ASIAN CUP GROUP D and C Qualifying teams...

GROUP D - Saudi Arabia 4-0 defeated Bahrain in the final match for a top placed finish in the group. Very little to say about this result exceopt the Saudi team has the quality to win the Asian Cup having come through the so called Group of Death as the top team with two wins and a draw.KOREA second finisher with a final game 1-0 win over Indonesia. I watched this game and in fact have watched the replay as well since the game finished. The quality of Kora is without doubt there on the pitch, I do not think they have the nescessary 'depth' to win the Asian Cup. INDONESIA were outclassed in player quality by Korea in the final game and the absolutely fervent home crowd definately lifted their performance on the pitch. Yet Korea, could not strike and finish the Indonesian team off. The goalkeeper was man of the match for Indonesia in my opinion. Beat them yes, finish them off no. With the 1-0 lead gained Korea went defensive and smothered the Indonesian attacks and still kept up promising goal scoring forays. Given the superb Indonesian Goalkeepers performance, (it was a deflection off an Indonesian Player that gave Korea the lead.) The Korean attacks and there were quite a few show a lack of striking power.

GROUP C The central Asian Side, UZBEKISTAN needed to win for progress to the last eight and they did so thanks to goals in the final 18 minutes by Maksim Shatskikh, Timur Kapadze and Alexander Geynrikh. China needed a draw or a win to advance to the next stage, China were missing a number of key players including injured goalkeeper Li Leilei and suspended duo Zheng Zhi and Li Weifeng. This is not and was not my reasoning for suspecting an upset in this match. It was simply that I had a belief that China would lose from a tactical/strategic error. They where happy to get a draw as a result and with that in mind (having not seen the match) did not press home an attacking game plan. This is not how champion teams qualify and win tournaments, scoring goals wins matches and tournaments and China did not do that and the Uzbekistan team HAD to score goals. They did with THREE in the last 18 minutes of the game. Since the COPA AMERICA and the performance of Brazil and Argentina from the group stage to the final, I have got a firm vision of what I am looking for in team performances and their credentials to WIN when it matters. Of course I am not comparing any of the sides in the Asian Cup with the two Sth American powerhouse teams only using them as a template to be followed for myself.
IRAN finished the group stage top of their group with a 2-0 defeat of Malaysia. It was nothng spectacular as a match compared to to 5-0 and 5-1 wins by Uzbekistan and China against the Malays. Moreso a clinical and controlled defeat by a better side that played withing itself and was joined with Uzbekistan as the Group C qualifiers.

Click this link and go to OLBG and see my tipping results. THIS IS FREE AND YOU MUST BE 18yrs to register/join and play the tipping game
fun. http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/?tx39279