The AFC Championships begin in a few days. Time to begin a thread about the championships themselves rather than about the delay and the 'controversy' over allocation of spots. History: China and Taiwan have the greatest history of success in this tournament. China's string of seven consecutive tournament wins was broken in Taiwan two years ago, while Taiwan won three successive championships from 1977 to 1981. Taiwan has also been runners-up twice (as recently as 1999). Other prior champions are New Zealand (1975), Thailand (1985 - incidently the one time they hosted the event), and North Korea two years ago. Group A features North Korea, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and host Thailand. North Korea, the defending champions, figure to be the favorites in this group with South Korea expected to gain second place. South Korea won their group two years ago when they defeated Taiwan. Thailand finished third in that same group. Both Singapore and Hong Kong finished well out of the running in the previous competition. There are two matches to watch in this qualifying group. The match between the Koreas on the 16th. This is the last day of play for this group, and will likely decide the group. South Korea will have to not get beat too badly to help its chances in garnering the sole second-place transfer to the semifinals. The other match is when South Korea plays host Thailand on the 10th. This is a tricky match for South Korea. Thailand is not that bad a team and a draw here could really trip up the South Koreans. Even an unconvincing win can do that, as Taiwan proved two years ago that they can score goals. Group B features Japan, Taiwan, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Guam. Japan is the favorite in this group, but not by a long way. Taiwan is a quality side and should give the Japanese all they can handle. Both finished second in their first round groups two years ago, with Japan advancing to the Semifinals on goal difference (28-2 vs. 24-1). Guam and the Philippines both finished last in their respective groups last year, providing what should be easy fodder for running up a goal differencial advantage for Taiwan and Japan. Myanmar did not participate in the last competition. The match to watch in this group is obviously Japan v. Taiwan on June 15. This will most likely decide the winner of the group and the loser stands a good shot at getting the final semi-final spot due to the minnows below them in this group. Group C features China, Uzbekistan, India, and Viet Nam. China is the clear favorite in this group as they should not be threatened at all by the other teams in this group. Uzbekistan finished second in their group two years ago, but were defeated by China 11-0 in the process. Viet Nam finished third in their group and India, fourth. China should not get a challenge here and there really isn't a game to watch in this group. Predictions: Group A: North Korea Group B: Japan Group C: China Runner-Up semifinalist: Taiwan Semifinals: North Korea defeats Taiwan Japan defeats China Finals: North Korea wins its second successive AFC title. Third-Place Game: China wins a meaningless game against Taiwan as Taiwan will have to play Mexico regardless of the result and China is already in.
I'm a bit surprised you have Japan beating China. I assume it's because the match would be critical to Japan, since China is tinkering with personell. What affect will the rainy season have on the tournament?
You are exactly correct as to my rationale for China beating Japan. I don't know about the rainy season and its effect on the tournament because I don't know when the rainy season hits Thailand. Though later than usual this year, the rainy season is expected to hit Taiwan later this week or early next week, so I would assume that it has already passed Thailand by. Finally, including China in the poll question was a mistake. Of course they will not play Mexico because they have an automatic qualifying spot.
Two things: 1. Who voted for China. I already said I included it by mistake because they get the automatic qualifier. 2. To the person who said other, who? I should have said (please specify) in the poll. It begins tomorrow. Enjoy and GO TAIWAN!
Day one action Host Thailand got the start that it wanted with a 3-0 victory over Singapore. South Korea they got a six goal second half outburst in an 8-0 drubbing of Hong Kong. This is exactly the type of goal production the South Koreans will need in the likely event that the last semi-final berth comes down to a goal differnential battle with Taiwan. Groups B and C are in action tonight. Taiwan will try to match South Korea's goal output against Guam while favored Japan takes on the Philippines in Group B. In group C, heavily favored China takes on neighbors Viet Nam while India takes on Central Asian foe Uzbekistan.
hey ludahai, but i'm just curious...is there a site/place where i can pull up the rosters for all the teams taking part? just curious! thanks for the updates!! too bad my "homeland" of HK got drubbed ... although i can't say i'm too surprised. lol elaine
http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54048_E.html http://www.asian-football.com/awc/03/index.html try these links, they're up to date tourney news.. search around a bit more rosters??
Japan 15 Philippines 0 Japan was leading 3-0 after 9 minutes... Mito Otani scored 7 goals in the game. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-fifteengoals&prov=ap&type=lgns
Day 2 almost saw a huge suprise Day one of group B play nearly saw one of the biggest upsets in the history of women's football as Guam took an early 1-0 lead over Taiwan on a Tera Flores Hannah 8th minute goal. Guam maintained that lead until injury time when Chen Shu-chiung levelled the match at 1-1. Though Taiwan dominated play in the second half, it was only able to get one additional goal when Ho Mung-ting put Taiwan ahead for good and a tough 2-1 victory. This puts Taiwan in tough straits in goal difference v. Korea as it falls seven goals behind on the first series of matches. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54051_E.html Japan easily defeated the Philippines 15-0 to assert its authority over the group. Mio Otani scored SEVEN goals in the Japanese barrage which also included a goal from the WUSA Atlanta Beat's Homare Sawa (WAR SAWA). http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54047_E.html In group C, India opened with an impressive 6-0 win against Uzbekistan. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54052_E.html China opened with an easy win over Viet Nam 6-0. Teng Wei scored two and former Atlanta Beat player Sun Wen added a goal to give China a 3-0 halftime lead. China never looked back as it cruised to a 6-0 win. China is tied with India on top of the group. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54048_E.html Group A is featured in day three. South Korea has a tricky match against host Thailand. A slip up here could give the edge back to Taiwan for the fourth semi-final berth. Hong Kong has to play North Korea in what should be another drubbing at the hands of a Korean side.
Small site (with roster) of the Indian team... http://www.indianfootball.com/data/national/wasiacup2003.html
I did not vote because the poll has been closed. i think North Korea should win this thing. They were the Asian Games champion. They had some political incentatives to do well as the World Cup will be helded in the US.
Sorry old friend. I set the time to expire before the competition actually began. It would be much easier to predict South Korea will get the spot now that the first matches have occurred than it would have before the competition began.
DPR Korea 13 Hong Kong 0 http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54061_E.html South Korea 6 Thailand 0 http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54060_E.html
well, I would think the bottom feeders of CONCACAF against the bottom feeder of AFC would be an intersting affair
Bravo to Guam on their performance against Taiwan. Also, Ludahai, was the earthquake bad? They made it a "breaking news" story on CNN. But since there's been little news over here about it, I assume it wasn't as bad as first thought. Well, we know that China will be going nonetheless. North Korea will have to keep up the momentum from the last AFC championship. I think Japan has a very good chance to win it all this year. has a very good chance to be in the final. However, South Korea are probably going to be the unlucky ones for the best second place record unless they can beat North Korea. Otherwise it will probably be Taiwan for best second-place team.
"A strong earthquake struck Taiwan Monday, triggering rock slides on mountainside highways, but no major damage or injuries were immediately reported from the quake and a series of aftershocks. The 6.3-magnitude tremor was centered at sea about 15 miles east of the northeastern coastal town of Ilan, the Central Weather Bureau said. Ilan is about 70 miles southeast of the capital of Taipei. The tremor lasted for more than 30 seconds and swayed buildings in the capital. It also triggered rock slides on several mountainside highways in eastern Taiwan, but no injuries were reported, according to state radio. The quake jolted central and northern parts of the island, the weather bureau said. Several aftershocks — of magnitudes 3.9, 4.5 and 5.3 — were recorded following the earthquake, it said. Tremors frequently shake Taiwan, but most cause little or no damage. " There's my answer. But I know that if a 6.3 earthquake happened near me, there would be chaos and destruction. Yes. Bottom feeders match would be interesting. But I think the Asian teams would crush the Concacaf teams.
And to think that the day after that (yesterday), we had a 6.5 magnitude quake. Again, no casualties and little damage.
So you see, it wasn't a big deal per se. But I heard it and I thought "O, no. Not another one." But the Taiwanese are used to it by now. Anyway, I have to say that some of the bottom feeders in the AFC would do better than those in Concacaf. However, it's hard to tell because those in Concacaf have to play against two teams that I would place in the top 8(And Mexico who are in the top 20) and AFC really just has China. But it would be interesting for sure.
Day three South Korea 6 Thailand 0 South Korea is consolidating the advantage it has over Taiwan in a possible goal difference tiebreaker with a convincing 6-0 win over the hosts. It took 30 minutes for the South Koreans to break through on a goal by Hwang In-sun. Five minutes later, LEE Ji-eun scored the first of her three goals on the night to give the female Reds a 2-0 halftime lead. Like in their first match against Hong Kong, South Korea exploded in the second half, this time for four goals, to cement a 6-0 win and put all kinds of pressure on Taiwan to come up with a plethora of goals in their next match against the Philippines on Friday. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54060_E.html North Korea 13 Hong Kong 0 The Hong Kongers will likely be delighted that they have no more matches against Koreans (losing two and surrendering 21 goals against them while scoring none). Ri Kum-suk scored six goals (to move into second in the golden boot race) to power the defending champions to an easy victory over the overmatched SAR side. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54061_E.html Group A Table TEAM P W D L GF:GA PTS. Korea Republic 2 2 0 0 14:0 6 Korea DPR 1 1 0 0 13:0 3 Thailand 2 1 0 1 3:6 3 Singapore 1 0 0 1 0:3 0 Hong Kong 2 0 0 2 0:21 0 Day four matches: Philippines v. Myanmar - the Philippines look to recover from their 0-15 drubbing at the hands of Japan in group B. Japan v. Guam - The Guamanians look to repeat their surprising first match where they only lost 1-2 to Taiwan. Uzbekistan v. Viet Nam - This is the match to see who stays out of the bottom in group C. China v. India - Granted, an India win would be a huge upset, but the winner will take the group lead, and will likely win the group. The two are dead even on points, goal difference, and goals scored.
Don't forget North Korea. Their ranking would be higher if they played in more international tournaments, but don't forget, they are the defending AFC Champions and they are off to an impressive start so far. About the earthquakes: Sure, these earthquakes were little to the Taiwanese, but I was scared to death, especially the second one because I was on the tenth floor of a twelve story building.
Well, I know. Anyone who is in an earthquake would be scared but compared to us on the East coast of the US, there's a little bit of more experience with such things. Anyway, I know North Korea would be higher certainly in the World Rankings if they played more often. I predict that they will be in the final with China. But not in the top ten.
Well, I hope Japan doesn't embarrass Guam. It would be great for such a team to have some more confidence. To almost beat Taiwan is quite an achievement.
It is quite an achievement, unfortunately, it severly hurt Taiwan's chances to advance to the semifinals. Taiwan will have to trounce the Philippines by something like 10-0 to get back in this thing.
Right. I wasn't take in account the personal bias of, I don't know, you. You're right. They will. But They can probably do that against a team like the Philippines.
Day four China 12 India 0 China virtually clinched Group C with a demolition of an overmatched Indian side. Former Atlanta Beat Sun Wen led the way with six goals, giving her seven for the tournmant (and tied for the goal scoring lead.) All that remains is a match against Uzbekistan. A draw assures the Chinese of a semifinal berth. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54092_E.html Japan 7 Guam 0 Japan consolidated their command over Group B with a decisive win over a game Guamanian side. Japan was led by Atlanta Beat Sawa Homare who scored two on the night, giving her three on the tournament. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54091_E.html Viet Nam 4 Uzbekistan 2 Viet Nam kept their slim semifinal hopes alive with a good win against Central Asia's only participant in the tournament. Luu Ngoc-mai led the Viet Namese attack with 3 first half goals. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54088_E.html Myanmar 6 The Philippines 0 The Philippines, smarting from a 15-0 thrashing at the hands of Japan now loses convincingly to tournament newcomer Myanmar. San San-kyu and Aye Nandar-hlaing each bagged matching first and second half goals to lead the Myanmari side. The Philippines next play Friday against a Taiwanese side that needs goals in a major way. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_54085_E.html Day five fixtures. South Korea v. Singapore - This will be SOuth Korea's last chance to set a high goal target for Taiwan before playing the North this weekend. North Korea v. Thailand - The hosts are going to have a tough time handling what may be Asia's strongest team. Wins by both Korean sides figures to set up a battle between the two for the group win and the automatic semifinal berth.