Asian Cup of Nations 2015

Tourney starts in less than a week. Here are the groups:
It's in OSTRAYA !!!!!

Group A: Australia, South Korea, Kuwait, Oman

Group B: Uzbekistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China

Group C: Iran, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain

Group D: Japan, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine

Some facts and notes:

** Japan have won 3 of the last 4 editions of the Asian cup, with only miss being in 2007 which was won by IRAQ !! (When they in midst of a heavy war

** After poor showing of Asian nations in the WC, the importance of this tournament for continent's heavy weights has massively gone up

** Qatar seemed to have had the best preparation plans of all teams, playing 15 friendly matches against international sides in the last 4 months

** Two of continent's top 4 traditional power houses, South Korea and Iran, have not won the Asian cup for over 30 years.

** This is Tim Cahill's last international tournament. Ditto Javad Nekounam

**From top of my head, Japan/Korea/Saudi/Bahrain/and I believe Jordan have all new managers than what they had 7 months ago. Which shows the massive lack of managerial stability in Asian football.


Games are in Australia, which means nasty watching time for those in North America. But should be a good atmosphere and I think Australia will be a great host and they are favourites for the cup. Can't see Japan winning it AGAIN. Asian teams are getting very closer to each other every year and I wouldn't be surprised at some dirty surprises at all.

Japan has a much better team than Australia on paper.

Yeah Japan will walk this. Japan and Iran in the finals. S. Korea finishing third.

Group A: Australia, South Korea, Kuwait, Oman

Don't follow Asian football much (barely any) these days, but I think Oman has made tremendous strides in last few years.

Group B: Uzbekistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China

Saudi Arabia is possibly the most regressed team over last two decades. Others are notoriously inconsistent and underachievers.

Group C: Iran, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain

If Iran can repeat their WC form, drive and discpline; they will be favorite. Bahrain is another team that quietly progressed over last few years.

Group D: Japan, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine

The later three have all developed substantially in last few years.

Notice the absence of East Asian nations???

rooting for Japan and Iran

North Korea's going to win this.

Tim Cahill is aiming to play in the 2018 WC, so it may not be his last Tournament.

Should be good. I'll try watch a few games.

them timing of games for me

That's pretty much the times we Aussies have to wake up to watch the Premier League.

Even worse for Serie A - 12:30am, 3:30am and 6:15am games

I think it's like 11pm, 2am, 4:30am or 7am for the PL.

them timing of games for me

That's pretty much the times we Aussies have to wake up to watch the Premier League.

Even worse for Serie A - 12:30am, 3:30am and 6:15am games

are those in GMT???

Australian time.

Forza wrote:Australian time.

Midday games

iftikhar wrote:

Forza wrote:Australian time.

Midday games

The way it translates is:
Serie A's midday games = start just after midnight Aus time
Serie A's afternoon games = start early morning/late night Aus time
Serie A's night games = start at 6 in the morning Aus time

~~~

Back on topic, Asian cup starts tonight Australian time with the host nation playing against Kuwait.

UAE and Iran are the favorites for Group C imo, though we did win the Gulf Cup. South Korea, Japan, Oman and Australia are the only other sides from the other groups that i feel we can't take down.

Though i'm hoping Qatar vs Australia if we get out of the groups for the GL bantz

Just rekt Kuwait. Cant wait till Australia wins the WC in 2018

That was a good game in the end after a pretty ordinary start. Massimo Luongo was excellent.

MaraVilla wrote:Just rekt Kuwait. Cant wait till Australia wins the WC in 2018

Back to Back 2018 and 2022.

Honestly the first impressive game under Ange. If this is what we'll see from him, we can maybe challenge Japan for best team in Asia.

Uzbekistan vs. North Korea tonight

Natalie Portman wrote:Uzbekistan vs. North Korea tonight

The 2342 fans who turn up for that are sure in for a treat!

Forza wrote:

Natalie Portman wrote:Uzbekistan vs. North Korea tonight

The 2342 fans who turn up for that are sure in for a treat!

More than that by the looks of it

mr-r34 wrote:

Forza wrote:

Natalie Portman wrote:Uzbekistan vs. North Korea tonight

The 2342 fans who turn up for that are sure in for a treat!

More than that by the looks of it

I really hope people turn up for non-Australia games and Iwould be interested to know what the attendance is like for those games.

the S.Korean v Oman game had a really good crowd, quite loud aswell . Was really surprised since it was raining.