World Cup 2010 Blog: “10 Players to Watch in the Asian Cup” plus 2 more

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• 10 Players to Watch in the Asian Cup
• Sepp On Housewives, Pots & Kettles
• Asian Cup 2011 Opening Ceremony: Qatar Knows How To Party

10 Players to Watch in the Asian Cup Posted: 07 Jan 2011 01:00 PM PST The Asian Cup is upon us, and although the sixteen teams represent the best of Asian football, many of the players will be unfamiliar to American and European fans. Here are ten names that you’d do well to remember – they could well be the stars of the tournament. Shinji Kagawa (Japan) Keisuke Honda may be better known after the World Cup, but Kagawa (who missed the final cut for South Africa) is the one grabbing all the headlines at the moment. An attacking midfielder he is currently starring, and often scoring, for runaway Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund. If he can work well with Honda, great things could follow for Japan. Son Heung-Min (South Korea) An 18 year old striker making waves at Hamburg currently, and winning plaudits from the likes of Franz Beckenbauer. Yasser Al-Qahtani (Saudi Arabia) Nicknamed "the sniper" so I'm sure you can guess he is a striker. Top scorer last time around in 2007 he will hope to bang a few more in this time too. Ismaeel Abdullatif (Bahrain) Scored the dramatic last gasp winner in Saudi Arabia to take Bahrain through to their fateful World Cup playoff with New Zealand, and also banged in a hat-trick during Asian Cup qualification. Bahrain will need him at his best if they are to progress. Tim Cahill (Australia) In my opinion one of the best Premier League players not at a "top" club. Consistently scoring from midfield, especially with headers which is impressive considering his size. A lot of Australia's hopes will rest with Cahill. Server Djeparov (Uzbekistan) What more do you want from your former-Soviet nation than a hero with a dodgy mullet? Step forward attacking midfielder Server Djeparov, who has already scored his first Asian Cup goal in the opener over Qatar. Javad Nekounam (Iran) One of two Iranians playing for Osasuna in Spain. He is the rock of the Iranian midfield. Sebastian Soria (Qatar) What's this? A Qatari striker with a distinctly un-Arabic name? Shocking! The first of many as 2022 gets closer I suspect. Soria is Uruguayan born, and can be a good striker on his day. Qatar will hope his day is imminent. Khalfan Ibrahim (Qatar) And let's balance things out for the hosts with a true Doha native. Striker Ibrahim was Asian player of the year in 2006 as a mere teenager, partly in recognition of a good performance at the Under 17 World Cup, and best player in the entire Arabic world (yes, there is such an award) in 2007. Now at the grand old age of 22 he has amassed 47 caps, scoring 15 times, and like with Soria he will need to be having a good month if Qatar are to progress. Jong Tae-Se (North Korea) “The Korean Rooney” as he is sometimes known caught the world's attention with his patriotic tears at the World Cup, but is also a very good striker. He now plays in the 2.Bundesliga having been extremely successful in the Japanese league previously. A real piece of quality in a hard working team.

Sepp On Housewives, Pots & Kettles Posted: 07 Jan 2011 10:10 AM PST Uber-creep Sepp is back to his old tricks, offering up his weekly soundbite that is both confusing and probably a little bit offensive. This week’s target: economically-challenged housewives. A group that, according to his Seppness, deserves to be randomly fired under the bus from time to time. And a group which had absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand, which was at the time the IOC and their handling of financial matters. He says “our accounts are open to everyone. … The IOC does it like a housewife. She receives some money and she spends some money.” Blatter also says the IOC “has no transparency,” and that any transparency was left to the Olympic-sanctioned sports themselves. What does this even mean? Housewives don’t know how to open a savings account? And doesn’t everyone “receive some money and then spends some money”? Isn’t that the basic crux of economics, when boiled down to something which could be explained to five year olds? And while FIFA’s supposed “transparency” is great, it doesn’t mean opening the curtains to reveal the organizational equivalent of a hairy nude fellow killing a hooker is okay.

Asian Cup 2011 Opening Ceremony: Qatar Knows How To Party Posted: 07 Jan 2011 08:27 AM PST Opening ceremonies are typically an exercise in finding out just what the hell is in the fridge. Not only are they by and large terrible, but some, like the dolls from Euro 2008, are even scarring. Qatar has no such problem, mostly because they’ve nailed the five year old’s guide to staying interested: Pretty lights, lots of color and big booms. Now project this times a thousand in 2022.

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World Cup 2010 Blog: Asian Cup Group Stage Preview

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Asian Cup Group Stage Preview Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:10 AM PST The Asian Cup kicks off tomorrow with hosts Qatar enjoying a run about with Uzbekistan in that lovely stadium just above. Since most of us (guilty)will be going in a little bit blind, with a little bit of research and a good bit of guessing, we’ve compiled some games, teams and players to watch from each of the groups. Groups A: China, Kuwait, Qatar, Uzbekistan B: Japan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria C: Australia, Bahrain, India, South Korea D: Iran, Iraq, North Korea, United Arab Emirates The entire list of Asian Cup fixtures. Things To Watch Group A Game: China v Qatar (Jan. 12) A game of the future? Perhaps the too distant future, but it’s an intriguing battle nonetheless. Arguably the game of the group on paper – Qatar v Uzbekistan – is the opener. Team: Qatar, quite easily. The last two times they hosted, they won the tournament. A rather decent recipe for success. Player: Khalfan Ibrahim, Qatar. Asian Player of the Year title in his pocket when he was 18. Now 22 and back from injuries, he’s one of the continent’s stars. Group B Game: Saudi Arabia v Japan (Jan. 17th) Easily the two giants of the group and two of the favorites to make a significant dent in the later stages. Team: Japan. Enormous progress was made during the World Cup, a stunning turnabout from expectations, really, now being forced to evolve with a new coach. Player: Keisuke Honda, Japan. Because…well, come on. The man’s just fun to watch. Group C Game: Australia v South Korea (Jan. 14th) A match to rival that of Saudi Arabia v Japan for similar reasons. Match 1b of the groups, it could be said, if not 1a. Team: Bahrain. They’re just below the notches of Australia and South Korea, but with a win against India and a mild upset in one of the other two games, they could easily sneak through the group. Player: Son Heung-Min, South Korea. Uncapped before his selection, at 18 he’s already playing a role for HSV in the Bundesliga and is one of Asia’s brightest young stars. Plus it’s pre-tournament law that “players to watch” must include talented but raw youngsters who are likely to garner more hype than playing time. Group D Game: Iraq v Iran (Jan. 11th) Just because. (Iraq is defending champion, too…) Team: North Korea. Which team will show: the one which nearly held Brazil, or the one which rolled over for Portugal? Player: Nashat Akram, Iraq. Another former Asian Player of the Year, and one of the stars of the Cinderella run in 2010. Made the big move to Europe with Twente last year, but fizzled and landed back in Asia this year.

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World Cup 2010 Blog: “Why You Should Care About the Asian Cup” plus 2 more

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• Why You Should Care About the Asian Cup
• Blowing Up The World Cup And Its Rules
• Outing A Fixed World Cup Qualifier

Why You Should Care About the Asian Cup Posted: 05 Jan 2011 03:10 PM PST The Asian Cup doesn’t get a tremendous amount of pub outside the continent itself. It isn’t even afforded the luxury of being whined about as club teams lose their stars for a few weeks in the middle of the winter (ahem, Africa). But it does have appeal, if you’re willing to look in the right places. A few of the many reasons: i. Because some of these teams are defensively terrible. It’s something a bit like the Eredivisie’s appeal: there are a few good teams, some of them talented, but zero finished articles. So occasionally, you get a group like C in 2007… 1-5, 2-0, 5-0, 2-2, 0-2, 3-1 With just one nil-nil in the groups total. The stuff dreams are made of after the summer’s impotence. ii. Surprisingly, others are actually good. Take Japan and South Korea, for instance. Neither will dwarf Brazil’s trophy cabinet anytime soon, but they’ve progressed exceptionally well, both on the international stage and domestically. Burgeoning powers? Not yet, but they’ve given a new relevance to what was once almost entirely an overthought in the footballing realm. iii. Because Cinderellas do exist, Virginia. Will a Cinderella win the World Cup in our lifetime? Likely not. Think about it – just when was the last time a Cinderella even made the final? A moment to think it over… . . . I’m stumped. The last time what is now a non-traditional power made the final, it was 1962, with Czechoslovakia. Well, not only do Cinderellas exist in Asia, but they can win, too – just ask defending champeens Iraq. iv. Get a glimpse of the Qatari national team before the entire roster ends in -inho. What, you think that’s a joke? v. More importantly, the tournament is being held in Qatar. Despite next to no one caring about football in Qatar outside of paycheck-hunting twilighters just a few months ago, everyone should care now with the amount of hubbub surrounding their hosting of the 2022 World Cup. It will make for an interesting before and after segment, 11 years and several trillion dollars later. vi. Jong Tae Se. vii. Watching Keisuke Honda stand over a freekick without the need for T.A.T.U. in the background. Oh, and Yasuhito Endo’s not bad either. Japan’s free kick prowess is reason enough to tune in, really. If only they went to ground to win more fouls… viii. No Jabulani! It’s actually the same ball being used in La Liga, Serie A and the Prem. We’ll miss the occasional “what’s it gonna do?”, but not 90 minutes of it. ix. The timing. The football in the mid-afternoon European time/early and mid-morning US isn’t exactly bountiful. Easing into work with some Japan-Jordan and India-Australia will not only make the day better, but it also won’t interrupt any evening games European time. Asian in the morning, European in the afternoon and the Americas in the evening. (Do note these should be reversed if talking cuisines.) x. You know absolutely nothing about Asian football, and maybe you should, because someday, someone in your conversation just might…and he or she might be attractive. ‘Tis best to be well-versed.

Blowing Up The World Cup And Its Rules Posted: 05 Jan 2011 01:00 PM PST Without changing a thing, the face of the World Cup has already changed greatly for the near future. The award of Brazil is about as traditional as it can get, but Qatar in 2022 will see the first World Cup in the Middle East, in an Arab nation. So that’s a large change. The rumblings of a potential winter World Cup would give it an odd feel. And if they pass even a couple of the proposed rule changes by then, the sport could be near foreign. They sort of tip-toe around these subjects constantly, so it’s not really breaking, pressing news, but their concession that technology may be necessary opens up a line of possibilities which now seem…possible. Reluctance to deviate from a traditional path isn’t really on order anymore. There is a panel which will now look at a number of things, namely fixing the World Cup since South Africa’s on-pitch play was such an abomination. Name: Task Force Football 2014. This is your leader, people. On the docket: - Bringing back the Golden Goal. - Changing the structure of awarding points in the group stage. - A combination of the two. Sepp: “At the moment, three points are awarded for a win and one for a draw, which is something we can discuss and decide whether it’s a good thing or not,” he said. “Is extra-time the only option we have when a game ends in a draw? And if we stick with extra-time, how should we end games? Is it worth taking another look at the golden goal? Some people like it, some people don’t. There are a lot of issues regarding tournaments we can look at and discuss.” These things are neither new nor unfamiliar, but if FIFA’s willing to make such changes Cup-to-Cup, just imagine what the games might look like come 2022 in Qatar – in the winter.

Outing A Fixed World Cup Qualifier Posted: 05 Jan 2011 09:19 AM PST The big match-fixing trial in Bochum is happening, and so the games themselves are rising to the surface. One such game arose today – the above World Cup qualifier between Finland and Liechtenstein back in September of 2009. The fixer, Ante Sapina, said that he requested both goals come in the second half, which they did – one off a penalty for absolutely no apparent reason (blind elbow?), and another off a deflection which Jesus Christ himself would’ve had to have fixed. The Bosnian referee was banned for life once his ties arose, obviously, but the implication of the article makes it seem as though a 1-1 draw was ordered with the referee (notice he blows the final whistle mere seconds after Finland clangs the post, heart rate somewhere around 3,712bpm). How, then, did they factor for the players not scoring goals of their own volition? Oh, right – Liechtenstein and Finland. These gangsters are cunning bastards.

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