Here's a thread for the current U17 championships from September 6-22, 2002 at two venues in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. China and UAE won their first Group A matches. Korea and Yemen won their first Group B matches. Japan was upset by Uzbekistan in Group C, while Syria won the other match against Qatar. All comments and especially streaming video links are welcome.
Here is the team - Look in the AFC site for scores. Korea won their match vs. Pakistan by a 3-0 score. Japan lost by 2-1 to Uzbekistan. China beat India 4-1.
Korea drew with Yemem 2-2 Here's the table so far GROUP A TEAM P W D L GF:GA PTS. China PR 2 2 0 0 5:1 6 United Arab Emirates 2 1 0 1 4:3 3 India 2 1 0 1 5:5 3 Myanmar 2 0 0 2 3:8 0 GROUP B TEAM P W D L GF:GA PTS. Korea Republic 2 1 1 0 5:2 4 Yemen 2 1 1 0 4:2 4 Vietnam SR 2 0 1 1 1:3 1 Pakistan 2 0 1 1 1:4 1 GROUP C TEAM P W D L GF:GA PTS. Uzbekistan 1 1 0 0 2:1 3 Syria 1 1 0 0 1:0 3 Japan 1 0 0 1 1:2 0 Qatar 1 0 0 1 0:1 0
For Korea, a draw with Yemen is not a terrible result. I think it was Yemen who eliminated Iran in the preliminaries? Now we just got to beat Vietnam by a decent margin to make sure Yemen doesn't leapfrog us. Too much excitement.
I think U17 championships are pointless - as an indicator of a country's soccer futures, that is. jeez wait til some of these kids get their growth spurt or ball hair at least. i think it's just a kid's tournament and nothing else more than that.
I agree that these youth tournaments are for the most part not a good predictor of future performance, just like the Little League championship is not a good predictor of future major leaguers. The idea is to enjoy the tournament on its own merits and not to extrapolate results into the future. For some of these kids, this will be the pinnacle of their athletic achievements. For a handful of others, it could be the beginning of something bigger. It's all about keeping it in perspective. Something that a lot of adults have difficulty doing. But I like to see the Korean and USA national teams do well on any level.
"Japan crash to Qatar at AFC U-17s" "Japan are virtually out of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Championship after succumbing to their second consecutive defeat to leave themselves pointless after two matches." Now, that's a surprise...
"Korea and Yemen adance to U-17 quarterfinals" "Korea Republic strolled into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Championship quarter-finals from Group B with an easy 4-1 win over Vietnam at the Al Shabab Stadium in Dubai on Friday." Looks like Korea will face India in the Q-F. Japan still have a chance if they win big against Syria, and Qatar lose big to Uzbek... then it would be China vs. Japan!
Japan are out... Group C last matches: Uzbekistan vs. Qatar 1:0 (0:0) Japan vs. Syria 1:0 (1:0) Japan are out by goal diff. to Qatar...
"Korea Republic and China reach U-17 semi-finals" "Korea Republic and China clinched their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Championship semi-finals berth in convincing fashion with identical 3-1 victories over India and Qatar." In the semi's Korea will face winners of Uzbek vs. UAE, and China will face winners of Yemen vs. Syria... China's path seems to be the easier one.
Re: "Korea Republic and China reach U-17 semi-finals" Personally I would love to see a final match between Korea and China. It would speak well for the growth of East Asian football and the decline of the Middle East.
Re: "Korea Republic and China reach U-17 semi-finals" Quote from the above article says: "India's attractive football which was a delight to watch in the preliminary rounds, were gloriously curbed by the efficient Koreans, who limited India to a consolation goal through Jerry Zirsanga in the 82nd minute. " Efficient football??? You mean like the Germans???
I agree with the 'Growth of East' part, but I think 'the decline of the Mid-East' is going too far... they're still quite strong.
Yemen and Uzbekistan in the semi's Looks like nobody's interested in this tournament but me... Anyway, it will be Korea vs. Uzbek & China vs. Yemen in the semifinals. Uzbek seem real strong... and I think they will be among the top-tier Asian teams in the near future!
Didn't Uzbek win the Asian Games soccer a few years back? They haven't done a thing since then. I think Korea crushed them in both games during the 98 WC qualifying round. I don't see them emerging as a top Asian team. The big 5 of Korea, Japan, Iran, Saudi, and China will dominate for a long time. I don't think I have ever heard Korean soccer described as being efficient before. Ja, zis iz za first time.
Iranian U-17 (former runner-up) is not allowed to take part in this Asian u-17 competition due to an AFC suspention. Same goes for Thailand and Oman (former Champion). I think you might have confused this with the AsianU19 in which it was actually Syria who eliminated Iran.
OK, getting my U19 and U17 tournaments mixed up. Yemen did put up a good fight against Iran, I recall, not bad for the minnows that they are. Is your avatar the kit for Esteghal?
Uzbek have several players in the Russian & Ukrainian league, although Maksim Shatskikh is the only one I recognise. Also, there is a young Uzbek forward in Juventus B-team. He is dubbed the next Del Piero... And although Korea did win against them for '98, they certainly were no push-overs... we should watch out for them.
Yemen & Korea in the Final!!! "Yemen will face Korea Rep. in U-17 final" Minnows Yemen will face the might of Korea Republic in the final of the AFC U17 Championship in Abu Dhabi on Sunday after both nations came through their respective semifinals against China and Uzbekistan. The China-Yemen match was attended by 12,000 spetators... Korea-Uzbek, 200... The last and the only time Korea won this tournament was back in 1986.