Thai television channels boycott Asian Cup

Friday, 13 July 2007

Reuters - BANGKOK,Local television channels in Thailand are boycotting the Asian Cup after a spat with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) over broadcasting rights.

Despite Thailand's table-topping 2-0 win over Oman on Thursday, channels 3, 5, 9, 11 and TITV are shunning Asia's premier soccer tournament over what they say are unfair broadcasting restrictions.

Channel 7, an official rights holder, is the only local station covering the competition, which is being co-hosted by Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

persianfootball.com

Iraq stun sluggish Australia

Posted on 13 July 2007 - 14:41

Iraq pulled off a stunning 3-1 upset win over Australia at the Asian Cup on Friday to leave the tournament favourites in danger of an embarrassing early exit.

Nashat Akram scored from a free kick in the first half after a howler from goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, and Hawar Mulla Mohammad and Karrar Jassim Mohammad finished off the Australians after the interval.

The Socceroos had briefly drawn level through when their captain Mark Viduka scored early in the second half, but were totally outplayed by a team who had to train and play qualifiers in neutral Jordan because of the war in their homeland.

supersoccer.co.za

Iraq nail sorry Australia in Asian Cup

July 13, 2007 - 11:16PM

Australia were booed off the field with their Asian Cup hopes in tatters after a disastrous 3-1 defeat to Iraq Friday.

Brisbane Times.

Iraq nail sorry Australia in Asian Cup

July 13, 2007 - 11:16PM

Australia were booed off the field with their Asian Cup hopes in tatters after a disastrous 3-1 defeat to Iraq Friday.

Brisbane Times.

Nashat Akram was outstanding. Iraq were well worth their win. They could go all the way and win this competition.

Well, even the Kiwis are giving the Aussies a break on this one:

From TVNZ:

Asian Cup too hot to handle

Brett Emerton

Jul 15, 2007

After the first week of Asian Cup action nearly everyone is agreed on one thing: it's hot, very hot.

While hardly unexpected, the steamy Southeast Asian conditions have produced a number of surprising results, usually favouring the host nations.

"The biggest problem is the weather. The climate of Kuala Lumpur has brought the quality of matches down," said Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei.

Pre-tournament favourites Australia have been the biggest victims, held to a draw by Oman before being shocked 3-1 by war-shattered Iraq.

"It must be the heat when a country which reached the World Cup knock-out stages is left with one loss and one draw," mused Japan star Shunsuke Nakamura.

Australia defender Lucas Neill said most teams were struggling with the conditions.

"You look at the last 10-15 minutes of almost every game in the tournament and everyone seems to be wringing their shirts out and struggling and making a lot of changes," he said.

Despite night-time kick-offs temperatures have soared in the Asian capitals, reaching 37 deg C (99 deg F) at times accompanied by suffocating humidity.

Within minutes of the start players are often drenched in sweat and panting heavily, a sight more closely associated with the final stages.

"It's so humid and hot here in Jakarta that it's really hard for one player to play the entire 90 minutes," said South Korea's Lee Chun-Soo.

Co-hosts Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia have all cashed in, confounding expectations to produce shock results against higher ranked opposition.

Teams like Iran and China have profited from special fitness programs to prepare their players, while others have fallen by the wayside. Arab teams have been especially hard hit with Iraq and

Saudi Arabia the only ones to win.

"When we arrived we had a special program knowing Malaysia is a difficult climate with its high humidity. So we started with physical fitness training," said Iran's Ghalenoei.

"Some people in the media questioned that but we needed it with the Malaysian weather."

In the first 12 matches only four goals were scored in the last 10 minutes, underlining the difficulty of the conditions.

Jeff Steinweg, head of medical services for Football Federation

Australia, said some players felt the heat more than others.

"We go to great lengths to ensure we keep the hydration up for the players," Steinweg said.

Australia's Mark Schwarzer revealed he lost three kilograms during the opening match -- and he's the goalkeeper.

"I lost three kilos and most of that was during the warm-up and I had to back off the warm-up because it was so harsh," Schwarzer said.

"Everyone has been losing two-and-a-half to three kilos each training session as it is, so then to look at a game situation where guys have lost up to five kilos it just goes to show how hard it was."

Japan coach Ivica Osim summed up the difficulties faced by everyone after his team's victory on Friday against United Arab Emirates in Hanoi.

"Most of all, I am happy that it has ended without any of our players and staff suffering a heart attack," he said.

"It was such harsh weather conditions."

The Asian Cup is being held in Southeast Asia for the first time since Singapore in 1984, when Saudi Arabia beat China in the final.