2007 AFC Asian Cup

2007 AFC Asian Cup
	; Logo of the 2007 Asian Cup
Tournament details
Host countries	Indonesia; Malaysia; Thailand; Vietnam
Dates	7 July – 29 July
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	8 (in 7 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Iraq (1st title)
Runner-up	Saudi Arabia
Third place	Korea Republic
Fourth place	Japan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	84 (2.63 per match)
Attendance	724,222 (22,632 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Younis Mahmoud; Yasser Al-Qahtani; Naohiro Takahara; (4 goals)
Best player	Younis Mahmoud

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The Asian Football Confederation's 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals were held from July 7 to July 29, 2007. For the first time in its history, the competition was co-hosted by four nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The tournament was won by first-time champions Iraq, who defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final. As the winner, Iraq will represent the AFC at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

The Asian Cup had previously been held every 4 years from 1956 onwards, the last cup being held in China in 2004. However, with the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the same year as the Asian Cup (2004, 2008, 2012 etc.), the AFC decided to change their tradition and hold the tournament in 2007, and every four years henceforth from that date.

This was the first major AFC tournament in which Australia participated as a member.

[edit] Host selection

Match between Indonesia vs South Korea during 2007 AFC Asian Cup, Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia.

The decision to have four host nations for this edition of the Asian Cup was proposed and presented to the executive committee by AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam. However, he later regretted this decision and called it his "mistake", citing the financial and logistic difficulties in organising an event across four countries.

He said that "It is proving very difficult for [the executive committee as they] have to have four organising committees, four media centres and there are also financial considerations." He also revealed that "[He would] definitely [not do] it [again]," if he had the choice.

In June 2005, the Asian Football Confederation warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On August 12 of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup.^[1] However in October 2006, Thailand was again warned to improve its facilities in 90 days.^[2]

[edit] Venues

Nation	City	Venue	Capacity
Indonesia	Jakarta	Bung Karno Stadium	88,700
Indonesia	Palembang	Jakabaring Stadium	40,000
Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil	100,000
Malaysia	Shah Alam	Shah Alam Stadium	80,000
Thailand	Bangkok	Rajamangala Stadium	65,000
Thailand	Bangkok	Suphachalasai Stadium	35,000
Vietnam	Hanoi	My Dinh National Stadium	40,000
Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh City	Army Stadium	25,000

[edit] Qualification

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The qualification round ran from February 22, 2006 to November 15, 2006. For the first time, the defending champions (Japan) needed to attend the qualification stage. Twenty-four teams attempted to qualify for 2007 AFC Asian Cup. They were divided into 4 teams for each group and determined the remaining last 12 places, as the four co-hosts - Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam - were already granted automatic qualification. Australia was the first non-host nation to qualify.

[edit] Seeds

For the first time, the seeds are based on the October 2006 FIFA World Rankings instead of the basis of the performance from the previous AFC Asian Cup competition. This was to ensure that the same number of strong teams do not meet in the early stage.^[3]

The four seeded teams were announced on December 19, 2006. The seeds comprised Pot 4 in the draw. Pot 1 consists of the teams from all co-hosts.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Vietnam	China PR Iraq United Arab Emirates Bahrain	Qatar Uzbekistan Saudi Arabia Oman	Australia Iran Japan Korea Republic

On December 19, 2006, the draw was held in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

[edit] Match ball

The Official Match Ball for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was launched by Nike on May 15, 2007, making it the first time ever that a ball had been launched specifically for any football competition in Asia.^[4] The Nike Mercurial Veloci AC features four blue stripes with gold trim with each host city's name inscribed, as well as the AFC Asian Cup logo.^[5]

[edit] Officials

16 referees and 24 assistant referees were officially cleared following a fitness test on July 2 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One referee and two assistant referees were also named from the CAF.^[6]

† Replaced Shamsul Maidin after the referee pulled out with injury.^[7]

[edit] Squads

For more details on this topic, see 2007 AFC Asian Cup squads.

[edit] Tournament summary

The Asian Cup saw many upsets in the early stages of the tournament. In Group A, Oman held favourites Australia to a surprising draw. Oman took the lead and would have won save for an injury time goal from Tim Cahill. Next, hosts Vietnam shocked Gulf Champions UAE with a 2-0 victory. In the same group, Qatar held Japan to a shock 1-1 draw, which caused Japan coach Ivica Osim to fly into a rage in which he branded his players as 'amateurs' and reduced his interpreter to tears [1]. In Group D, Indonesia continued the undefeated streak of the hosts by defeating Bahrain 2-1. Malaysia ended up as the only host country to drop their match, losing to China 5-1. Thailand recorded just its 2nd win in the Asian Cup finals (their other was in 1972 against Cambodia), and its first ever win in regulation, when they beat Oman 2-0 on July 12. Meanwhile, Australia was upset by a 3-1 defeat against Iraq the following day, leaving them floundering in the tournament despite high expectations.

In the quarterfinals, Iraq defeated Vietnam 2-0, South Korea (known as 'Korea Republic') beat Iran in a shootout 4-2, as did Japan over Australia 4-3, and Saudi Arabia won over Uzbekistan 2-1. Iraq upset South Korea in the semi-finals by winning 4-3 on penalties, resulting in thousands of Iraqis celebrating in the streets of Baghdad. Over 50 Iraqis were killed by terrorist bombs targeting these crowds.^[8] In the other semi-finals, Saudi Arabia topped defending champions Japan 3-2 to make an all-Arab affair for the final match.

Iraq went on to defeat Saudi Arabia 1-0 taking the Asian Cup title. Iraqi forward and captain Younis Mahmoud was given the title of Most Valuable Player. South Korea took third place narrowly beating Japan in penalties 6-5. It was the third consecutive match in the tournament that South Korea played 0-0 before a penalty shootout. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea, as the top three national teams in the tournament, all received automatic berths to the 2011 Asian Cup finals to be held in Qatar. [2]

[edit] Group stage

Participating countries.

In the following tables:

Pts = total points accumulated
Pld = total games played
W = total games won
D = total games drawn (tied)
L = total games lost
GF = total goals scored (goals for)
GA = total goals conceded (goals against)
GD = goal difference (GF−GA)

The teams placed first and second (shaded in green) qualified to the quarterfinals.

In the league system, three (3) points will be awarded for a win, one (1) point for a draw and zero (0) point for a loss.

If two or more Teams are equal on points, their place shall be determined as follows:

Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the Teams concerned
Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the Teams concerned
Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the Teams concerned
Goal difference in all the group matches
Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches
Kicks from the penalty mark if only two Teams are involved and they are both on the field of play
Drawing of lots

[edit] Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Iraq	5	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2
Australia	4	3	1	1	1	6	4	+2
Thailand	4	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2
Oman	2	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2

2007-07-07 19:35 UTC+7	Thailand	1 – 1	Iraq	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Kwon Jung-Chul (Korea Republic)
	Suksomkit 6' (pen.)	(Report)	Younis Mahmoud 32'

2007-07-08 17:20 UTC+7	Australia	1 – 1	Oman	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seychelles)
	Cahill 90+2'	(Report)	Al-Maimani 32'

2007-07-12 17:20 UTC+7	Oman	0 – 2	Thailand	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok Attendance: 19,000 Referee: Lee Gi-Young (Korea Republic)
		(Report)	Thonkanya 70' 78'

2007-07-13 17:20 UTC+7	Iraq	3 – 1	Australia	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Jasim Karim (Bahrain)
	Nashat Akram 22' Hawar Mohammed 60' Karrar Jassim 86'	(Report)	Viduka 47'

2007-07-16 19:35 UTC+7	Thailand	0 – 4	Australia	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok Attendance: 46,000 Referee: Kwon Jong-Chul (Korea Republic)
		(Report)	Beauchamp 21' Viduka 80' 83' Kewell 90'

2007-07-16 19:35 UTC+7	Oman	0 – 0	Iraq	Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok Attendance: 500 Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seychelles)
		(Report)

[edit] Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Japan	7	3	2	1	0	8	3	+5
Vietnam	4	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1
United Arab Emirates	3	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3
Qatar	2	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1

2007-07-08 19:35 UTC+7	Vietnam	2 – 0	United Arab Emirates	My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi Attendance: 39,450 Referee: Talaat Najm (Lebanon)
	Huỳnh Quang Thanh 64' Lê Công Vinh 73'	Report

2007-07-09 17:20 UTC+7	Japan	1 – 1	Qatar	My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)
	Takahara 61'	(Report)	Soria 88'

2007-07-12 19:35 UTC+7	Qatar	1 – 1	Vietnam	My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
	Soria 79'	(Report)	Phan Thanh Bình 32'

2007-07-13 20:35 UTC+7	United Arab Emirates	1 – 3	Japan	My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Satop Tongkhan (Thailand)
	Al-Kass 66'	(Report)	Takahara 22' 27' S. Nakamura 42' (pen.)

2007-07-16 17:20 UTC+7	Vietnam	1 – 4	Japan	My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)
	Suzuki 8' (o.g.)	(Report)	Maki 12' 59' Endo 31' S. Nakamura 53'

2007-07-16 17:20 UTC+7	Qatar	1 – 2	United Arab Emirates	Army Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
	Soria 42'	(Report)	Al-Kass 60' Khalil 90+4'

[edit] Group C

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Iran	7	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3
Uzbekistan	6	3	2	0	1	9	2	+7
China PR	4	3	1	1	1	7	6	+1
Malaysia	0	3	0	0	3	1	12	−11

2007-07-10 20:35 UTC+8	Malaysia	1 – 5	China PR	Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 21,155 Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)
	Indra Putra 74'	(Report)	Han Peng 15' 55' Shao Jiayi 36' Wang Dong 51' 90+3'

2007-07-11 18:20 UTC+8	Iran	2 – 1	Uzbekistan	Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 1,863 Referee: Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli (Kuwait)
	Hosseini 55' Kazemian 78'	(Report)	Rezaei 16' (o.g.)

2007-07-14 18:20 UTC+8	Uzbekistan	5 – 0	Malaysia	Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 7,137 Referee: Abdulrahman Abdou (Qatar)
	Shatskikh 10' 89' Kapadze 30' Bakayev 45+2' (pen.) Ibragimov 85'	(Report)

2007-07-15 18:20 UTC+8	China PR	2 – 2	Iran	Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 5,938 Referee: Khalil Al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
	Shao Jiayi 7' Mao Jianqing 33'	(Report)	Zandi 45+1' Nekounam 74'

2007-07-18 20:35 UTC+8	Malaysia	0 – 2	Iran	Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 4,520 Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)
		(Report)	Nekounam 29' (pen.) Teymourian 77'

2007-07-18 20:35 UTC+8	Uzbekistan	3 – 0	China PR	Shah Alam Stadium, Shah Alam Attendance: 2,200 Referee: Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli (Kuwait)
	Shatskikh 72' Kapadze 86' Geynrikh 90+4'	(Report)

[edit] Group D

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Saudi Arabia	7	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5
Korea Republic	4	3	1	1	1	3	3	0
Indonesia	3	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1
Bahrain	3	3	1	0	2	3	7	−4

2007-07-10 17:20 UTC+7	Indonesia	2 – 1	Bahrain	Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta Attendance: 65,000 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)
	Sudarsono 14' Pamungkas 64'	(Report)	Mahmood 27'

2007-07-11 19:35 UTC+7	Korea Republic	1 – 1	Saudi Arabia	Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)
	Choi Sung-Kuk 66'	(Report)	Y. Al-Qahtani 77' (pen.)

2007-07-14 19:35 UTC+7	Saudi Arabia	2 – 1	Indonesia	Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta Attendance: 88,000 Referee: Ali Hamad Al-Badwawi (UAE)
	Y. Al-Qahtani 12' Al-Harthi 93'	(Report)	Aiboy 17'

2007-07-15 19:35 UTC+7	Bahrain	2 – 1	Korea Republic	Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Sun Baojie (China)
	Isa 43' Abdullatif 85'	(Report)	Kim Do-Heon 4'

2007-07-18 17:20 UTC+7	Indonesia	0 – 1	Korea Republic	Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta Attendance: 88,000 Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)
		(Report)	Kim Jung-Woo 34'

2007-07-18 17:20 UTC+7	Saudi Arabia	4 – 0	Bahrain	Jakabaring Stadium, Palembang Attendance: 500 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)
	Al-Mousa 18' A. Al-Qahtani 45' Al-Jassim 68' 79'	(Report)

[edit] Knockout stage

Quarter finals

Semi finals

Final

21 July - Bangkok

Iraq

2

25 July - Kuala Lumpur

Vietnam

0

Iraq (pen.)

0 (4)

22 July - Kuala Lumpur

Korea Republic

0 (3)

Iran

0 (2)

29 July - Jakarta

Korea Republic (pen.)

0 (4)

Iraq

1

21 July - Hanoi

Saudi Arabia

0

Japan (pen.)

1 (4)

25 July - Hanoi

Australia

1 (3)

Japan

2

Third place

22 July - Jakarta

Saudi Arabia

3

Saudi Arabia

2

Korea Republic (pen.)

0 (6)

Uzbekistan

1

Japan

0 (5)

28 July - Palembang

[edit] Quarter-finals

2007-07-21 17:20 UTC+7	Japan	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Australia	My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli (Kuwait)
	Takahara 72'	(Report)	Aloisi 70'

		Penalties
	S. Nakamura Endo Komano Takahara Nakazawa	4 – 3	Kewell Neill Cahill Carle Carney

2007-07-21 20:20 UTC+7	Iraq	2 – 0	Vietnam	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok Attendance: 9,720 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)
	Younis Mahmoud 2' 65'	(Report)

2007-07-22 18:20 UTC+8	Iran	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Korea Republic	Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 8,629 Referee: Ali Hamad Al-Badwawi (UAE)
		(Report)

		Penalties
	Zandi Mahdavikia Enayati Khatibi	2 – 4	Lee Chun-Soo Kim Sang-Sik Kim Do-Heon Cho Jae-Jin Kim Jung-Woo

2007-07-22 20:20 UTC+8	Saudi Arabia	2 – 1	Uzbekistan	Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Kwon Jung-Chul (Korea Republic)
	Y. Al-Qahtani 3' Al-Mousa 75'	(Report)	Solomin 82'

[edit] Semi-finals

2007-07-25 18:20 UTC+8	Iraq	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Korea Republic	Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 12,500 Referee: Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli (Kuwait)
		(Report)

		Penalties
	Hawar Mohammed Qusay Munir Haidar Abdul-Amir Ahmad Mnajed	4 – 3	Lee Chun-Soo Lee Dong-Gook Cho Jae-Jin Yeom Ki-Hun Kim Jung-Woo

2007-07-25 20:20 UTC+7	Japan	2 – 3	Saudi Arabia	My Dinh National Stadium, Hanoi Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)
	Nakazawa 37' Abe 53'	(Report)	Y. Al-Qahtani 35' Mouath 47' 57'

[edit] Third place play-off

2007-07-28 19:35 UTC+8	Korea Republic	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Japan	Jakabaring Stadium, Palembang Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Ali Hamad Al-Badwawi (UAE)
		(Report)

		Penalties
	Cho Jae-Jin Oh Beom-Seok Lee Chun-Soo Lee Ho Kim Jin-Kyu Kim Chi-Woo	6 – 5	S. Nakamura Endo Abe Komano Nakazawa Hanyu

[edit] Final

2007-07-29 19:35 UTC+8	Iraq	1 – 0	Saudi Arabia	Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)
	Younis Mahmoud 72'	(Report)

[edit] Winners

2007 AFC Asian Cup Winners
Iraq First title

[edit] Awards

Top Goalscorers	Most Valuable Player	Fair Play Award
Younis Mahmoud Yasser Al-Qahtani Naohiro Takahara	Younis Mahmoud	Japan

[edit] Goalscorers

4 goals:

3 goals:

2 goals:

1 goal:

Own goals:

Rahman Rezaei (1) (for Uzbekistan)
Keita Suzuki (1) (for Vietnam)

[edit] Top scoring teams

12 goals

Saudi Arabia

11 goals

Japan

10 goals

Uzbekistan

7 goals

6 goals

Iran

4 goals

Vietnam

3 goals

1 goal

[edit] See also

Sports diplomacy

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[0] "Thailand confirmed as AFC Asian Cup 2007 co-host". AFC. 2005-08-12. http://www.the-afc.com/english/media/default.asp?mnsection=media&section=newsDetails&newsID=3783.

[1] "Thailand handed 90-day Asian Cup reprieve". The Guardian. 2006-10-17. http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6152785,00.html.

[2] "AFC Asian Cup 2007 Organising Committee approves team classification for Final Draw". AFC. 2006-12-19. http://www.the-afc.com/english/media/default.asp?mnsection=media&section=newsDetails&newsID=7667. Retrieved on 2006-12-19.

[3] "AFC Asian Cup 2007 Official Match Ball launched". AFC. 2006-06-26. http://www.the-afc.com/english/media/default.asp?mnsection=media&section=newsDetails&newsID=8611.

[4] "Exclusive Pictures: Asian Cup Match Ball". 442 Magazine Australia. 2007-05-14. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/51532,exclusive-pictures-asian-cup-match-ball.aspx.

[5] "Officials announced for Asian Cup". AFC. 2007-06-21. http://www.afcasiancup.com/en/news/index.asp?aid=47738&cid=1231&sec=105&ssec=246.

[6] "Referee Maidin ruled out through injury". AFC. 2007-06-26. http://www.afcasiancup.com/en/news/index.asp?aid=47773&cid=1231&amth=6&ayr=2007.

[7] "Iraq bombs strike football fans", BBC News, 25 July 2007

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