Laos! No seriously...I think South Korea. They have a such a wide talent base to draw from, I would have to go with them. My second pick would be Japan followed by KSA then Iran then China followed by everyone else getting crushed.
S.Korea and Japan are bit too ahead of the rest for now. As for who will win among the two, I think the side that hones up the teamwork faster will win.
if the mighty japan bring like of nakata, ono, and nakamura, the tournament will become meaningless as the winner is stated clearly even before it begins. ksa reached the final 5 times in a row and china is the host so those two might cause us a little problem but we will be too much for the rest. to make the tournament more entertainning the mighty japan should only rely on a domestic side and even a totally depleted side with whole bunch of aged players. sending O-30 side will be fun to watch fw hasegawa (kazu), nakayama mf nanami, mochizuki, fujita, morishima (okano) df nakanishi, miura (michiki), akita, narahashi gk okanaka (sanada)
Too early to tell. This time 4 years ago, nobody had an inclination Japan will be that all conquering side. But I have a feeling that neither Japan nor Korea are going to win it. I think there's too much arrogance and overconfidence from their part, whilst there are teams determined to show their worth and cut J/K down to size. I wouldn't be too surprised to see an opening game humiliation like Saudi in 2000. Iran will probably win it, but I voted for Saudi anyway. We somehow always make the final, and from there, it's 50-50.
Iran has the best chance with a balanced combination of experienced players and new talents ( and there's plenty of it). I still think S> Korea and Japan are over rated, specially S. Korea. Only time will tell, but I say it again, Koreans & Japanese ejoyed their sudden spike in football, now it's time to get back to reality. LIONS OF ASIA WILL ROAR AGAIN.
maybe from the Western Asia's point of view. 4 years ago, I'm sure most of East Asians thought of Japan as a strong contender. 4 years ago was 1999. That's when Japan's U-20 side reached the finals of World Youth Championship. We should have felt some change by then. Actually, even before that, Japan beat Iran at the WCQ1997. So I think we should have known that Japan had at least "some inclination" that they were going to be a good side. All things aside, I agree with you that it's "too early to tell." We're doing all this just for fun and we know it. We've got the scariest youth coming up (U-22, U-20, U-17, U-15) in Asia, but that doesn't always bring trophies and that's football.
S.Korea has been among the elite of Asia for the longest period of time (from '50s until now). "Sudden spike" is surely not the term unless the rest of Asia is "even more sudden spike."
since i don't know where it's going to be held, i say saudi or iran if in the west and japan or korea if in east.
make sure small cats like bahrain don't chase you away. sorry. couldnt resist. its in my blood to troll. seriously, korea wont win it (although i voted for them for being my team's sake). last time, we got our butt kicked by thailand, and before that we got our butt kicked by iran. korea has bad luck with asian cup. but if we somehow manage to play japan or china in the semifinals, we'd have a better chance making it to the finals because the players know that the media won't tolerate them if they lose.
Saudi wont win it, I dont think we will even make the finals... I stop there, since I dont realy know whats going on with the other sides(WC 2002 is long gone ). BTW Iraq Olympic team is cleaning house in freindly matches in saudi. Iraq will help spice it up a bit.
That was actually a good one but seriousely, Iran has the best chance and is the hungriest of all. We are still pretty pissed off over the WC2002 qualis, so I expect a strong showing by Iran. I think it will be Japan vs Iran in the finals.
When and where? When is the Asian Cup next year, and in what cities in China? Things seem so changeable in Asian football right now that the weather/climate may be the biggest factor as to who wins.
Just an observation. Ever since last year's World Cup, anyone notice every Asian country with a respectable football team have nothing but contempt, jealousy, and dislike for the South Korean squad. China(I wouldn't include theirs as respectable though, but theyre getting there fast), Iran, and Japan fans seem to be the most vocal about this. Here's hoping the finals will be between South Korea and Iran. That would be a fun match. I've stated before and will re-state it, South Korea should be more worried about Iran than Japan in the Asian contingent. Japan and China are a bit of push overs for our squad while middle eastern teams have always posed problems for us.
Well i as an Iranian have nothing but love for both korea and japan cause if it wasn't for them asia wouldnt have gotten as many spots as they have now. Saudie and China in the other hand could have gotten us more spots. Ah well 4.5 should be enough for my team(Iran) to make it.
that's just the way it is. When one shines, the rest tries to jump on it. I found it interesting to see Bauvafa comment how S.Korea's overrated. (A couple years ago, when Japan was putting on a good show, he commented how he thinks Japan is just way too overrated. that was at dailysoccer.com)
I still feel the same way Honestly, I am not jelous of S. Korea's success, I have given credit to both Japan & S. Korea when I thought It was well deserved. Their success is good for Asia if they continue to play at high level, this way other Asian countries are forced to compete harder. My only beef with S. Korea, Japan, and USA is that I really don't think their success can be sustained in the long run.
btw, what's with this poll and 27 votes for S. Korea!!!! Are there that many Koreans here, damn! they keep cloning themselves
I would have thought that you'd be used to it by now... Anyway id say S.Korea and Japan have the highest chance of making it, but dont be surprised at all if Iran wins the competition. Our U-23 side is like an atomic bomb waiting to explode Asia. I cant wait to see Mobali, Kaabi, Badavi, Mofrad, Nekounam, Navidkia, etc. in the Asian Cup. All we need is a god damn coach so we can have a god damn long term plan. Our only problem is the stupidity of the Federation. Other than that we lack nothing (other than lots of funds but that is the federation problem as well). The gap (between SK and Japan) is not as far as some people make it out to be.