Arab countries at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup

[al-Hasani]

​

The tournament starts tomorrow. 9 out of the 16 participating nations are Arab states.

KSA has won the Asian Cup 3 times and been in the final a record 6 times. Also a record 5 final appearances in a row between 1984-2000. Only Japan is more successful with 4 wins.

Iraq has won once back in 2007 when they defeated KSA.

Kuwait has won once (1980) and been on the losing side in 1976.

UAE lost the final in 1996 against KSA.

This year I believe that Japan and Australia are favorites. We might thus very well see a repeat of the final in 2011.

Kuwait's win in 1980 against South Korea:

KSA's win against China in 1984:

KSA' win against South Korea in 1988 after penalties:

The full match;

KSA's win against UAE in 1996 after penalties;

Iraq's win against KSA in 2007 after extra time;

Also this year is the first time that Palestine participates in the AFC.

Let the show begin!

2015 AFC Asian Cup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Falcon29]

@al-Hasani

Where is Palestine in the chart?

 

[al-Hasani]

@al-Hasani

Where is Palestine in the chart?

I posted the wrong chart. Shows how little I follow the qualification rounds. In fact I don't follow it at all. I usually only follow the actual tournament. The AFC is held once every 4 years though. Like the World Cup. So for Asian teams it is the second biggest thing after the World Cup.

From what I recall only Japan, South Korea and KSA have ever managed to advance from the group stages during a World Cup so for Asian teams participating in a World Cup alone is a big thing. If we exclude Turkey which is only 3% European (geographically speaking) but competes in Europe. Israel also competes in Europe for reasons known to us yet is not located in Europe at all. But they have not advanced from a group stage in a World Cup.

It should be correct now.

 

[Ahmed Jo]

This is a much better Arab subject to discuss than politics.

Blue: countries that qualified. Red: countries that failed to qualify.

Group A
Australia, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Oman
09 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Australia
Vs
Kuwait
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

10 Jan 2015
04:00pm

Korea Republic
Vs
Oman
Canberra Stadium

13 Jan 2015
06:00pm

Kuwait
Vs
Korea Republic
Canberra Stadium

13 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Oman
Vs
Australia
Stadium Australia

17 Jan 2015
07:00pm

Australia
Vs
Korea Republic
Brisbane Stadium

 

[Ahmed Jo]

17 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Oman
Vs
Kuwait
Newcastle Stadium





Group B
Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, DPR Korea, China PR


10 Jan 2015
06:00pm

Uzbekistan
Vs
DPR Korea
Stadium Australia




10 Jan 2015
07:00pm

Saudi Arabia
vs
China PR
Brisbane Stadium




14 Jan 2015
06:00pm

DPR Korea
vs
Saudi Arabia
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium




14 Jan 2015
07:00pm

China PR
vs
Uzbekistan
Brisbane Stadium

 

[Ahmed Jo]

18 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Uzbekistan
vs
Saudi Arabia
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium




18 Jan 2015
08:00pm

China PR
vs
DPR Korea
Canberra Stadium





Group C
UAE, Iran, Bahrain, Qatar


11 Jan 2015
06:00pm

UAE
vs
Qatar
Canberra Stadium




11 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Iran
vs
Bahrain
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium




15 Jan 2015
06:00pm

Bahrain
vs
UAE
Canberra Stadium

 

[Ahmed Jo]

15 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Qatar
vs
Iran
Stadium Australia




19 Jan 2015
07:00pm

Iran
vs
UAE
Brisbane Stadium




19 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Qatar
vs
Bahrain
Stadium Australia





Group D
Japan, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq


12 Jan 2015
06:00pm

Japan
vs
Palestine
Newcastle Stadium




12 Jan 2015
07:00pm

Jordan
vs
Iraq
Brisbane Stadium

 

[Ahmed Jo]

16 Jan 2015
06:00pm

Palestine
vs
Jordan
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium




16 Jan 2015
07:00pm

Iraq
vs
Japan
Brisbane Stadium




20 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Japan
vs
Jordan
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium




20 Jan 2015
08:00pm

Iraq
vs
Palestine
Canberra Stadium

 

[bongbang]

Seem more to me like Arab Football League

 

[al-Hasani]

Seem more to me like Arab Football League

There are a lot of us Arabs out there just like there are a lot of Arab countries capable of playing football out there.

The host nation Australia defeated Kuwait 4-1 after Kuwait took the lead early on.

South-Korea-Oman and KSA-China tomorrow. A Farsi has yet again been appointed as the referee in a game involving the KSA national football or a KSA football club team. Pathetic. Expect strange decisions going in favor of China tomorrow morning.

This Alireza Faghani was heavily biased during the first AFC Champions League final game between Al-Hilal and Sydney Wanderers won very undeservedly and after scandalous referee decisions in both the first match and especially in the return leg in Riyadh.

Keep an eye on him:

 

[Syrian Lion]

Meh not a competitive torunamnt

There are a lot of us Arabs out there just like there are a lot of Arab countries capable of playing football out there.

The host nation Australia defeated Kuwait 4-1 after Kuwait took the lead early on.

South-Korea-Oman and KSA-China tomorrow. A Farsi has yet again been appointed as the referee in a game involving the KSA national football or a KSA football club team. Pathetic. Expect strange decisions going in favor of China tomorrow morning.

This Alireza Faghani was heavily biased during the first AFC Champions League final game between Al-Hilal and Sydney Wanderers won very undeservedly and after scandalous referee decisions in both the first match and especially in the return leg in Riyadh.

Keep an eye on him:

you must love the blame game... blame Khalifa for appointing Iranain ref... you're smart, you know KSA might lose so might as well begin throwing out blames and etc... lets be honest KSA is not doing so well these past couple years...

 

[al-Hasani]

Missed the first half so cannot comment on that.

KSA missed a deserved penalty (The Asian Player of the Year missed it), dozens of chances and then China scored from a deflected free kick. Al-Bassas (one of the best players) out injured too.

Asian Footballer of the Year - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Perfect way to summarize KSA's condition for the past few years.

The Chinese know how to park the Chinese Wall though. Anyway congratulations to the Chinese. KSA is way past their glorious heydays. Nothing to expect with a manager that has just been at the helm of the team for 3-4 weeks.

@Arabian Legend @Bubblegum Crisis @BLACKEAGLE @Yzd Khalifa @Gasoline @Rakan.SA @JUBA @Mosamania @Ahmed Jo @Full Moon @Halimi @Awadd @Altamimi @Falcon29 @Frosty @Malik Alashter @fahd tamimi @tyrant etc.

Nobody gives a flying """" about this tournament probably.

 

[ResurgentIran]

There are a lot of us Arabs out there just like there are a lot of Arab countries capable of playing football out there.

The host nation Australia defeated Kuwait 4-1 after Kuwait took the lead early on.

South-Korea-Oman and KSA-China tomorrow. A Farsi has yet again been appointed as the referee in a game involving the KSA national football or a KSA football club team. Pathetic. Expect strange decisions going in favor of China tomorrow morning.

This Alireza Faghani was heavily biased during the first AFC Champions League final game between Al-Hilal and Sydney Wanderers won very undeservedly and after scandalous referee decisions in both the first match and especially in the return leg in Riyadh.

Keep an eye on him:

The Iranian or "Farsi" referee had everything under control and was nothing but fair throughout the game. If anything, I thought he was a bit lenient with some of the Saudi bad tackles in first half.
Not to mention he fairly awarded a penalty to you. So he was fair and was not biased in any way.

 

[al-Hasani]

The Iranian or "Farsi" referee had everything under control and was nothing but fair throughout the game. If anything, I thought he was a bit lenient with some of the Saudi bad tackles in first half.
Not to mention he fairly awarded a penalty to you. So he was fair and was not biased in any way.

By principal I do not believe that an Arab referee should referee a game where Iran takes part or an Iranian referee where an Arab team takes part.

There are similar rules in Europe.

I did not watch the first half so I cannot tell about his performance there. I watched the second half with a closed eye. The penalty was as it should be.

The thing with that referee is that he was heavily biased in the first game in the AFC Champions League final between Al-Hilal and Sydney Wanderers. So I had a very bad impression of him. There was obvious bias back then yet this was nothing close to what our Chinese friend did in the return leg in Riyadh. That was the most scandalous referee performance that I have seen in a VERY long time.

Now, I believe that China and Uzbekistan will draw (both in their favor) in the next game, KSA will defeat North Korea (which will leave them with 0 points after 2 games and out of the equation) and then in the final game KSA will not be able to defeat Uzbekistan and thus Uzbekistan and China will go through. Very likely scenario IMO.

 

[Khalid Newazi]

We need to increase the number of teams to 24 to make it more attracting.