ok we already knew it that greece is the dark horse of euro 2004.but which team do u think will be the dark horse in the upcoming Asian Cup 2004? and pls let me know ur reason...thx
well i don't think china is a dark horse..they already one of candidate to win the asian cup 2004....
Re: no one How can the host team be a darkhorse? Haan will probably be out on his ear if he can't at least equal Bora's fourth-place finish from 2000. Your best bets for darkhorses will probably be Jordan or Iraq. The Iraqis have shown themselves to be capable of some good performances and Jordan's win in the Azadi over Iran is nothing to sneeze at. It's hard to tell exactly what Thailand will do, but their run-up to the tournament will certainly answer some questions. They're playing Bahrain, Jordan, T&T and Newcastle United. Four games in 10 days before your regional tournament might be a bit much, though....
You'd think that with the Korean Football Association's resignation to defeat even before this tournament begins, that perhaps we might be considered a "dark horse." I know that's hard to imagine since Korea is considered an automatic favorite to win, but in my opinion, any illusions of grandeur are even more misplaced than Italy's expectations prior to Euro'2004. Our national side has become a favorite simply on the reputation of our last World Cup performance. But anyone with his or her head screwed correctly on their shoulders can tell you that reputation counts for nought in football, especially a reputation that is more than 2 years of age. Perhaps the qualifiers have taught us some humility, but judging by Bonfrere's re-indoctrination attempts to teach the players fighting grit and hard work, I doubt that is the case. In either case, the Asian Cup may be used as an experimental tournament to test new tactics or even new players. Since the KFA's main concern is the Olympics, the tournament may well be our "Copa de America" (a reference to how the Copa, a once lively tournament, has been relegated to an experimental opportunity for teams like Brasil or Argentina..if they even participate). I wish this weren't the case but already I'm resigned to a mere passable showing. Dark horse candidate: China They can't be favorites (even though they are the hosts) because they haven't won any major titles of late to justify such a designation. But home crowd support and a desire to leave their mark on football will be factors, much as they are with Portugal in Euro'2004.
dark horse:China Their group and schedule are very easy. Japan aims at both AC and the Olympic like Lebanon 2000. We don't necessarily put power into only one of the two. Unless Japan can win the AC, that is because Japan is weak and any excuses do not exist there. We do not have the culture which excuses ourself before competition. I think that it is the same also for Iraq.
i don't understand greece reaching the final. all they did was packin packin and packing their sorry goal. portugal vs greece? what a boring final. japan should schedule a friendly with greece instead of serbia and punish them for playing ******** soccer.
i don't think greece football is boring...coach otto is brilliant!and i'm sure greece will beat japan if they arrange a friendly match..no offence to nippon fans
Don't be so sure about your abilities nor about the weakness of Greece. If they've reached the final, it's because they can play a bit too. I don't recall Japan boasting wins over Portugal, France and the Czech Republic so a bit of humility could be in order before making more bold off the mark predictions. Why not simply just concentrate on the Asian Cup before you bring us the scalp of fictitious rivals after equally fictitious victories.
I might go with that, but even with things in disarray Korea should at least be able to make it to the knock-out rounds with the group they've drawn. Jordan will (or at least should) give them a test, but it'd take some doing for them not to make it past Kuwait and the UAE. I can see how having Japan and/or Iran waiting across the way would make one uneasy, though. Bonfrere might find his seat a little hotter if Korea ends up going out to Japan in the quarters.
Almo Cut some slack. Hands down, no competition, Korea has the best and strongest professional league in Asia. Our domestic players could win this tournament. Now what YOUshould be bitchin is about is that the KFA are giving full support to coach Kim Ho-gon and his Olympic goonies. What is this nonsense of Lee Cheon-soo and Park Ji-seong playing in the Olympics? It's time we b!tch slap Asia again. We are the Kings of Asian Football and I want us to reclaim some worthwhile merit to back it up. We are definetly not a darkhorse. Thanks.
Yep. Not a fluke. Korea and Japan excluding rest of Asia is almost on par with those Euro bastards. If Japan played Greece, Japan would b!tch slap them. Thanks.
If their should be teams that are considered the kings of this tournament, then its either Japan, Saudi Arabia, and maybe Iran. Japan has won the last 2/3 cups, saudi arabia has been in the LAST 5 finals, winning 3/5, also Iran was pretty good in the 70s when it won the Asian cup 3 times i guess. So i dont see how South Korea can be kings of the asian cup? Unless if you go back to the old days. Dark horse is definately not China, saudi Arabia, japan, South Korea, or Iran. As they all almost have equal chances to win it. Dark horses will probably be Bahrain, Jordan and maybe Oman if it gets out of the tough group, which i think it might do.
hahahahah i didn't even pay attention to the final but it seems like greece beat portugal again.. did they pack their goal as always? i hope they make it to the world cup so that everybody won't forget about them soon.
Although I dont love the Greek style, you cant say they ONLY pack their defense since they did register 3 1-0 wins in the knockoff stage, they did go up and score in every game they played. They counterattacked extremely well, like them or not it got the job done. Bahrain had a good WCQ in the 2002 wc, but if you are not from those countries you can hardly pick since I doubt most of us have seen many of these teams in action.