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

[Kiarash]

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

I hope we do. But I believe players from Eredivisie U21 like PSV Jong are very capable of troubling our players. Ahmed Yasin is a fix player with Orebro in Swedish league, Ali Adnan is one of the young stars of the Turkish league in general, and their center mid Yaser Kasim is also a regular in Championship side Swindon Town, very intelligent and strong player physically, all these guys are very solid players. I hope CQ will prepare us correctly. If we are not careful the next years can be catastrophic in our football if we don't have a good transition by replacing our old big guns. It takes only few small losses here and there and teams like UAE and Iraq can replace us in Asia as WCQ contenders.

If we do well at the Asian Cup that's a great start to hopefully a decent campaign and finally the round of 16 for the first time of our history. I think with resignation of CQ for another 4 years is a great step to our main goal. At least we are now having some sort of consistency instead of switching coach after every tournament.

[Tehranto]

I see they have also called up some players who play in the amateur competition of the Netherlands like Alphense Boys..their list of legionnaires doesn't look impressive at all if you ask me, except Zana Ali who plays for Rennes and he is 20 years old. Rest of them are just players who come out in U-21 leagues.

We got this bro!

Plus, historically we own them.

Seriously not impressed with Iraq's players except Ali Adnan.

[Ghermez Agha]

Plus, historically we own them.

Seriously not impressed with Iraq's players except Ali Adnan.

have you seen ala Abdul Zahra on tractor sazi? he is a player to watch out for too...very quick, agile, and technically gifted.

im not afraid of Iraq, but they are a worthy opponent with decent/respectable players!

[ali alipour]

I didnt know we were already playing iraq in the quarter finals. First we need to come first in a tough group and jordan has just as much of a chance as iraq to come 2nd

[Z Joon]

have you seen ala Abdul Zahra on tractor sazi? he is a player to watch out for too...very quick, agile, and technically gifted.

im not afraid of Iraq, but they are a worthy opponent with decent/respectable players!

[Tehranto]

If you thought Abdul Zahra is good you're in for a surprise lol. He is good but IPL material at best. Their midfield is solid. They are already thinking about the future, their starting squad is young as f***, especially their midfield:

Ahmed Yasin CM, Swindon Town (ENG), 23 years old
Humam Tariq, AMF, Al Ahli (UAE), 18 years old, 15 caps already and bossing their midfield, he was carrying their B team alone against Peru.
Zana Ali, Rennes (FRA), 20 years old
Ahmed Yasin, Orebro (SWE), 23 years old

Don't be concerned too much with their "age" - they are notorious for forging that ish, like many in the region.

[Tehranto]

Their age is fake bro. Many articles on this.

[greatpersian]

Also, note that they have more legionnaires in Europe than us, these are the 44 players that they called up, which is a preliminary squad:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_na...#Current_squad

Their Euro-based players are nothing special except for Adnan and the French-based guy. Yaser Kasim plays in League One (3rd tier in England), not Championship. Who cares about the Swedish-based guy. Omid Nazari showed the Swedish league wasn't that good.

[ali alipour]

Very unlikely one of Japan or Korea doesnt win the asian cup considering how good their european legionnaires have been. But at the same time their legionnaires were doing good before the world cup too and they couldnt do much so itll be interesting

[greatpersian]

Very unlikely one of Japan or Korea doesnt win the asian cup considering how good their european legionnaires have been. But at the same time their legionnaires were doing good before the world cup too and they couldnt do much so itll be interesting

Statistically Korean legionnaires aren't that good. According to transfermarkt, they have only two players (Son@Leverkusen and Ki@Swansea) who play regularly in the top leagues. As for Japan they have at least 10 starters in the top leagues. 11 Japanese players were in the starting 11 in Bundesliga yesterday and tonight and I think Honda (Milan) and Nagatomo (Inter) play as starter in Serie A.

[Abtin]

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

[O-ZoNe]

^ The picture with girls is pretty much dead on how I see the teams placing in terms of strength. This of course is unlikely given that some of these teams may meet earlier in head 2 head. This is Japan's AC to lose, while Australia, Iran and Korea will all fight to win it.

[aenima_8]

"UAE's Abdulrahman pulls out of Australia, Uzbek matches
By Reuters

Published on 07/10/2014

Playmaker Omar Abdulrahman has pulled out of the United Arab Emirates squad for the upcoming friendly matches against Australia and Uzbekistan to rest a troublesome knee injury.

The 23-year-old suffered the problem playing for his club Al Ain a fortnight ago but made it worse by completing 90 minutes in the Champions League semi-final exit to Al Hilal last week. He missed the 4-3 win over Al Jazira in the Arabian Gulf League on Sunday with his club coach Zlatko Dalic requesting that the country's best talent be allowed to rest in order to recover properly.

The skilful, shaggy-haired Abdulrahman was called up to the squad for Friday's home match with Asian Cup hosts Australia and the following Tuesday's fixture against fellow qualifiers Uzbekistan but has instead gone to Spain to see specialists. "Omar travelled with his brother Khaled to Barcelona this morning (Monday),"

Al Ain team supervisor Mohammed Obeid Hammad was quoted as saying by Emirati daily Sports 360. "He will undergo treatment and an assessment by a specialist there, and we will talk to them again in a few days about the problem. We expect Omar will be ready to play again in seven to 10 days.

"We have sent a letter to the UAE FA explaining the situation, and they understand perfectly." The Uzbek and Australia matches are the final preparation games for the UAE before they take part in next month's Gulf Cup of Nations in Saudi Arabia. They will then face Jordan and Kuwait before the Asian Cup in January where they have been drawn in Group C alongside West Asian rivals Iran, Qatar and Bahrain.

http://au.eurosport.com/football/uae...99/story.shtml

[mistermo]

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

"UAE's Abdulrahman pulls out of Australia, Uzbek matches
By Reuters

Published on 07/10/2014

Playmaker Omar Abdulrahman has pulled out of the United Arab Emirates squad for the upcoming friendly matches against Australia and Uzbekistan to rest a troublesome knee injury.

The 23-year-old suffered the problem playing for his club Al Ain a fortnight ago but made it worse by completing 90 minutes in the Champions League semi-final exit to Al Hilal last week. He missed the 4-3 win over Al Jazira in the Arabian Gulf League on Sunday with his club coach Zlatko Dalic requesting that the country's best talent be allowed to rest in order to recover properly.

The skilful, shaggy-haired Abdulrahman was called up to the squad for Friday's home match with Asian Cup hosts Australia and the following Tuesday's fixture against fellow qualifiers Uzbekistan but has instead gone to Spain to see specialists. "Omar travelled with his brother Khaled to Barcelona this morning (Monday),"

Al Ain team supervisor Mohammed Obeid Hammad was quoted as saying by Emirati daily Sports 360. "He will undergo treatment and an assessment by a specialist there, and we will talk to them again in a few days about the problem. We expect Omar will be ready to play again in seven to 10 days.

"We have sent a letter to the UAE FA explaining the situation, and they understand perfectly." The Uzbek and Australia matches are the final preparation games for the UAE before they take part in next month's Gulf Cup of Nations in Saudi Arabia. They will then face Jordan and Kuwait before the Asian Cup in January where they have been drawn in Group C alongside West Asian rivals Iran, Qatar and Bahrain.

http://au.eurosport.com/football/uae...99/story.shtml

Why is Reuters using A..... Gulf???


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[ramingeles2000]

Japan's team is absolutely monstrous! 11 players STARTING in the Bundesliga. My gosh, the gap in quality between Japan and the rest of Asia grows day by day. Goes to show you how far superior planning can take you. I think JFA is one of the top federations in the world. They plan and they execute.

I would be satisfied if we made it to the 3rd place match, proud if we went to the final, and astonished if we could win it all. Japan is just a monster, they're going to piledrive everyone straight to the final.