Football was made to be played in front of a passionate crowd. To add the noise and colour that adds so much to the end product. Take that away and it never seems quite right, no matter how good the play on show is. So it was great to watch two games last night with healthy if not sell out crowds which added to the occasion.
A very strong and vocal crowd in Jakarta saw the home team score a famous victory 2-1 over Bahrain. Two well taken goals by Sono (who Sydney FC fans will remember well) and Bambang who scored the winner with a smart follow up finish to a rebound via the keeper and a post. At that point the host nations remained unbeaten with two wins and a draw. It’s still a big job for the Indonesians to make the second stage with South Korea and Saudi Arabia, five time Asian Cup winners between them, stading in their way but they’ve given themselves the best possible opportunity by starting with three points.
That record came crashing down in Malaysia’s Bukit Jalil stadium where the hosts were never really in the game against China and went down 5-1. The Chinese team looking particularly strong and reversing a worrying run of form leading into the tournament which saw the coach under sever pressure from the Chinese media.
The other first round games in those groups take place tonight and three of these teams will be, like Australia, viewing a semi final spot as a “pass” mark and anything less a failure. The fourth, Uzbekistan will fancy themselves to cause a few upsets along the way here against more fancied opposition.
Iran face Uzbekistan and South Korean take on Saudi Arabia in what should be two great games where wins are essential given the results last night in the opening games.
I’ll be watching tonight's games at the GGArmy base camp at the Arnoma Hotel in Bangkok… if you’re in town come and join us!
It's been interesting to note that only one of the games so far has seen a team cop a real beating. We may yet see more especially in the last games when some of the teams have nothing left to play for but in a week when we've seen the Copa America Quarter Finals be won by an aggregate score of 20 goals to 2 over the four games it looks as though most of the games here will be close fought affairs.
Anyway, enough for today. Just found a local channel showing the Copa America semi - Brazil 1 Uruguay 1 with 40 mins to go!
A very strong and vocal crowd in Jakarta saw the home team score a famous victory 2-1 over Bahrain. Two well taken goals by Sono (who Sydney FC fans will remember well) and Bambang who scored the winner with a smart follow up finish to a rebound via the keeper and a post. At that point the host nations remained unbeaten with two wins and a draw. It’s still a big job for the Indonesians to make the second stage with South Korea and Saudi Arabia, five time Asian Cup winners between them, stading in their way but they’ve given themselves the best possible opportunity by starting with three points.
That record came crashing down in Malaysia’s Bukit Jalil stadium where the hosts were never really in the game against China and went down 5-1. The Chinese team looking particularly strong and reversing a worrying run of form leading into the tournament which saw the coach under sever pressure from the Chinese media.
The other first round games in those groups take place tonight and three of these teams will be, like Australia, viewing a semi final spot as a “pass” mark and anything less a failure. The fourth, Uzbekistan will fancy themselves to cause a few upsets along the way here against more fancied opposition.
Iran face Uzbekistan and South Korean take on Saudi Arabia in what should be two great games where wins are essential given the results last night in the opening games.
I’ll be watching tonight's games at the GGArmy base camp at the Arnoma Hotel in Bangkok… if you’re in town come and join us!
It's been interesting to note that only one of the games so far has seen a team cop a real beating. We may yet see more especially in the last games when some of the teams have nothing left to play for but in a week when we've seen the Copa America Quarter Finals be won by an aggregate score of 20 goals to 2 over the four games it looks as though most of the games here will be close fought affairs.
Anyway, enough for today. Just found a local channel showing the Copa America semi - Brazil 1 Uruguay 1 with 40 mins to go!
