Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Saudi Arabia should play a power-play sort of a game against Japan as I have noticed that powerful shot from long distance on Japan's goal is the weak point in the Japanese game.
Well... if 2 teams from each group are going to qualify then I guess that Japan and most probably Saudi Arabia will qualify. No fear now!
Lol when i saw that group i started . India and saudi. Just great for india . Yeah japan has a great record against saudiarabia and by past records i would rank the same way as is in the table. JAPAN SAUDIARABIA YEMEN INDIA But i am keeping my fingers crossed for india's surprise but not a the expense of saudi arabia. Just think what will happen to indians in saudi arabia if india wins against saudi arabia. my major dissapointment would be for calderon not to be there who would have likely said " we are vying for the second spot " just like in the wc qualifiers. Any ways did india play with saudi arabia before?
Good group, at least we have a competitive team to play against. Use our B team for the rest, and consider Japans game as a friendly. Pretty good if SAFF turns their brains on.
Saudi Arabia has troubles in playing with Japan and have never defeated them. I suggest that Saudis should play the AC qualifying match against Japan on March 1, 2006. This will alow them to have a competitive match in preparation for the world cup and besides Japan is stronger than most of the european opposition and have played against Ukraine before, so, it will be a worthy opposition for Saudia. Playing against Japan in Saudia on March 1 will give the Saudis a lot of confidence and having the home advantage, the Saudis can change their history against Japan this time around by winning. I think Saudi Arabia should play Japan on March 01, 2006, as scheduled by AFC.
Guys.. mentioned below are the results of 3 Asian countries (Japan, Korea and Iran) against Ukrain, Spain and Tunisia. Based on the result by Japan against Ukrain in a friendly played not far ago, I think it won't be a bad idea for the Saudis to play against Japan on March 01, 2006 at all. The most interesting result however, is that of Iran against Ukraine in Ukraine, see it: Japan (JPN) VS Ukraine (UKR) Played 2 JPN Won 1 UKR Won 1 Drawn 0 12 October 2005 KYIV (Ukraine) Ukraine vs. Japan 1:0 Friendly 21 March 2002 OSAKA (Japan) Japan vs. Ukraine 1:0 Friendly Japan (JPN) VS Tunisia (TUN) Played 3 JPN Won 3 TUN Won 0 Drawn 0 08 October 2003 TUNIS (Tunisia) Tunisia vs. Japan 0:1 Friendly 14 June 2002 OSAKA (Japan) Tunisia vs. Japan 0:2 2002 WC 13 October 1996 KOBE (Japan) Japan vs. Tunisia 1:0 Friendly Japan (JPN) VS Spain (ESP) Played 1 ESP Won 1 JPN Won 0 Drawn 0 25 April 2001 CORDOBA (Spain) Spain vs. Japan 1:0 Friendly Korea Republic (KOR) VS Ukraine (UKR) Played 2 KOR Won 2 URK Won 0 13 Sep. 1994 SEOUL (Korea) Korea vs. Ukraine 2:0 Friendly 11 Sep. 1994 KANGNEUNG (Korea) Korea vs. Ukraine 1:0 Friendly Korea Republic (KOR) VS Tunisia (TUN) Played 1 Drawn 1 13 March 2002 TUNIS (Tunisia) Tunisia vs. Korea 0:0 Friendly Korea Republic (KOR) VS Spain (ESP) Played 3 Drawn 2 ESP Won 1 22 June 2002 GWANGJU (Korea) Spain vs. Korea 0:0 a.e.t 3:5 PSO 2002 WC 17 June 1994 DALLAS (USA) Spain vs. Korea 2:2 1994 WC 17 June 1990 UDINE (Italy) Korea vs. Spain 1:3 1990 WC Iran (IRN) VS Ukraine (UKR) Played 1 IRN Won 1 UKR Won 0 21 August 2002 KYIV (Ukraine) Ukraine vs. Iran 0:1 Friendly
scoring 3 against everyone's favorite mighty japan? hahaha gimme a break my friend. yes, you laid good eyes on the tactics when you said saudi to use power-play against us as it's our weakpoint but powerful shot from long distance?!?!? what the hell is that got to do with beating us on power-play? if you think you can score on a long range shot, the god nakamura will show you how to do it properly. please, my friend, just accept that japan will crash saudi arabia in riyadh or wherever and your tear runs down on your face ubiquitously.
Hammad my friend, the saudi team tried that tactic during the 2000 asian cup final between saudi and japan. Nawaf temyat tried and tried and tried but the japanese goalkeeper was quick.
My friend, in soccer, there’s no telling or predicting. Who ever thought that Japan would score 4 goals against Saudi-Arabia in the AC 2000 opening league match – No One! Similarly, on a given day, Japan might end up at the receiving or conceding end. My friend, a tough team of today might turn out to be the weak team of tomorrow… the rise and fall comes on every team…. though Japan hasn’t tasted defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia yet, but be assured, that defeat might not be too far off. Saudis have seen their worst nightmare and I believe they have passed the revival stage, in fact, I believe they are on their way back to glory again. Let’s see if its at the expense of Japan…. hmm…. March 1, 2006. And Sahbecham, the luch was with the Japanese Goal Keeper at the final otherwise, the whole second half was completely dominated by the Saudis except for the goal.... let's see if luck favours Saudi Arabia next time around as it has favoured the Saudi clubs on most of the occasions against the Japanese clubs.
ya.. the penalty that Saudi Arabia's Hamza Idrees missed in the 17th minute..... if that penalty would have been scored, I wonder if Saudi Arabia would have eventually won... but thats luck which favoured Japan on that day!
oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i forgot about that too................... Man........... Saudi would have won a record of 4 asian cup titles.