Let me introduce the article by Japanese sports writer briefly. http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/soccer/japan/2011/text/201101280002-spnavi.html He usually wrote not only about the games of Japan National team, But also he wrote about what he saw and what he felt at the both inside and outside of the stadium. His points are: 1. The Asian Cup has longer history than the European Cap. 2. Great hospitality of the host country for the press and the public relations. Clean and safe work place, and drinks and meals are free for them. 3. Qatar spends so much of money for the organization of the conference, but they seem to lack the intention of making money by that. 4. As the host country, Qatar needs the culture of going to the stadiums and watching the games. 5. For the example, he introduces students of girls who going to the stadium by order of the organizer. Something like this. You got to use the web translators, if you want to read full story.
Qatar Asian Cup was alright in terms of organization and many other things that can be arranged by spending money. But Qatar is a small (a very small) country and no amount of money can change that. It would have been much better if, instead of the Asian Cup in 2007 being awarded to a bunch of 3rd tier Asian teams (Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand -- the latter closer to 2nd tier) that if we were going to have a tournament hosted by 4 countries those 4 would have been Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait each hosting one of the groups. That would have worked well enough in my opinion as each group would be hosted by one of the countries involved, bringing enough fans to the stadia for each of these groups and livening up the atmosphere. Qatar on its own could not do so.
^The UAE should be able to host a tournament by themselves. They're big enough and are a highly developed country in the region, so I don't think they would face any problems. The '96 Asian Cup was one of the best in terms of organization, and that was way before the country's population and economy started to grow rapidly. I'd like to see them hosting the Asian Cup again, perhaps in 2019 or 2023.
It is not a question of organizational ability, but attendance. When each group is hosted by one of them, you can expect most group games to be followed closely as they affect the hosts in each group. That is different than a situation were the limited fan base in a country like Qatar or the UAE needs to attend and support games in groups that don't affect their team.