Asia countries' 2004 games round-up?

Hi all, I was wondering if everyone would be kind enough to list

1. all the games that the Asian country played this year (including all friendlies),
2. whether they were away/home games,
3. the results
4. any games left that haven't been played yet.

I'm interested in finding out what kind of international games all the teams have played this year and how well they fared (especially if they are friendlies against non-asian countries like europe/southamerica/africa). Looking onward to the next round of WCqualifiers and to the WC itself, I thought it would be fun to see how all asian countries are faring. You could also insert your comments regarding certain games, like which "star" players were present/missing from the team, whether there was any controversy, etc., if you like.

EDIT* I just realized that I can get a list from the fifa site, but no details about the game itself -- but anyway, I'll put some up anyway, just to see them laid out side by side.

 

Uzbekistan
Uvs. Iraq 2:1 (2:0) inJordan
Uvs. Palestine 3:0 (2:0) inQatar
Uvs. Bahrain 2:2 a.e.t (2:2, 0:0) 3:4 PSO inChina
Uvs. Turkmenistan 1:0 (0:0) inChina
Uvs. Saudi Arabia 1:0 (1:0) inChina
Uvs. Iraq 1:0 (1:0) inChina
Uvs. Azerbaijan 1:3 (1:1) inAzerbaijan
Uvs. Taipei 1:0 (1:0) inTaipei
Uvs. Iraq 1:1 (0:0) inUzbekistan

*only non-Asia game was with Azerbaijan, which Uzbekistan lost.

 

North Korea

NKvs. Yemen 2:1 (1:0) inNK
NKvs. Thailand 4:1 (0:0) inNK
NKvs. Thailand 4:1 (1:0) inThailand
NKvs. United Arab Emirates 0:0 inNK
NKvs. Yemen 1:1 (0:0) inYemen

looks like North Korea doesn't really get "friendly" ....

 

Kuwait

Kvs. China PR 1:0 (0:0) 　inKuwait
Kvs. Lebanon 1:1 (0:1) inLebanon
Kvs. Lebanon 3:1 (1:0) inLibya
Kvs. Syria 1:1 (1:0) inLebanon
Kvs. Hong Kong 2:0 (1:0) inHK
Kvs. Saudi Arabia 1:1 (0:1) inSaudiArabia
Kvs. Bahrain 0:0 inBahrain
Kvs. Korea Republic 0:4 (0:3) inChina
Kvs. Jordan 0:2 (0:0) inChina
Kvs. United Arab Emirates 3:1 (3:0) inChina
Kvs. Hong Kong 4:0 (3:0) inKuwait
Kvs. Syria 1:2 (0:1) inKuwait
Kvs. Syria 0:1 (0:1) inKuwait
Kvs. Malaysia 2:0 (0:0) inMalaysia
Kvs. China PR 0:1 (0:0) inChina
Kvs. Bahrain 0:4 (0:2) inKuwait
Kvs. Qatar 1:2 (1:1) inKuwait
Kvs. Saudi Arabia 1:1 (0:0) inKuwait
Kvs. Yemen 4:0 (2:0) inKuwait

no non-Asian opponents, played a lot of neighbors.

 

***Well, it looks like you can get this info pretty easily -- but I'm just gonna do some of the teams that are on to the next WCQ round.... see what sort of and how much International experience our Asian teams are getting!

Iran

Qatar vs. Iran 2:3 (1:1)
Iran vs. Germany 0:2 (0:1)
Jordan vs. Iran 0:2 (0:0)
Iran vs. Bahrain 4:2 (1:0)
China PR vs. Iran 1:1 a.e.t (1:1, 1:1) 4:3 PSO
Korea Republic vs. Iran 3:4 (2:2)
Japan vs. Iran 0:0
Oman vs. Iran 2:2 (2:0)
Iran vs. Thailand 3:0 (0:0)
Iran vs. Syria 4:1 (1:0)
Iran vs. Iraq 2:1 (1:1)
Iran vs. Syria 7:1 (3:0)
Iran vs. Lebanon 4:0 (1:0)
Iran vs. Jordan 0:1 (0:0)
Laos vs. Iran 0:7 (0:4)
Iran vs. Qatar 3:1 (2:0)

I was really surprised to see that Iran really has had so few friendlies with non-Asia teams. The only one was the recent game with Germany. Does anyone have thoughts on this?

I think maybe motivation may be a factor in Iran's up-and-down teamwork/performance this year. It can't be fun to play the same types of countries all the time....??

 

Jordan

Laos vs. Jordan 2:3 (1:1)
Thailand vs. Jordan 2:3
Jordan vs. Iran 0:2 (0:0)
Jordan vs. Lebanon 2:2 (2:2)
Jordan vs. Azerbaijan 1:1 (1:1)
Japan vs. Jordan 1:1 a.e.t (1:1, 1:1) 4:3 PSO
Jordan vs. United Arab Emirates 0:0
Jordan vs. Kuwait 2:0 (0:0)
Korea Republic vs. Jordan 0:0
Thailand vs. Jordan 0:0
Iraq vs. Jordan 1:3 (0:1)
Jordan vs. Syria 1:1 a.e.t (1:1, 1:0) 2:3 PSO
Jordan vs. Iraq 2:0 (0:0)
Palestine vs. Jordan 1:1 (1:1)
Iran vs. Jordan 0:1 (0:0)
Algeria vs. Jordan 1:1 (0:1)
Cyprus vs. Jordan 0:0
Libya vs. Jordan 1:0 (1:0)
Nigeria vs. Jordan 2:0 (1:0)
Jordan vs. Qatar 1:0 (0:0)
Bahrain vs. Jordan 0:2 (0:1)
Bahrain vs. Jordan 0:0
Jordan vs. Laos 5:0 (2:0)
Jordan vs. Indonesia 2:1 (0:1)

whew! a LOT of matches for this team!!

Some interesting non-asian opponents here, like Algeria, Cyprus, Libya, Azerbaijan, and Nigeria, but no wins against them.

 

hey kuku, thanks for the link. I thought I'd just post the major player countries here anyway, since I opened the thread. Would be great to hear your comments on any of these lists/countries.

 

China

Kuwait vs. China PR 1:0 (0:0)
Malaysia vs. China PR 0:1 (0:0)
China PR vs. Japan 1:3 (1:1)
China PR vs. Iran 1:1 a.e.t (1:1, 1:1) 4:3 PSO
China PR vs. Iraq 3:0 (1:0)
China PR vs. Qatar 1:0 (0:0)
Indonesia vs. China PR 0:5 (0:2)
China PR vs. Bahrain 2:2 (0:1)
China PR vs. United Arab Emirates 2:2 (1:2)
China PR vs. Lebanon 6:0 (1:0)
China PR vs. Malaysia 4:0 (1:0)
China PR vs. Hungary 2:1 (1:1)
Algeria vs. China PR 0:1 (0:1)
Andorra vs. China PR 0:0
Hong Kong vs. China PR 0:1 (0:0)
China PR vs. Myanmar 2:0 (2:0)
China PR vs. Kuwait 1:0 (0:0)
China PR vs. Finland 2:1 (2:1)
China PR vs. Finland 2:1 (1:0)
China PR vs. Macedonia FYR 1:0 (0:0)
China PR vs. Macedonia FYR 0:0

21 games total, whew! but only 5 played outside of China....

Interesting array of non-asian opponents -- Macedonia, Finland, Andorra, Algeria, Hungary.

China was in a very nice non-losing streak all year, until they met Japan at the Asia Cup in Beijing.

 

Bahrain

Syria vs. Bahrain 2:2 (2:1)
Kyrgyzstan vs. Bahrain 1:2 (0:1)
Bahrain vs. Palestine 1:0 (0:0)
Bahrain vs. Kuwait 0:0
Iran vs. Bahrain 4:2 (1:0)
Bahrain vs. Japan 3:4 a.e.t (3:3, 1:0)
Uzbekistan vs. Bahrain 2:2 a.e.t (2:2, 0:0) 3:4 PSO
Bahrain vs. Indonesia 3:1 (1:0)
Bahrain vs. Qatar 1:1 (0:0)
China PR vs. Bahrain 2:2 (0:1)
Korea Republic vs. Bahrain 2:0 (2:0)
Thailand vs. Bahrain 0:2 (0:0)
Bahrain vs. Kyrgyzstan 5:0 (2:0)
United Arab Emirates vs. Bahrain 2:3 (0:1)
Lebanon vs. Bahrain 2:2 (0:2)
Tajikistan vs. Bahrain 0:0
Bahrain vs. Jordan 0:2 (0:1)
Bahrain vs. Jordan 0:0
Bahrain vs. Syria 2:1 (0:0)
Qatar vs. Bahrain 2:0 (1:0)
Lebanon vs. Bahrain 2:1 (0:1)
Kuwait vs. Bahrain 0:4 (0:2)
United Arab Emirates vs. Bahrain 1:3 (1:2)
Oman vs. Bahrain 0:1 (0:1)
Bahrain vs. Saudi Arabia 0:1 (0:0)

wow, 25 games.... but no non-asian teams.

I'm getting the picture that the Middle East teams are being kept way too busy!! Could be the reason for the increase in performance from the countries like Bahrain -- lots of NT time together.

 

Korea

Lebanon vs. Korea Republic 1:1 (1:1)
Vietnam SR vs. Korea Republic 1:2 (0:0)
Korea Republic vs. Iran 3:4 (2:2)
Korea Republic vs. Kuwait 4:0 (3:0)
United Arab Emirates vs. Korea Republic 0:2 (0:1)
Korea Republic vs. Jordan 0:0
Korea Republic vs. Trinidad and Tobago 1:1 (0:0)
Korea Republic vs. Bahrain 2:0 (2:0)
Korea Republic vs. Vietnam SR 2:0 (1:0)
Korea Republic vs. Turkey 2:1 (0:1)
Korea Republic vs. Turkey 0:1 (0:1)
Korea Republic vs. Paraguay 0:0
Maldives vs. Korea Republic 0:0
Korea Republic vs. Lebanon 2:0 (1:0)
Korea Republic vs. Oman 5:0 (3:0)

15 games so far... non-asian opponents are Turkey, Paraguay, and Trinidad&Tobago (fewer than I had thought). I also know they will play Germany at the end of the year. Anyone remember how the Paraguay game went content-wise? I think watching Korea play against South American teams would be be quite a treat.

 

yeah, i thought they would be interesting playing with SAm teams... It's too bad the Paraguay match wasn't more meaty, but I guess there was some problems with the team this year and it's hard to make a comparison.

Looking back over all the matches Korea had this year, what do you think was the overall problem? injuries? team spirit? strategy? motivation? inner fighiting? Sometimes with attack-minded teams like Korea, a lot depends on the "wave" that they are on -- when the catch that wave though, they are deadly.

 

Japan

Oman vs. Japan 0:1 (0:0)
India vs. Japan 0:4 (0:1)
Japan vs. Argentina 1:2 (0:2)
China PR vs. Japan 1:3 (1:1)
Bahrain vs. Japan 3:4 a.e.t (3:3, 1:0)
Japan vs. Jordan 1:1 a.e.t (1:1, 1:1) 4:3 PSO
Japan vs. Iran 0:0
Thailand vs. Japan 1:4 (1:1)
Japan vs. Oman 1:0 (1:0)
Japan vs. Serbia and Montenegro 1:0 (0:0)
Japan vs. Slovakia 3:1 (1:0)
Japan vs. India 7:0 (3:0)
England vs. Japan 1:1 (1:0)
Iceland vs. Japan 2:3 (1:2)
Czech Republic vs. Japan 0:1 (0:1)
Hungary vs. Japan 3:2 (0:0)
Singapore vs. Japan 1:2 (0:1)
Japan vs. Oman 1:0 (0:0)
Japan vs. Iraq 2:0 (0:0)
Japan vs. Malaysia 4:0 (3:0)


* Japan had 7 games with non-asian teams this year, 4 of them Away. Of course, the highlights of the encounters include the Czech and England games away, where Japan beat Czech and tied with England both games occurring before Euro04.

The other point of interest is the injuries to NakataH and Inamoto, both have been out of play for over 4 months. It was interesting to see how japan fared without two crucial "star" players.

 

Lebanon

Lebanon vs. Korea Republic 1:1 (1:1)
Lebanon vs. Kuwait 1:1 (1:0)
Lebanon vs. Kuwait 1:3 (0:1)
Maldives vs. Lebanon 2:5 (0:2)
Jordan vs. Lebanon 2:2 (2:2)
China PR vs. Lebanon 6:0 (1:0)
Syria vs. Lebanon 3:1 (3:0)
Iran vs. Lebanon 4:0 (1:0)
Lebanon vs. Maldives 3:0 (1:0)
Lebanon vs. Bahrain 2:2 (0:2)
Vietnam SR vs. Lebanon 0:2 (0:0)
Lebanon vs. Syria 0:1 (0:0)
Korea Republic vs. Lebanon 2:0 (1:0)
Lebanon vs. Bahrain 2:1 (0:1)

No games against non-asian teams. Surprises include draw with Korea in WCQ at home, but have not played Iran or Japan (the top asia teams) this year.

 

Saudi Arabia

Indonesia vs. Saudi Arabia 1:3 (0:2)
Saudi Arabia vs. Syria 2:2 (1:1)
Turkmenistan vs. Saudi Arabia 0:1 (0:0)
Saudi Arabia vs. Kuwait 1:1 (1:0)
Saudi Arabia vs. Iraq 1:2 (0:0)
Uzbekistan vs. Saudi Arabia 1:0 (1:0)
Saudi Arabia vs. Turkmenistan 2:2 (1:1)
Saudi Arabia vs. Turkmenistan 3:0 (3:0)
Sri Lanka vs. Saudi Arabia 0:1 (0:0)
Saudi Arabia vs. Indonesia 3:0 (3:0)
Yemen vs. Saudi Arabia 0:2 (0:2)
Oman vs. Saudi Arabia 1:2 (0:0)
Kuwait vs. Saudi Arabia 1:1 (0:0)
Bahrain vs. Saudi Arabia 0:1 (0:0)

Great ranking 27 (fifa), but no games against non-asian teams. Did not even play against Iran/Korea/Japan. Surprise failure at Asia Cup group level this year... due to players injuries?

If you follow Saudi NT, what do you think about Saudi in next year's WCQ round? new coach?

 

Grouping Curse

Looking at the possible/definite WC Final Round contenders so far listed above, I can't quite get over what bad "luck" it was that Jordan and Iran were in the same group, and Japan and Oman were in the same group. And what bad luck it was that Iran, Japan, and Oman were in the same group at AsiaCup too. Jordan's non-asian games this year were with some interesting countries, especially the Africa countries... (though they lost all) which it looks like no other Asia team has done this year (and we all should!). It would have been great prep for them for next year (and WC) if they move to the next round; but it looks like this is probably more unlikely.

 

totally agree, that the Friendly factor is so important for preparing for tough matches like WCQ and onwards to Germany06, for both the team as a whole and for individual player careers.

and Friendly matches AWAY are probably the best thing; the pressure is different, the culture/climate is different, there are interested people looking at the visiting team. You learn to be better sportsmen; the refereeing is different. This is the time to impress so that you get better leverage when negotiating friendlies with stronger teams in the future. Only a year and half to go til WC... when you'll be playing teams like Portugal, Brazil, etc.

 

North Korea?

My first reaction to North Korea making it to the next round was "oh, that's a new one...I imagine the matches in PyonYang will be eerie." But now, I'm ticked off.

Looking at NK's matches this year, they did not play ONE game outside of the WCQ group. No attempt to mingle with the rest of the footballing world. I understand that there are political hurdles, but have they even made attempts to schedule friendlies? Are they going to ever? (I wonder what strange protocols are in place..)

And they want to represent Asia? No thanks! I applaud the team for making it this far, but I really don't feel like precious WC spots in principle (though I know I know, principle has nothing to do with it) should go to teams that don't contribute to 1. Asian football development/image 2. global sportsmanship and friendship through sports.

 

oh of course I do -- it's always notable to watch teams that have been off the radar to suddenly make some good impression during a tournament or game. but honestly, if anywhere, I would have prefered North Korea to have made an impression at the Asia Cup (where it is about Asian teams playing each other) than during WCQ, where it is about Asian teams not only making it to the WC (since there are automatic slots so we know somebody will be there), but that they actually have a high chance of doing something there and that their accomplishment makes a positive impact ripple effect on other asian nations. but then again you can argue that if NK made it to the WC, who's to say that they won't be successful...? enough from me on this though. I get what you're saying -- thanks for your post!

btw, I was surprised to find that South Korea didn't play any games with North Korea this year... South Korea didn't have that many international games this year, so there would have been some time to get together and play. I would have been interested to see that!

 

great post, RKIM.

World Cup Success?

Korea's performance this year, and change of coach, have caught a big part of my attention this year. to see the reverse side of the "Success at WC"... a double edged sword, since expectations are so high and all people want to do is relive the glory. There was a post in another thread (I think it was the KoreavsLebanon thread?), where someone said they wished the media/etc would just forget about that part of Korea history and let recent poor showings lull the opponent into thinking Korea is weaker than they are.... I can sympathize... As Asian teams get better, and non-Japan-Korea-Iran teams get more successes in the next few years, which they will, managing this part of the team (and fan) psychology will be a hurdle...! It also sucks for the coach who has to follow that success...

So in Korea, is the status quo in what people expect of the team that of surpassing the 4th place finish?

more reaction to your post follows...