UAE out to make amends

gulfnews.com | Friday, January 9, 2015 | Gulf News
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Gulf News | Friday, January 9, 2015 | gulfnews.com
AFC asian cup
AFC asian cup
C7
Entertainment key if Australians are to unite
Despite a conspicuous lack of a visible build-up campaign, a good run for hosts will ensure tournament captures locals’ imagination
The first time the
tournament will be
hosted outside the
continent of Asia.
The Socceroos
made the final in
2011, losing to
Japan
Oman
HOST CITIES AND STADIUMS
City
Venue
Capacity
1
Brisbane
Brisbane Stadium
52,500
2
Newcastle
Newcastle Stadium
33,000
3
Sydney
Stadium Australia
83,500
4
Canberra
Canberra Stadium
25,000
5
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
By Nick Bank s
Special To Gulf News
U
nite for passion.
Unite for the Asian
Cup. That is the
slogan being played
out on Australian
TV screens in preparation for
the kick-off of the Asian Cup in
Melbourne today evening.
It is certainly an arresting call
to arms for a nation not immediately known for its interest in
football, but there is a niggling
worry in the five cities that will
play host to the tournament,
which culminates on January
31, that it is being relayed more
in hope than expectation.
Where you may normally expect to find excitable billboards
in airports and train stations on
the eve of a major tournament,
the lack of a visible build-up
campaign for the Asian Cup
around Sydney and Melbourne
has been noticeable.
But that is not to say that,
with Australia’s opener against
Kuwait at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium just hours
away, there has not been a slowly emerging tide of interest.
Socceroos shirts, and those
of potentially their fiercest rivals for the Asian crown, Japan,
have been increasingly visible
around Sydney as the tournament has drawn closer. The
hope is that, in such a multicultural and heavily touristed city,
there will be plenty of other
colours — South Korean, Chinese, Iranian, Emirati — seen
about the place as well in the
weeks to come.
The media has also begun to
take an active interest as Australia prepares for its biggest
tournament since hosting the
Rugby World Cup more than a
decade ago, with the Sydney
Morning Herald in particular offering daily features leading up
to the event, not to mention the
‘Unite’ adverts on television.
Public response
And, gradual though it may
have been, it seems as though
the public are now responding.
Ticket sales are reported to be
promising and there has been a
real drive in the last few weeks
to gain the interest of multiethnic football fans in a country where 12 per cent of the
population identify as Asian.
The true excitement has of
course come from the fans who
already follow football in Australia, and a cause for that excitement is the seemingly sheer
openness of the tournament.
124
3
2
Pa s t w i nn e r s
AFC Asian Cup
Champions
South Korea
South Korea
Israel
Iran
Iran
Iran
Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Japan
Saudi Arabia
Japan
Japan
Iraq
Japan
Really, so the consensus has it,
just about anybody could end
up lifting the trophy in Sydney
on January 31.
In the home media there is
a growing conviction that this
could be the Australians’ best
ever chance to take the crown,
and anything less than a semifinal place will be viewed as a
failure. Few would bet against
them — in Nathan Burns they
have a striker in fluid domestic goalscoring form and old
heads like Tim Cahill and Mark
Bresciano will provide the kind
of experience that could take
them all the way.
The main worry is that a
weight of expectation will kill
the dream, owing to their dual
roles of both going out to win
games of football, and going
out to win the public’s interest
in the tournament as a whole.
Home pressure
In that vein, plenty of pressure is being put on the Socceroos to not just beat Kuwait
today, but to defeat them convincingly — and in an entertaining fashion — in order to
both show their intent and
draw the attention of a nation
of football sceptics.
Even so, the smart money
still seems to be on Japan upsetting the Australian party.
With undoubted talent in their
ranks in the shape of players
like Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke
Honda, they will be looking
to make up for a disappointing, winless World Cup 2014.
Added to that is the Blue Samurai’s sheer history of success
in the tournament, with four
triumphs in the previous six
championships.
However, match-fixing allegations involving their Mexican
coach Javier Aguirre, which came
out as recently as two weeks ago,
FIFA RANKING
Uzbekistan
Group
b
Saudi Arabia
China
North Korea
could prove unsettling. Other
traditionally strong teams will
also be there or thereabouts
come the latter stages, but all
have potential problems. South
Korea have a young and inexperienced side, for them this
tournament may have come
too soon. Iran, meanwhile, are
simply unprepared — and that’s
according to their own coach,
Carlos Queiroz, the former Real
Madrid boss.
Open tournament
And so the field is thrown open
ever wider, with the world waking up to the talent that has been
produced off the back of strong
investment in the burgeoning
football markets in the Gulf.
Indeed, many in the Australian national media are predicting the UAE team will field the
player — Omar Abdul Rahman
— most likely to single-handedly bring the tournament to
light and capture the imagination of the viewing public.
Inevitably though, like most
international competitions, the
press have been keen to mix
political and human interest
stories with the football in their
last-minute leaders.
To that end, Palestine are
already every Australian’s second favourite team before a ball
has been kicked thanks to their
remarkable performance in
even reaching the tournament,
while Iraq continue to amaze
everybody with their fortitude
and togetherness. North Korea,
meanwhile, have got the headlines for remaining as mysterious and intriguing as expected.
But ultimately, when the
tournament kicks off, all of
these political asides will be
forgotten. It will be the quality
of the matches that will determine whether that small tide of
expectation, which has taken
its time to arrive in Australia,
will continue to grow or will
ebb away.
All eyes will be on Melbourne
today in the anxious hope that
the beginning of the 16th Asian
Cup brings with it passion and
excitement, and that atmosphere builds even more over the
32 games to the final.
■■The writer is a freelance
journalist
Coach: Paul Le Guen (FRA)
Captain: Ali Al Habsi
Best Asian Cup result: Group stage (2004, 2007)
Player to watch: Saeed Al Razaiqi (Al Nahda)
Coach: Nabil Maaloul (TUN)
Captain: Nawaf Al Khaldi
Best Asian Cup result: Winners (1980)
Player to watch: Bader Al Motawaa (Qadsia SC)
1
5
Year Hosts 1956: Hong Kong
1960: South Korea
1964:Israel
1968:Iran
1972:Thailand
1976:Iran
1980:Kuwait
1984: Singapore
1988: Qatar
1992:Japan
1996: UAE
2000:Lebanon
2004:China
2007: 4 SEA nations
2011:Qatar
93
30,000
4
Sydney
Kuwait
150
97
74
Coach: Mirdjalal Kasimov (UZB)
Captain: Server Djeparov
Best Asian Cup result: Fourth (2011)
Player to watch: Server Djeparov
(Seongnam/KOR)
Coach: Cosmin Olaroiu (ROU)
Captain: Saud Kariri
Best Asian Cup result: Winners (1984, 1988, 1996)
Player to watch: Nasser Al Shamrani (Al Hilal)
102
South Korea - Oman
Canberra
10
B
Saudi Arabia - China
Brisbane
11
C
UAE - Qatar
Canberra
B
Coach: Jo Tong-sop
Captain: Ri Myong-guk
Best Asian Cup result: Fourth (1980)
Player to watch: Jong Il-gwan (Rimyongsu FC)
Uzbekistan - North Korea
C
Iran - Bahrain
12
D
Japan - Palestine
Newcastle
D
Jordan - Iraq
13
A
Kuwait - South Korea
Canberra
A
Oman - Australia
14
B
North Korea - S. Arabia
Melbourne
B
China - Uzbekistan
c
UAE
Melbourne
122
Brisbane
Sydney
C
Bahrain - UAE
Canberra
C
Qatar - Iran
Sydney
D
Palestine - Jordan
Melbourne
D
Iraq - Japan
Brisbane
17
A
Australia - South Korea
Brisbane
A
Oman - Kuwait
Coach: Dejamel Belmadi (ALG)
Captain: Meshaal Abdullah
Best Asian Cup result: Quarter-finals (2000, 2011)
Player to watch: Khalfan Ebrahim (Al Sadd)
Coach: Marjan Eid
Captain: Mohammad Hassan
Best Asian Cup result: Fourth (2004)
Player to watch: Esmail Abdul Latif (Muharraq)
Brisbane
15
Newcastle
18
B
Uzbekistan - S. Arabia
Melbourne
B
China - North Korea
19
C
Iran - UAE
Brisbane
C
Qatar - Bahrain
Sydney
20
D
Japan - Jordan
Melbourne
D
Iraq - Palestine
Canberra
Canberra
FIFA RANKING
1
Jan 22
A1-B2
Melbourne
Jan 26 Winners 1-3
Group
2
Jan 22
B1-A2
Brisbane
Jan 27 Winners 2-4 Newscastle
3
Jan 23
C1-D2
Canberra
1
Jan 23
D1-C2
Sydney
Sydney
81
Jordan
Iraq
THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFF
103
Palestine
Jan 30 Newscastle
54
Japan
d
SEMI finals
jan 31aSIA CUP FINAL
95
Bahrain
Coach: Carlos Queiroz (POR)
Captain: Javad Nekounam
Best Asian Cup result: Winners (1968, 1972, 1976)
Player to watch: Ashkan Dejagah (Al Arabi/QAT)
Coach: Mahdi Ali
Captain: TBC
Best Asian Cup result: Runners-up (1996)
Player to watch: Ali Mabkhout (Al Jazira/UAE)
81
Qatar
Sydney
16
Quarter finals
Coach: Alain Perrin (FRA)
Captain: Zheng Zhi
Best Asian Cup result: Runners-up (1984, 2004)
Player to watch: Gao Lin (Guangzhou Evergrande)
Ve
nu
e
A
at
ch
10
M
Melbourne
ro
up
Australia - Kuwait
G
at
ch
A
M
9
51
Iran
Group
Ve
nu
e
Coach: Uli Stielike (GER)
Captain: Ki Sung-yueng
Best Asian Cup result: Winners (1956, 1960)
Player to watch: Son Heung-min (B. Leverkusen/GER)
69
South Korea
Fixtures
ua
ry
ro
up
A
FIFA RANKING
G
Group
●
100
Australia
Coach: Ange Postecoglou (AUS)
Captain: Mile Jedinak
Best Asian Cup result: Runners-up (2011)
Player to watch: Tim Cahill (NY Red Bulls/USA)
Ja
n
FIFA RANKING
113
sydney
Coach: Javier Aguirre (MEX)
Captain: Makoto Hasebe
Best Asian Cup result: Winners (1992, 2000,
2004, 2011)
Player to watch: Keisuke Honda (AC Milan/ITA)
Coach: Ray Wilkins (ENG)
Captain: Ahmad Hayel
Best Asian Cup result: Quarter-finals (2004, 2011)
Player to watch: Abdullah Deeb (Al Refa)
Coach: Radhi Shenaishil (IRQ)
Captain: Younis Mahmoud
Best Asian Cup result: Winners (2007)
Player to watch: Humam Tareq (Al Dhafra/UAE)
Coach: Ahmad Al Hassan
Captain: Ramzi Saleh
Best Asian Cup result: N/A
Player to watch: Ashraf Nu’man Al Fawaghra (Al Faisaly/KSA)
UAE out to make amends
D on ’ t m i s s i t
Stars to watch out in the tournament
After losing Gulf Cup
title late last year,
coach Ali expects to
reach last four stage
Dubai
By A s h l e y H ammon d
Staff Reporter
U
■■
P ro f i l e
P ro f i l e
P ro f i l e
Tim Cahill
Keisuke Honda
Ali Mabkhout
Date of birth: December 6,
1979
■■
Date of birth: June 13, 1986
■■
Date of birth: October 5,
1990
■■
Place of birth: Settsu, Osaka
■■
Place of birth: Sydney
■■
Nationality: Japanese
■■
Place of birth: Abu Dhabi
■■
Nationality: Australian
■■
Height: 1.82m (6ft 0in)
■■
Nationality: Emirati
■■
Height: 1.78m (5ft 10in)
■■
■■
Height: 1.77m (5ft 10in)
■■
Playing position: Forward/
Attacking midfielder
Playing position: Attacking
midfielder/Forward
International caps: 65
■■
Playing position: Forward
■■
International caps: 76
International caps: 31
■■
Goals: 24
■■
■■
Goals: 36
■■
Goals: 20
■■
P ro f i l e
P ro f i l e
Son Heung-min
Nasser Al Shamrani
■■
Date of birth: July 8, 1992
■■
Place of birth: Chuncheon,
Gangwon
■■
Nationality: South Korean
■■
Height: 1.83m (6ft 0in)
■■
Playing position: Winger
■■
International caps: 34
■■
Goals: 7
■■
Date of birth: November 23,
1983
■■
Place of birth: Mecca
■■
Nationality: Saudi
■■
Height: 1.73m (5ft 8in)
■■
Playing position: Forward
■■
International caps: 71
■■
Goals: 16
AE coach Mahdi Ali is
hoping to make amends
for his side’s third-place
finish in the Gulf Cup with a
last-four spot in the Asian Cup.
The Whites failed to defend
their GCC title in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, in November after a 3-2
semi-final defeat to the hosts,
before they beat Oman 1-0 in
the third-place play-off.
They now hope to make up
for it in Australia in the event,
which begins today, when they
will face Gulf Cup champions
Qatar, Bahrain and the highestranked Asian nation Iran in
Group C.
“The Asian Cup is more of
a priority than the Gulf Cup,”
Ali told media before departing for Australia last month.
“And, over the last week, I have
received three or four calls
from players assuring me that
they are fully motivated for the
Asian Cup. It’s a good sign that
they want to do better.
“The ultimate target has always been getting to the 2018
Fifa World Cup and our second
target is to get to the last four in
Australia.
“Our first game against Qatar will be key, as it will decide
the path of the team. There are
no easy teams in football and
sometimes I give a higher priority to playing the smaller teams
because players can be relaxed,
thinking it will be easy. If you
enter a match complacent it
might be too late.”
Al Ain midfielder Omar Abdul Rahman was the UAE’s
Raring to go
■■
Courtesy: Dubai Sports Council
Players and coaching staff of the UAE team before
a training session in Australia.
❝
Our first game against Qatar will be key, as it
will decide the path of the team. There are no
easy teams in football…”
Mahdi Ali | UAE coach
outstanding injury concern
held over from the Gulf Cup,
but UAE Football Association
President Yousuf Al Sarkal said
the squad now has a clean bill
of health.
“We had some problems
with Omar being injured,” said
Al Sarkal. “But he is continuing
to recover and should be ready
to join official matches. In general, we have passed this problem and don’t have any more
injuries.
Step by step
“It was very hard for us not
to make the final in the Gulf
Cup but now we are here [in
the Asian Cup] we hope that
we will make our mark on the
tournament and bring happiness to our fans.
“We have been wishing for so
many years to get to the top of
Asia and, if not the summit, we
want the UAE team to be one of
the best. This is one of the goals
we have been working on from
junior level to the first team.
“We are currently ranked
fifth out of 45 Asian countries
but we want to be inside the top
three. Through this participation we wish to pass the primary stages up to fourth position
and above, but we will have to
take it step by step.
“Our group is not that easy,
which makes it difficult. Iran is
currently the highest-ranked
team in Asia and Qatar are the
recent Gulf Cup champions.
But I have full confidence in
the technical ability of the team
and only hope we aren’t affected by other factors.
“Our first priority is to pass
the group stage and make it
into the last eight, after that
we can start thinking about the
latter stages.”