It could be a team that you expected to do much better, or one that you thought would do much worse. It could be a particular result in one match. It could be a player who disappointed you, or one who stood out and surprised you. It could be about the level of play, whether it was better than you had thought or worse. It could be the home crowds, or the officiating. What surprised you the most in this Asian Cup? For me, I had not expected Australia to light about the tournament, nor did I think they would have an easy time in their group. However, the fact that they really needed luck to advance was a surprise. Australia was lucky to draw against Oman. Their loss to Iraq was deserved. Their 4:0 win over Thailand was entirely flattering and did not tell the really story in that match, with Thailand putting a lot of pressure on Australia, trailing by only one goal, before they ran out of steam the last 10-15 minutes of the game and let in the rest of the goals. The other surprise to me was the scoreline from the Saudi Arabia-Bahrain match. No, unlike some others, I didn't think a real fix was likely. But just by virtue of what each team needed to secure a place in the next round, I had thought the game would be played very cautiously by both sides and that a low scoring or no scoring game was likely. Saudi Arabia thrashing Bahrain 4:0 was not what I had expected. The other surprise to me was how flat Iran looked against China in the opening 20 minutes of that match. Instead of China, which has occasionally lost by lopsided scores to Iran, opening the game nervous, it was Iran which looked flat footed. Fortunately, despite falling behind by 2 goals early, Iran was able to come back and dominate and equalize the match. Still, those opening 15 minutes were rather shocking to me. So what are your surprises?
to me, here are the top 5 shocks of the tournament so far: -1) Australia's crash 3-1 under Iraq -2) Vietnam's fly 2-0 over UAE -3) Korea's defeat 2-1 by Bahrain -4) China's crash 3-0 under Ubezkistan -5) Thailand's win 2-0 over Oman or Indonesia's shock 2-1 over Bahrain
What surprised me most is Indonesia 2 - 1 Bahrain match. UAE team sucks so I was expecting their defeat. I was expecting a humble Australian performance because I've seen them play against Kuwait and they were beaten 2-0. I didn't expect they perform as bad as they did against Kuwait since all the pros are in the team this time but I also expect a loss is so possible.
I was surprised Oman didn't win the match against Australia. And also since Saudi Arabia has 5-6 new players, i was expecting a deja vu of Asian cup 2004 where saudi arabia had 8 players missing including 6th choice keeper. But this new Saudi team surprised me. By the way great thread. This is the only thread in the forum that is to the point.
new players or not this is best saudi players due to coach decision. so if you fail that means no excuses.
I didn't know players could be healed by coaches or the Saudi coach has more say in the matter of who gets selected than the Saudi Fa who try to keep players out of the team just for revenge.
of course, i mean who wouldnt automatically not allow the best 11 footballers in their country to go to the 2nd most important tournament for them because of revenge?
Definately the success of the host teams, especially Vietnam. In order: 1) Vietnam 2-0 UAE 2) Australia performing the way they did at the outset 3) Indonesia 2-1 Bahrain.. 4) China kicking Iran's ass at the beginning of our game with them 5) Bahrain 2-1 Korea 6) Thailand 1-1 Iraq 7) Kazemian being as good as he was against Uzbekistan 8) Jalal Hosseini's very solid performances 9) Qatar 1-1 Japan 10) Iraq 3-1 Australia (sort of expected after the Oman game but when Iraq scored the third it was a pretty jolting feeling) The most shocking moment for me personally was when China scored their second goal against Iran but only because I take special interest in Iran for being my own team closely followed by Rahman Rezaie's own goal... Actually scratch all of that. The biggest surprise was Saudi Arabia and Bahrain not drawing. (jk )
No surprised at all. The korean did know how to manage the situation. They tried to keep the game 1 goal in advanced only, so that they forced Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had to fight.
Nobody mentioning Japan VS Qatar 1-1? I was shocked when Qatar managed to equalize near the end. Certainly not the greatest shock, but I became worried nonetheless.
Honestly, I don't have any surprises, but I have more of "confirmation" of what I had previousely expected as surprises, from months before: 1) Iraq's good performance 2) Aussis being over-confident and overestimated [as favorites to win] 3) Also thought Vietnam and Thailand to do well and advance. Thailand came very close. 4) Last but not least, my boy, Jalal Hosseini flying high.
How ALL of the big 5 still managed to get through in the end, despite all the doom and gloom around here after the first matches.
actually it wasn't all that shocking afterall, they had only 1 week to prepare and most players are still tired from J-league + the weather wasn't so forgiving. I knew japan would rev up their engine from the second game onwards though I feel sorry for ur interpreter she had to bear the full assault from Osim's mouth lol...
arabs not losing to hopefull arabs in order to let them through.basicly...match fixing are not present.
Anyone surprised with how is my country played very well? Defeat Bahrain. Saudi?? They just win on the last minute. Korea???We just lose a goal not 4-0, 5-1, 5-0, 4-1, like the other host did when face the superior power country in Asia.