2015 Asian Cup

Maybe Ange thinks Burns needs language lessons?

The only good thing to come out of this is that I put $10 on Oz to win.

Oh and Burns on now too.

yeah - I had 50 for Oz to progress.

Come on Burnsie, score a goal and push your value up a bit more.

China now playing for fun and doing better.

Is Burns looking a million bucks would you say?

Davidson/Cahill almost as good as Lochhead/Smeltz

Not sure. Commentators mentioned it though.

A couple of steak knives at least.

Stainless steel?

Surpried they haven't subbed Luongo. 

He's played a lot minutes for a young guy. 

Milligan to close it out.

Kruse getting in Burns' way.

I swear every time the commentator says Luongo he also says Swindon Town.

Brilliant.

Wang Dalei is China's man of the match.

I was wrong

I think Zhang Chengdong has been good too.  But Wang has had a good match.

Otherwise the midfield have been too slow and predictable with their passing.

I didn't think Australia were that impressive. If they didn't have Cahill to score the utterly ridiculous first goal...

For all the frenzied talk from Andy Harper, the commentary by Hill and Harps has been remarkably neutral.

I had put them down to win the tournament but I don't fancy their chances against Japan if that is the semi final.

Hopefully a Japan-Korea final for a great end.

The goal was class. The stats say they were impressive compared to China.

Leggy - you of all people should know about the value of stats.

China's game plan was set up for a defensive game and concede possession to Oz but contain their wing play and crosses into the box.  4 at the back with LB rather than LWB, a screening CDM and two other mids sitting deep.

Their problem was they had no "individual brilliance" in the midfield to quickly transition into a counterattack (Wu lei as sole striker and Sun Ke on the wing as main targets due to their speed).

I thought Oz were not looking great at half time, but as Patrick said, following the first goal the whole game changed and they did start to attack more through the centre (in part due to China passing square in the middle and turning over possession cheaply.

Junior82, what's the Chinese reaction to the result?

I'd imagine that the tournament on the whole has been quite positive for them?

China played well and to their plan in the first 45 minutes. In that first half they looked threatening on the counter. If you want to talk about stats - in the first half it was 2 shots on target a piece so something was working for China. Most of Aussies possession was knocking it around the back four.

Oz just looked like a different team with more purpose and pressing in midfield and in the second half. That goal directly after half time then meant China had to attack and I don't think they had the midfield to try and boss the game as they needed to. With the subs though they came back into it but that second goal just killed it.

Everything is warm fuzzies.

No one seriously thought the team would progress.  Sina has pictures of fans picking up litter after the game in the stands (Korean fans do this too) and big chested blondes in red tank tops with "Go China" written across their bre....

A few questions about the midfield and what will happen when Zheng Zhi goes (he's 35), but overall a big upswell of support and expectation for the WC qualification campaign.

Find that hard to believe.

I think we need proof.

I smiled when I saw your reply. I was just poking a bit of fun at him. You are right, stats to me mean very little at times. The fact is that on chances created Oz should have scored 5 and for all their dominance Ange should be concerned. 

I think Japan is the only side that is better that the Socceroos at the moment and I expect them to beat Oz.

Here [NSFW]

I'm not sure I would call that blonde :-)

I dunno.  You all look alike to me.

how was burns?

Played well enough. A couple of good runs and at least one shot - but right at the keeper. He seemed to link well with team mates.

I get the feeling sometimes he doesn't quite have the impetus or determination. At A-league level the chance is always going to come. At this level he needs to up his determination a notch.

As I said last night. It is also hard when you get the ball and Kruse is three steps in front of you. As soon as Kruse stopped getting in Burns' way, he played better.

I felt at times he lost the ball when he shouldn't have or wasn't patient enough or careful enough about his shooting decisions. The formation can't have helped him, but still.

That would be bloody awesome. The Koreans have a better track record globally, but the japanese are the perennial winners of this tournament. Both are playing a bit below par at the moment though and are due to lift their game.

One more reason I am ready to embrace "multiculturalism" as an exciting concept.

What on earth was the Iraqi defender doing? He actually crouched down and gave the striker a free header.

Ben strikes again!