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Saturday, January 8, 2011

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

Link to International Football News - World Cup Blog

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

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.

display_image 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.

Javed Nekounam Javad Nekounam (Iran)
One of two Iranians playing for Osasuna in Spain. He is the rock of the Iranian midfield.

72490885JM046_15th_Asian_Ga 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

Sepp-Blatter-001

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.

Friday, January 7, 2011

World Cup 2010 Blog: Asian Cup Group Stage Preview

Asian Cup Group Stage Preview

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 10:10 AM PST

Khalifah

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.