I want to know how each teams are viewed in strengths of specific categories such as offense, defense, etc. Hopefully it will provide a fun insight on what each team is like. And please, for Pele's sake, refrain from making comments such as "Australia is insanely overrated", "Japan can burn in hell", "Saudi needs to quit", "South Korea is a cheater", "Iran shouldn't be in Asian Cup", and such. I don't want to see a flame war and neither most of the posters in BigSoccer. I will give my view on Japan NT as an example. I will freely admit that I'm biased toward Japan no matter how neutral I try to be, so please bear in mind that this is just my opinion. Also, there is no need to follow my format; it's just an example. Japan Strikers: A Big expectations on Takahara. Choosing a good partner for him will become very important. Midfield: S If Nakamura can be combined effectively with other MFs, it will be quite a fearsome lineup, no? Hoping for Inamoto to appear as well. Defense: A Good organization with decent agility, and finally the height problems are being solved. Teamwork: S Osim has a clear and logical team vision. Also, it sure doesn't hurt that Japanese traditionally value teamwork. Physical: B Japanese have good but not outstanding stamina and speed. Lack of height and power is always a problem. Stability: S Japan doesn't win by impressive scores but hardly ever slips up, and has been known to frequently surprise stronger teams. Backups: A Loads of J-Leaguers are eager to compete with Euro-Leaguers. Osim has prepared good backups for nearly every position. Rating Grades: SS - Like, in the top 5 of the world? S - Impressive by world standard and can compete with any team. A - Decent in world, impressive in Asian standard. B - Decent in Asian standard, but not good enough to face the world. C - Leaves a lot to be desired and can be considered a weakness. D - A glaring weakness that is likely to cause a humiliating defeat. E - Someone is doing something entirely wrong...
Australia. Strikers: S With 2nd top goal scorer in the Scottish Premier League, Scott McDonald. And 4th top goal scorer in the English Premier League Mark Viduka, the Australians will be hard contain. Midfield: S English Premier League star players Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell mixing in with Parma captain Vince Grella and Palermo star Mark Bresciano along with PSV Eindhoven starter Jason Culina, gives Australia a great midfield to supply balls to the prolific front two. With the added bonus of Bresciano, Kewell, and Cahill who go forward and get goals aswell for club and country. Defense: A Australia are a bit short in this part of the field but still impressive. West Ham United captain Lucas Neill, FC Nurnburgs Michael Beauchamp, Newcastle Uniteds Craig Moore, FC Nurnburgs young gun Mathew Spiranovic and Leicester Citys Patrick Kisnorbo all add solidness and experience in defense. Not sure if I missed anyone. Teamwork: A Showed at the World Cup that we can punch above of our weight and outplay teams like Italy and Brazil for large parts of a game. Physical: SS Alot of physical power and the players aren't afraid to push opponents around (not literally) Stability: A Good players for every position and noone is playing out of position. Backups: B Some good talented backups, but alot of them are too young to make an impact. Overall rating: S
You'll probably find our physical component could be constituted as a weakness against the asian teams. It gives them plenty of opportunities to dive, waste time and call for stretchers even though they'll jog off the park a good 15 seconds later...
The original poster already did - stamina, speed, height, power. A couple of those areas are our strength but there are plenty of other sides out there just as good - many of them younger and fitter teams into the bargain. We're a good team, but we're not top 5 in the world in any department.
I was thinking physical like big bodies and going in hard for the ball. If the mods would finally take away my yellow card I would be able to bloody change it.
Ruud, Lucas Neill isn't West Ham's captain, Nigel Reo-Coker is. Though he has captained the team for a game or two.
Iran strikers: A one good striker in hash and his partner is decent. midfield: S nekounam/teymourian defensive mid combo best in asia, good in world. in form karimi is our best player and can threaten any team in the world. mahdavikia experienced and best winger in asia. defence: A/B one world class defender in rezaei. kaebi is also a bright spot. but the rest of the defenders are good for asia. this defence is better than the shaky one at the world cup. teamwork: A/B teamwork can be improved, but is decent. physical: B tall/strong/fast enough but need more stamina during games. stability: B back-ups: A in world cup we had backups, and a backup defender scored. so i think our backups are good. in fact, i would love to see some new players play, but players like karimi and mahdavikia have their spots.
I am horrible at this but I'll try: Korea Republic Forwards: B+ Reallly depends on how much Middlesbrough striker Lee Dong-Gook can find his old goal-scoring form for Korea. He hasn't been called-up for international duty since his knee injury, but will get to show himself in June against the Netherlands. He is vital as the lone striker in our 4-3-3. Hopefully, he can claim the Golden Boot as he did in Asian Cup 2000. If Verbeek decides to use back-up Cho Jae-Jin instead, I'll pull my hair out. Wing-forwards will probably be Lee Chun-Soo on the right, and youngster Yeom Ki Hoon on the left. Midfielders: B+ Midfield trio of Kim Doo-Hyun as ACM, and captain Kim Nam-Il and either Lee Ho or Kim Jung-Woo as DMs. Kim Doo-Hyun was K-League MVP last year, and Kim Nam-Il is solid, but Kim Jung-Woo or Lee Ho's position will be the weak link to this midfield. There will be more problems here if Kim Nam-Il is going to be playing as a CB. Defence: B Korea's weakest part of the field. If Verbeek is going to be Verbeek, he will not use any real CBs to play as CBs. Korea's most consistent performer will be replaced by either Kim Dong-Jin or youngster Kim Chi-Woo at LB; obviously a step down from Tottenham's Lee Young-Pyo. RB will be covered by Oh Beom-seok, a fairly new addition to the team, but has been performing at RB for the last few games ahead of Song Chong-Gug and Cha Doo-Ri. CB positions will be tough. Verbeek is going to play any two of the three here: Kim Jin-Kyu, Kim Sang-Sik or Kim Dong-Jin. Problem is Kim Sang-Sik is really a DM and Kim Dong-Jin is really a LB. Kim Jin-Kyu is the only real CB. Knowing Verbeek, he will not call any new players up. We will see either of the following: Dong-Jin --- Jin-Kyu --- Sang-Sik --- Beom-Seok or Chi-Woo --- Dong-Jin --- Sang-Sik --- Beom-Seok or Chi-Woo --- Dong-Jin --- Jin-Kyu --- Beom-Seok No matter what, there isn't enough experience in the back line, and it will cause at least one stupid mistake a match, like against Syria and Iran at home. Teamwork: B Teamwork is usually ok, but I gave a B because there are only 2 more prep matches before the Asian Cup, and Verbeek will have to find new players that haven't played with the team much to replace Man Utd's Park Ji-Sung, Tottenham's Lee Young-Pyo, and Reading's Seol Ki-Hyeon. Physical: A Viewing the team overall, stamina, speed, power, and height is good. Stability: B- We are a well-performing team, but we always find time to mess up somehow that changes the game. Backups: A The domestic backups will be vital with the absence of key players and to give rest to veteran players. Young guys like Jung Jo-Gook, Park Chu-Young, and ruud's favorite Choi Sung-Kook is still top quality against most teams in the Asian Cup. I believe young Olympic guys such as Baek Ji-Hoon and Oh Jang-Eun could perform at this level against the likes of Indonesia and such. Many backups for the defensive line, although Verbeek won't use them. GK position has much competition, and will look forward to playing the best one. Looking back, I guess I am not that optimistic.
Hmmm, not trolling.. But I wouldn't really call the Iran one accurate. Might need a second report on that one.
Australia Strikers: S/A All in all, not bad. We have a world-class target forward in Mark Viduka, who is coming off one of his best seasons in recent years - however he has struggled in the past for the national team. John Aloisi is a proven goalscorer for the Socceroos but has been languishing in the Spanish second division with Alaves for the last 12 months since their relegation. Scott McDonald of Celtic is a rising star who's scored a boatload for Motherwell in recent seasons, but hasn't yet made an impact on the international stage. Midfield: S Truly excellent, far and away our strongest area. Our attacking midfielders are all key members of teams in the biggest leagues in the world - Bresciano at Palermo, Cahill at Everton and Kewell at Liverpool. Vince Grella, captain of Parma is arguably one of the top 5 defensive midfielders in Serie A. Add in solid players like PSV's Culina and you have a strong group. Defense: B Really, who are we kidding - this is horrible. Lucas Neill is brilliant, but without him we'd be in big trouble. Craig Moore is solid enough. The Nurnburg CB pairing of Beauchamp and Spiranovic has potential but they're extremely raw at international level. While our CB pairings are okay we lack strong left and right fullbacks, generally having to supplement them with midfielders like Chipperfield and Emerton converted into wingbacks. If we lose this tournament, it'll be in defence. Teamwork: A Pretty good. In the past we've had real problems in utilising Viduka, and in general finding a forwards combination that was able to score goals. We've corrected this to an extent and are now genuinely dangerous up front instead of having to rely on goals out of midfield so much. However our back line has suffered a bit with the post-WC retirements and there does seem to be a few issues getting the newer guys to gel into a solid defensive unit. Physical: B Not great. We're a big strong team, with some quick players, and prior going into the WC we were probably one of the fittest teams in the tournament. Unfortunately I think we may have lost a bit of that conditioning, and going from the Kuwait away match our stamina leaves quite a bit to be desired. Our first-choice squad are used to playing in European winters. How we cope with the tropical conditions is perhaps my biggest worry about this tournament. Stability: A Generally we're a pretty solid, reliable team and most of the First XI have good experience playing together. As mentioned though, I have some doubts about our defence - I would not be surprised to see some soft goals against us. Backups: B This will potentially be trouble. At GK and in the midfield we have depth to spare, but elsewhere is a different issue. Strikers are pretty good, but we lack proven international performers on the bench. Defence.... yeeech.
Hmm, interesting results so far. As Caesar said, by "physical" I meant physical abilities (guess I shouldn't have omitted "abilities") such as power, stamina, speed, height, etc. Capability to play "physical (aggressive)" is a part of it, but not all of it. Sorry for inclarity. Looks like Australians are worried about their defense and backups. And some Koreans are pessimistic about their chances in Asian Cup, eh? I hope I could hear voices from other nations, too. Especially for teams like Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Iraq, China, etc.
I think he is being fair. We need to just overlook "best winger in Asia" (compare with Nakamura and Kewell and it is not so clear who gets that one), and "best midfield in Asia", and understand that they think their midfield is strong and rated an S which looking at Nekounam and Teymourian is probably true (although looks too defensive for my taste). Seems they have problems up front and fixed some of the problems in defense, but it is still a bit shaky. He is being honest about that. I wish there were a category in this round up for goal keeper. Like how will Korea, Japan, Australia, Iran, etc go at putting a safe pair of hands and cool head in the box when he will be fielding shots from world-class shooters like Nakamura, Viduka, Park, etc. if they have only been playing in their little domestic competitions?
Well, my intention was to include GK as a part of "defense" category. But like I said in the first post, you can add your own categories if you wish. Some people have already done so with "overall" category, which I would give Japan A+ (Asian elite, "average" in world).
im glad we agree. but i never said "best midfield in asia" i said "best defensive mid combo in asia". and i forgot about kewell, but i never knew nakamura is winger for japanese team? i thought he was AM.
Really? Can that conclusion be drawn? Perhaps we are just being more realistic, looking at the grade system. SS - Like, in the top 5 of the world? S - Impressive by world standard and can compete with any team. A - Decent in world, impressive in Asian standard. B - Decent in Asian standard, but not good enough to face the world. C - Leaves a lot to be desired and can be considered a weakness. D - A glaring weakness that is likely to cause a humiliating defeat. E - Someone is doing something entirely wrong In any case, Korea NT may have received an average of B+ from Breezy and I, but you don’t know what we think of the other NTs. If we don’t regard them that highly, despite giving ourselves a B+, hypothetically we probably think our chances are pretty good in the Asian Cup for example. And this is the Asian Cup, not the World Cup. A different ball game altogether. A B+ team is somewhere between decent to mpressive in Asia and that what all one needs for the Asian Cup. Glad to see Japan beleive in their strikers at last. This has often been quoted to be a weakness for Japan, and it would be interesting to see the new and improved Japan. Australia given a good score on both Strikers and Midfield by Australians, but less confident in their defence. No change there. I do look forward to see Australia in this Asian Cup and see how they do. Its interesting to see Australia, Iran and Japan all gave “S - Impressive by world standard and can compete with any team” rating for their midfield. What was the rating for the World Cup in comparison? And what has changed since then? For example Karimi, uneventful World Cup, a non-season in the Bundesligue…..but think hes gonna turn it on for the Asian Cup?
Australia's midfield is the only part of our team I would genuinely call world-class. Bresciano and Cahill are arguably the best players in their respective teams, and have proven they have the goods against the best defenders in the world. Kewell on his day is as good as any LW in the world, and Grella is one of the best DMs in Serie A (which says a lot given the importance of the position in that league). It's the only part of our game I'm comfortable rating an S.
well in the WC karimi was injured and mahdavikia just came back from an injury and was not in form. but now they are.
Australia Strikers: A-/B+ Viduka is World class, and has had a great season and despite what some people say he does play well for the national team in the role he is given. After Dukes though there is Aloisi, who hasn't exactly been setting the world alight for Alaves in 2nd div Spain, then some good but inexperienced (internationally) youngsters. (McDonald, Holman - even Burnes or Bridge). Archie is good in the A-League, but average internationally. IF McDonald adjusts to national team as well as his season has gone in Scotland then strikers would move to "S" Midfield: S - closest for any category/ any team in asia to "SS" Most Asian sides have good midfields, but I'd still contend that Australia would be the best. IMO only Nakamura from other Asian sides would definately force his way in - but where? Defense: A-/B+ Defence is still our problem area, although in goals we are fine. Neil has shown himself to deserve his praise, and Emerton has proven he should be RB or RWB instead of midfield, However Moore has been injured most of the season, and, of the other options (Beauchamps, Kisnorbo, Spiranovic, Milligan etc) National team action has been limited and/ or sporadic and they haven't proven themselves. LB is the real problem. Chipperfield performed well at the WC for a midfielder, but he is a midfileder. Only other options are Spiranovic/ Kisnorbo moving wide or Hyphen/ another very young player. Similarly to Strkiers if the Youngsters can step up - but less likely. Teamwork: A- The teamwork shown at the WC was great, but how much of it is still there? I'm not too pessimistic, but I can't see us quite at that level without Hiddink to guide us, especially when a few of the top players are out as only really our starting lineup would know it well. Physical: A- Strength and Height yes, Speed OK - in parts at least. Apart from Kewell our best players aren't overly quick, then again not really slow either, Stamina, not so sure. Stability: A Starting 11 and maybe the next 3 or 4 are good, after that not so much (Does it need to be?). Although to give Arnie some credit he has been trying to blood youngsters/ fringe players more recently. Backups: A I'm much more confidnet with this than I would have been 6 months ago. the only real problem is the step down in class after our top 6 or so midfielders, and being able to gel them into the team if needed. Overall S Like most teams Australia as a team is better than the sum of it's parts, and it is one of the "big 5" in Asia. We have also proven - before, during and after the world cup - that we can compete with any team in the world.
Korea Republic Forward: A- With the 2000 scoring champion Lee Dong-guk (Cho Jae-jin and Jung Jo-gook as back-ups) up front and depth on wings, most of the Asian defenders will have trouble to stop this offense. Midfield: B+ Missing Manchester United bound Park Ji-sung will give negative impact on not only the midfield but the whole team. But the Taegeuk Warriors still have decent players such as Kim Nam-il, Lee Ho, Kim Jung-woo, and last year's K-League POY Kim Do-heon. Defense:B- Coach Pim Veerbeck hasn't figured out the answer on centerback position. It's been consitent problem since he had succeeded his former boss Dick Advocaat after Deutschland 2006. Tottenham bound Lee Young-pyo is likely out of action due to knee injury so it will give some damage. But Veerbeck hasn't had enough time to organize the defensive side of the game. The defense will improve as time goes on IMHO. Physical:S- The Koreans have proved that they can compete with anybody in the last two World Cups because of their toughness and tiredlessness. IMHO Korea is the most athletic team in the continent. Beware of the Korean counterattack in the late second half. Goaltending:A Personally this is the least concerned position. Kim Yong-Dae (Known as 'Yong Der Sar' in Korea) is likely to start on this position as he has been doing after the World Cup last year. Lee Woon-jae has also possibility to join to compete with Kim. The third will likely be Jung Sung-ryong, an U-23 team starter. Teamwork:B The team needs more time to organize. Sams as defense, teamwork will get better as we move on. Stability:B Losing three key players (Park J.S., Lee Y.P., Seol) will hurt the team experience-wise and negate psychological edge. Youngsters who will replace their spots must step up to play their potential. IMHO they are capable of doing their job well done because they have played well in domestic or oversee. Back-up:B+ K-League is one of top leagues in Asia. Back-ups are the ones who have shined their clubs so far. Jang Hak-young, considered to replace Lee Y.P., Lee Geun-ho, possible replacement for either Park J.S. or Seol, and some others will step up. Overall:B+ Despite missing couple of important players, this club can advance to semifinal and possibly the championship game with depth on each position. This is time for ending 47-years of drought.
I definitely agree with the last post from techfootball about Korea's Physical play. Koreans never run out of gas.