Asian Cup - Group Preview - Friendlies, Information and more..

[Abtin]

Asian Cup - Group Preview - Friendlies, Information and more..

Bahrain beating Saudi 2-0 at HT (Friendly)

http://www.goalzz.com/?c=9684

FT 4-1 for Bahrain.

[littlepersia17]

Asian Cup - Group Preview - Friendlies, Information and more..

Bahrain win 4-1. Should not be taken lightly.

I feel this year the lesser opponents are stepping up the game.

Even though the top dogs of Asia ultimately failed at the WC. The nation as a whole has improved.

[Bi-honar]

Surprising result in the Saudi-Bahrain game, although it looks like it was Saudi Arabia's "B" squad and Bahrain scored off two penalties. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Saudis purposely used a weaker squad and/or threw the game to give Bahrain a confidence boost for the Iran match.

UAE also beat Jordan 1-0 in another match today compliments of a late goal.


Bahrain thump Saudi Arabia, UAE leave it late

30 December 2014
Soccerway

Bahrain laid down a marker ahead of the Asian Cup with an impressive 4-1 friendly victory over Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Both sides will head to the continental tournament in Australia, which begins next month, having finished top of their respective qualification pools.

Yet Saudi Arabia's confidence may have taken a hit after they were well beaten at Geelong's Simonds Stadium.

New Saudi coach Cosmin Olaroiu fielded a much-changed side to the one that lost November's Gulf Cup final to Qatar, but is still likely to be alarmed by the manner of his team's defeat.

Two penalties aided Bahrain's cause, the first being converted by Faouzi Aaish in the 20th minute.

Sami Al Husaini soon doubled the lead and, although Naif Hazazi pulled a goal back early in the second half, Ismael Abdulatif restored Bahrain's two-goal cushion with another spot-kick.

Abdulatif then rounded off the scoring in the 79th minute, leaving Saudi Arabia with much to ponder ahead of their opening Asian Cup match against China on January 10.

In Tuesday's other warm-up fixture, Haboush Saleh Habou's last-gasp goal ensured the United Arab Emirates ran out 1-0 winners over Jordan on the Gold Coast.

[Taz]

Jesus christ, I thought Bahrain might have been the one side in our group who couldn't threaten us but it seems their Gulf Cup result against Qatar in the group stages wasn't a fluke. Them, UAE and Qatar look in fine shape coming into this tournament and what was one of the best groups when the draw was made is starting to look like a real possible banana skin given the lack of any real whipping boys unlike the other three groups.

[xerexes]

Jesus christ, I thought Bahrain might have been the one side in our group who couldn't threaten us but it seems their Gulf Cup result against Qatar in the group stages wasn't a fluke. Them, UAE and Qatar look in fine shape coming into this tournament and what was one of the best groups when the draw was made is starting to look like a real possible banana skin given the lack of any real whipping boys unlike the other three groups.

I never bought into the idea that this was the easiest group for us. When we play against those Persian Gulf teams there are a lot of side issues involved. Dirty tactics including and not limited to grass rolling, favoritism from AFC, ganging up against us should one of them need a result... If you concede a goal against most other opponents you can still hope to rally and get back in the game. God forbid you fall one goal behind at any point against these teams. You'll be lucky if you even get 1/3 of the remaining time once the grassrolling starts. This is why I always laugh when the Koreans accuse us of this type of thing...what we've done against them is not even a tenth of what we have to put up with against these teams.

I expect us to advance, but this was never going to be easy.

[CHaMiLLionaire]

Just a few quick updates.
1) The Saudi-Bahrain game was not a FIFA friendly hence Saudi Arabia played with all its reserve players, while Bahrain fielded its strongest team. They are still by far the weakest team in our group. It is a must win for us.

2) The UAE is having some major issues, both their starting goalies, Ali Khseif and Majed Nasser are not going to be in the AC due to army and disciplinary issues. Their third goalie is a goalie never capped before and very young. Also, Ismail Matar was not called up and Omar Abdulrahman(their playmaker) is having fitness issues.

3) The only well prepared team so far is Qatar, winning consistently and having somewhat of a strong team....but its still Qatar and their talent is limited.

4) Jordan and Iraq (possible opponents in the quarter finals) are having their worst preparation in years. Jordan just lost their main goalie Shafei and their preparation has even been worse than ours, not to mention they are on a five game losing streak. Iraq called up Younis Mahmoud(who has been a free agent for a full year) because they have no finishers. Karrar Jasem is their best player and he plays for SS.

Conclusion: With CQ's tactical strength, this should be a super easy road into the semi finals... anything less is a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. I don't recall ever having it this easy....

Dark horses in the tournament : Uzbekistan, Qatar, China...
Favorites: Japan, Iran, Australia, Korea...

[Taz]

On 2), I'm pretty sure experienced goalie Majed Nasser is eligible and will be standing in for their first-choice Ali Kasheif. And Ismael Matar is fairly irrelevant, he was merely a squad player, Mabkhout is their main striker.

And on 4) Iraq have looked very good in their last two friendlies and have the likes of Ali Adnan who is a top quality Asian player.

Preparation wise, we're definitely one of the worst prepared sides of the tournament aside form North Korea.

[aenima_8]

Question: Anyone know if North Korea, Kuwait and Uzbekistan have announced their squads or not, yet?

There's obviously this resource which hasn't got them yet but they also don't have Bahrain which was announced a good few days ago so I'm wondering if the above three squads are available anywhere or not.

Uzbekistan announced their squad today:

http://www.afcasiancup.com/news/en/w...415zqvmaxd7wff

I don't think Kuwait and North Korea have been released as yet. However, I did find a squad list for Kuwait just not so sure about how reliable the source is.

Kuwait: http://indiansuperleaguelivestream.c...sian-cup-2015/

[ali alipour]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ti0O2DsEXbk&feature=youtu.be

Nasser al shamrani (afc player of the year) hits a fan before the friendly vs bahrain

[Omid177]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ti0O2DsEXbk&feature=youtu.be

Nasser al shamrani (afc player of the year) hits a fan before the friendly vs bahrain

1 day and it already has over 1 million views :O

[Taz]

He really is a disgusting human being.

[ehsan singapore]

saudi wont go up with that hard group, china,uzbekistan and north korea, i dont think saudi would go up

[hzv]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ti0O2DsEXbk&feature=youtu.be

Nasser al shamrani (afc player of the year) hits a fan before the friendly vs bahrain

lol sharmoota.

[saeed_noro]

make it public and ban shaman for AFC Asian cup. I think it is possible in the world, but don't know if it is possible with afc

[Farhad-7]

AFC Asian Cup
@afcasiancup
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