With the smoke from the fireworks that lit up the sky above the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta still lingering, it is a great time to take a quick look back at the good and bad points of the 2007 Asian Cup.
The Good
1 – The football
The conditions may not have been conducive to fast-paced thrilling football but entertainment-wise, the 2007 Asian Cup more than holds its own against the 2006 World Cup. There were some great goals and good games. Saudi Arabia’s quarter and semi-final against Uzebkistan and Japan respectively were as exciting and open as anything you will see this year.
2- The co-hosts
Malaysia apart, the tournament showed that South-east Asian nations have what it takes to compete with the best that the continent has to offer, though home advantage certainly helped.
Thailand disposed of Oman and lived with Australia for 80 minutes. Vietnam saw off Gulf Cup champs UAE and Indonesia shocked Bahrain and fought toe-to-toe with Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The challenge is to maintain the standards.
3 – Jakarta and Hanoi
The ones who watched their heroes in Indonesia and Vietnam created atmospheres that would be hard to match elsewhere. The sights and sounds of over 90,000 Indonesian fans cheering on their heroes will live long in the memory.
4- Media interest
Often, finding things to read about Asian football in the mainstream media has been an exercise in frustration. However, July has witnessed an explosion of reporting about the competition. It remains to be seen how long this lasts but at least, awareness of Asian football is at its highest ever level. Media facilities were pretty good too.
5 –Iraq
Iraq’s triumph was a fairy tale and a welcome boost to a troubled country.
The Bad
1 - Crowd Numbers
The big problem with the tournament has been the fact that the majority of games have been played in front of largely empty stadiums. It would be optimistic in the extreme to expect all games to be sold out but the fact that in the knockout stage, only the final was played in front of anything approaching a full house was disappointing.
Little has been said on this matter by the Asian Football Confederation or the respective national bodies but this should have been objective number one from day one. With the media taking Asian football to new audiences, the first thing on view was rows of empty seats – not a good advert for Asian football.
2- Play-acting
After the World Cup, patience with the fakers and time-wasters was already wearing thin and perhaps the antics at the Asian Cup will be the straw that broke the camel’s back. ‘Grass-rolling’ happens to some extent almost everywhere but certain west Asian nations are the worst.
The sight of Saudi goalkeeper Yasser Al Mosailem literally writhing on the ground in the semi-final against Japan after hardly being touched was embarrassing.
3 –Refereeing
Hardly exclusive to the Asian Cup. Perhaps it is a fact of life in major tournaments that the standard of officiating is questionable but some of the decision-making has been erratic. Uzbekistan’s disallowed goal in the quarter-final with Saudi Arabia was the worst and some of the cards handed out have been harsh to say the least.
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