In your view, which Asia Cup do you think was the best in terms of atmosphere, fan-support, organization, festivals, quality of stadia and football pitches? And also in terms of the quality of the football itself. I have to say that the ongoing Asia Cup, in Australia, wins it for me. Even though its not over yet.. You will have choices from 1996 to today. The country named in parenthesis is the host country. While you are at it, you are welcome to mention which was the worst (although it wont be in the poll) For me the worst is a toss-up between 2007 and 2011.
The 2015 Asian Cup, without a doubt. I might change my mind in 2019, provided that the UAE get to host the next edition.
1996 holds a special place in my heart because it was the first ever major tournament I watched and I was enthralled by all those footballers who were a million times better than the dross I got to see back home. I like the current one so far, but it's far too early to make a judgement just yet. 2007, although I was over the moon for Iraq, was a terrible tournament. The four co-hosts was a laughable idea. The dimly-lit stadia and terrible spectator sound quality just added to an overall gloomy atmosphere throughout the tournament. It just didn't feel like the continent's biggest stage.
2007 Was great for us Iraqis. Managed to win against 3 powerhouses (Australia, South Korea by PKs, and KSA). But the current one is by far the best one. 2011 is barley remembered, I cant remember any single match of it even our Iraq matches. 2011 is the worst in my opinion.
1996 and 2007 were painfully horrible for Korea so definitely not those two. 2000 we did have that golden goal win in extra time against Iran but it was pretty mediocre otherwise so not that either... I guess 2011 and perhaps 2004 as second since 2011 we actually played pretty attractive ball, went far and never officially lost... and 2004 since even though we lost in the quarters to Iran it was at least an entertaining and memorable match, plus we did pretty decently in the group rounds.
You mentioned Iran twice... it seems you cant let it go ehh ? Still struggling with the last 3 games humiliation ?
I remember the Year 2000 South Korea team is virtually all about 21-year old scorer Lee Dong Guk who went on to become one of the great forwards in South Korea history.
I don't think that can really be helped since we did face each other in the quarterfinals for 5 tournaments in a row? Of course they're going to be involved in both good and bad memorable moments. I'm not even sure why you're bringing the last three games into the picture but what I'm struggling with is our last 2 games of mediocrity in this Asian Cup, not those three you mention that are completely irrelevant at this point in the tournament when we're not even close to stage where we'd potentially face Iran yet. Then he proceeded to blow out his knee from being overplayed at various age levels and go onto become one of our most controversial and polarizing figures of our NT in recent memory. I'd personally agree that he's one of our greatest forwards in recent times, but there are also many that'd disagree... I was really disappointed when he got injured and wasn't able to play in this one, though.
How can you say this is the best when almost all the teams are decided before last match day..Most probably , Japan and Iraq will go through tommorow with only KSA or Uzbek left to fill the spot..Last match day will be dull..Its not the best..
Best facilities best crowds for both local expats and overseas fans good pricing Best organization So far anyway Apart from security in brisbane and melbourne going a lil overboard at the north korea game and the china uzbek game its been good
Mostly agree. However, media coverage still has room for improvement. The host is an English-speaking country certainly helps. However, newspaper coverage on teams other than Australia and Iran is far from good.
Strayan culture for ya.... Every commercial tv channel have their own agendas....7 with their over reporting of the tennis which is getting destroyed by the ac in the ratings and channel 9 and 10 with their cricket....these channels tend to brush football under the carpet when its going head to head against their sports. Abc and sbs usually have the asian cup as their 1st or 2nd sports story but their reach is a lot less The ausrtralian open is about to start as is the cricket world cup...you got bbl and the nbl finals...just really clogged with sport at the moment...i do wish newspapers made a better effort though...maybe it will change when the group stage is over
2015 really we didnt have any great match yet i would go far and say not even a good one to me 2007 >2011 >2004 >1996 >2000 >2015
This Asian Cup looked like it was going to be the best ever, before it was ruined by Ben Williams and the way he officiated the Iran-Iraq match and subsequently by Japanese lack of proficiency against the UAE. With Iran and Japan eliminated, the semifinal matches lost their edge and even the final is not going to clearly establish who is best in Asia right now.
Thanks to the undeserved and totally needless ejection, the match did become a lot more exciting and nail biting than it should and would have been otherwise. But the ending didn't create the kind of narrative that will survive in time. If Iran had prevailed in the penalty shoot out, and then went on to advance to the final, then yes: the encounter would have lived on in memories and would be recounted for some time. But as it turned out, the end result (Iraq winning on pks) and Iraq's subsequent (and predictable) easy elimination by S.Korea took away the otherwise heroic story that could have emerged from that encounter. If Iran had won, under the circumstances of that match, and we had done as well as we might have in this tournament, the game would have lived in memory as one of the best ever in the Asian Cup.
2004 and quarterfinal match between Iran and South Korea was the best game next to Iran-Iraq in 2015 match.
If Korea win, we did it without: -Ji DW, Kim SW, Lee DG (Our top 3 strikers) -Koo JC, Lee CY (2 of our best midfielders after Ki) -Yun SY, Hong JH (2 of our STARTERS in defense) And this, you cannot argue against. We would be deserving.
I'd say 2011. The opening ceremony was awesome. The tourney being in Qatar was easy for the mostly West Asian soccer fans to commute to and see the games. The worst thing about Australia is the time zone. I only managed to watch 3-4 group games fully, and being during work hours- you can't go to the hookah bars and watch it in style at night. Barring that- I know the games broke records for never ending in draws till the group qualification and every game almost in the knock rounds went beyond the 90 minutes which proved all worthy teams had progressed. Sadly the whole Asian Cup fever at least here was not present mainly because of the timing issue. Glad to hear next AC will be in the GCC region.
If any team deserves the Cup- I strongly believe its SK. Very few teams I think can beat Australia and look good while doing it, and I strongly think SK can win in style and deliver an entertaining final. For most neutral fans- I'm sure (realistically speaking) SK (or perhaps Japan) vs. Australia is the final they'd want to see.
This Asian Cup was the best in terms of organisation, hospitality, and quality. However, I do agree with Coach2007 that the time zone was very annoying. Waking up early to watch matches was tough, and messed up the 'Asian Cup fever'. And of course Iraq's good run in this tournament