I don't know about the history of this Cup. Do countries take it seriously? I know in theory it's the equivalent of UEFA's European Champ., and I know all those teams take it very seriously.
it's been almost 50 yrs since the first asia cup held. you can check all the result from the afc site
I see, but how prestigious is it? Do the teams send their best (like the Euro Champ.) or the best when it's convenient for them (like during friendlies)?
I say its prestigious enough. Another chance to see that Korea in fact has a worse rival than Japan - Iran. To see how prestigious the cup is then look back to 2000. Huh Jung-moo was fired for not winning the cup. In 1996 coach Park (forgot his name..now the coach of Daegu F.C.) was fired for losing to Iran. All of Asia's (including Korea) and Europe's media praised Japan for winning it 2000. It might not look prestigious because the past two cups were in the mid-east and people just don't seem to go watch games, unless its game held by the host country.
In the case of Korea, we didn't take it seriously until 1996. We took Olympics and even Asian Games more seriously than the Asian Cup. In 1996, the fans were more hyped about Atlanta'96 than AC'96. We even hired foreign coach, who had led USSR to gold, for the olympics team while AC squad was coached by a korean. However, the embarrassing 6-2 loss to Iran in '96AC was kind of wake-up call. Then as the internet provided the ground for discussion among football fans, people started to emphasize the importance of AC as it's the only competition to rightfully crown the Asian champ. So starting Lebanon'00, we took it seriously just about as much as Olympics but not as much as WC qualifiers. I'm very anxious to see how KFA organize AC and Olympics squads for 2004 as both events will be held the same year, only a week apart. Currently, U-23 players in our NT (Seol, Cha, Song, Lee CS, Park JS, etc.) are set to play in Olympics squad but it's still unkown whether they'll join the AC squad a week after the olympics end.
Well Japan sent their best team (except Nakata) to the 2000 Asian Cup and won it all, I think its a prestigous competition, and a good place for Asian players to emerge into the spotlight and gain popularity. Also it gives us bragging rights for Asia, cause even though Japan didn't do as well as Korea in World Cup, Japan is headed to the Confed Cup, cause we are still Asian champs!
I want to know how or if the Japan, Korea, China, and Iran teams get back some of their players for these matches if they are in the middle of Euro season.
Japan didn't call Nakata because he was playing in Italy at the time, I don't know what they will do this time, I hope they call back all of the Japanese players cause most of they are playing for worthless teams.
Not true. Parma, HSV, and Feyenoord are all fighting for places in Europe. And the one team that really could be considered "garbage" (though they've been getting better) Reginna, lives and dies w/ Nakamura.
The Asian Cup is held in October, as more and more Asian players go to Europe, it'll be harder for teams to field full teams. In other words, I think this competition will decline in prestige and will eventually become a second tier competition.
Re: Re: How important is the Asian Cup? Minor correction: Seol, Cha & Song are not U-23. Otherwise, very well said, WT! AC'96 was a watershed and the beginning of a 6-year slump for the Korean national team... right up to WC'02.
Re: Re: Re: How important is the Asian Cup? thanks for the corrections. Seol and Song just turned 24. But isn't Cha Duri still 22?
Iran called back Mahdavikia, Ali Daei, and the rest of their foriegn based players for the AC in 2000. Man that was just a big hit to us. The last minute goal Korea scored on us hurt big and really got the media worked up. Mahdavikia was accused of slacking off and there was lots of bashing on him by some fans and the media. Then Mahdavikia retaliated back by putting down head coach Jalal Talebi so bad you could feel the thump in Antarctica... Anyway, yes, its a big deal. Especially in West Asian countries.
Re: Re: Re: Re: How important is the Asian Cup? If I'm not mistaken, Cha Duri was born in 1980, so he's not eligible for 2004 Olympics.
a fan whose team just lost all 3 games in a tournament at home without scoring any goals just because one of their striker left talks about worthless teams!! trust me, your worthless team can't beat any of the worthless teams you implied. leave it to gamba this year and live underground with dwarves and refine some axes for the next year.
i think now almost everyone takes this competition seriously and that's the way it should be. this is the only competition taht determines who's the best within the confederation.
Hey, I just met some guys at my school who are friends with Nanami, ironicly they are Shimizu fans, the lowest of low fans!
hey I got some respect for Ganba, would be nice to see a team in Kansai win one of the J League stages, just not my rivals Shimizu..........