Whoomph! Ker-Pow! Ger-Shwunk! The Asian Cup has looked, at times, like a tournament that should be broadcast with camp 1970s superhero show captions as long range shots have flown like Exocet missiles passed befuddled goalkeepers into the top corner of the net, in a manner that puts the ten-bob-booted clowns that littered the group stage of last year’s World Cup to shame.
The Asian Cup has, for the most part, been excellent in terms of on-field entertainment; crowds, though, have been pitiful for some matches, with less than 3,500 souls turning up to watch Uzbekistan v Kuwait in Doha’s Al Gharafa Stadium.
But the goals – and the tournament has had a decent quota of them so far, with 46 scored in the first 18 contests – have included some absolute screamers. You will, by now, have almost certainly seen about twenty times the YouTube hit that is Odin Ahmedov’s 40-yard stunner that was the first goal of the championship.
Group A has been uncannily rich in fantastic long-range strikes. Qatar responded to their opening match defeat to the Uzbeks with a 2-0 win over China, inspired by a quite wonderful goal from the very promising forward Yusef Ahmed. His second wasn’t bad either.
Then there was the crazy 2-2 draw between Uzbekistan and China, in which Ahmedov scored a rather more prosaic goal to equalize and early Chinese strike before teammate Alexander Geynrikh, the Pakhtador Tashkent striker, cracked in a stunning goal not just from long range but a wide angle. China saved a point – though not their place in the competition – with as fine a free-kick as you’ll ever see from Hao Junmin.
And that was just Group A.
Group B, though not blessed with such extraordinary goals, has been full of incident. I write during the second half of Syria v Jordan which has, perhaps unexpectedly, turned out to be the key contest of the group. Syria opened with a 2-1 shock win over Saudi Arabia, who have been quite dire, while pre-tournament favourites Japan needed an injury time goal to save a 1-1 draw with Jordan, who have been a sensation.
Jordan then went on to deservedly beat the Saudis 1-0 and this afternoon have come from behind to lead Syria, whose star striker Firas Al Khatib has been carrying an injury throughout. The Syrians’ match with Japan was loaded with controversy. Japan led through a scrappy first half goal from Wolfsburg midfielder Makoto Hasebe, before their goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima was correctly judged to have fouled Senharib Malki in the penalty area and was sent off.
The only problem was that Malki was about three postcodes offside when receiving the ball, as the linesman correctly indicated. The Iranian referee Mohsen Torky over-ruled his assistant, wrongly ruling that the pass to Malki had come from a Japanese defender. Mayhem ensued before Al Khatib, on one leg, dispatched the spot kick. Matters were returned to equilibrium, though, when Japan got a soft penalty of their own, scored by star CSKA Moscow forward Keisuke Honda.
And so to the key match in the group: Syria v Jordan at the Qatar Sports Club stadium in Doha, a breathless winner-takes-all match which has just finished with Jordan winning 2-1 to secure a place in a quarter final against Uzbekistan. The match was illuminated by that most rare of commodities for matches in this competition not involving host nation Qatar: a lively, sizeable crowd.
Partisan as well, which helps; Qatar is full of ex-pats from the other gulf states and India, who have also been well supported, even if their team have barely been competitive. They nearly provided us with a Frank Lampard moment against Bahrain, when Renedy Singh’s fine shot rattled off the underside of the bar and behind the goalline. It was not given but, mercifully, Sunil Chhetri, the striker on the books of Major League Soccer outfit Sporting Kansas City, headed in the rebound.
We need hardly bother with Group D, which has been dull, although there was a lively comeback victory for Iran against neighbours Iraq, which was viewed as ‘revenge’ after the Iranian anthem was booed before a recent friendly meeting. Oh, and people who think Danny Baker never made enough videos will like Iraq’s last minute winner against the UAE. Roll up, roll up.
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