ended 2011 and the Asian Cup as Japan did star selection, then got his fourth continental title. The team led by Alberto Zaccheroni achieved in the final against Australia, crowned champion of Asia. Let us look at the highlights of the competition.
Japan fell short of the circumstances, and being a favorite, fulfilled his role to take the title. It was not a bed of roses, had to fight the quarter-final pass, suffer penalties in the semifinals, and score the winner in overtime in the final. In any case, it is undeniable that Japan is the best team on the continent, although not very attractive football practice, partly due to labor Zaccheroni. Japan was a serious football, orderly and effective, besides the individual quality of some players like Nagatomo, Kagawa, Honda and its front.
In the end, a goal in overtime of semidesconocido Tadanari Lee gave the victory to all Japanese, who had to overcome the difficult Australia. The ocean center offers many perspectives, also leaving with twigs to win the Asian Cup, and his performance was flawless until the final where they stayed with honey on the lips. A pretty veteran team, with 'classics' as Harry Kewell, Schwarzer, Neill, Cahill, Emerton and Culina (Aloisi and Viduka missing only). After the disappointment of Qatar, the future looks very bright for Australia, which is that, unlike other Asian powers like Japan and South Korea do not arise collateral substitutes for the 'Socceroos'.
In the case of the semifinalists, could ensure that played entertaining football finalists. South Korea fell to the eventual winners, while the surprise of the tournament, Uzbekistan, lost to Australia. The Uzbeks, with a team small but very interesting, made quite a demonstration of good football, but inexplicably, fell 6-0 in semifinals, although the computer 'killed' by 3-0. Djeparov and Akhmedov detacados were men of their country, that nearly half the world wonder if they sneak into the final. For its part, South Korea, another title contender, provided interesting details thanks to the cast of young players who showed up for the torneoe, including Koo Ja-Cheol (which ended the tournament as top scorer and 'won' joining Wolfsburg), Park Ji-Sung and Ki Sung-Yuen.
As for the other applicants, Saudi Arabia fell at the first hurdle, while Iran (with Nekounam and Masoud) and Iraq (holders) did not progress beyond the quarterfinals. Though not a favorite. North Korea, which South Africa participated in 2010, also topped the group stage. The beauty of Asian football, among other things, is its cultural diversity and the difference between one end and across the continent. The balance is unbalanced and is the most eastern part of the continent that continues to gain weight over the selections of the West (with the exception of Uzbekistan, the team more 'European' championship). And this is not new in South Africa World Cup, the four Asian teams participants belonged to the Far East: Japan, the Koreas, and Australia.
This may be due to the limited role of Europe in the Middle East and East. His characters prefer to keep winning a lot of money in their respective countries, while it is common for Japanese, Korean or Australian fight over top competition. To cite some examples soon, everyone will remember to Park Ji-Sung at United and earlier in the PSV, Nakamura at Celtic and Espanyol, and a large cast of players in teams of smaller size, such as Chu-Young at Monaco, Kagawa Dortmund, Schalke and Uchida in Chung-Yong Lee at Bolton.
As the organizer Qatar, recently named host the World 2022 (not without controversy), I wrote a few lines in The Football Divan on what I consider a successful test, both in organization and in sports.
Overall, the 2011 Qatar Asian Cup showed that football is life beyond Europe, the tournament was nice and very interesting. Of course, Australia will have to wait until 2015 to see, again, the 16 best teams in Asia.
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