Asian Cup/AFCON chat

Japan getting a scare here. Down 2-1 to Vietnam in the first half, who are defending with a lot of players behind the ball and have scored off two set pieces. 

Edit: oh not to worry, they’ve equalised right at the end of the half.

Matt Orr (Kiwi dad) a full game for Hong Kong as they lose 3-1 to the UAE. 3rd goal conceded at 95 mins. Next Iran.

Last game Palestine (lost 4-1 to Iran), likely Hong Kong's best chance of a result.

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/14/asia/asian-cup/united-arab-emirates/hong-kong/4073525/

Socceroos play Syria tonight in their 2nd pool game.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/18/asia/asian-cup/syria/australia/4073522/

AFCON first round games
A few shocks in there, with big guns Tunisia and Ghana losing.
Ivory Coast 2 Guinea-Bissau 0
Nigeria 1 Equatorial Guinea 1
Egypt 2 Mozambique 2
Cape Verde 2 Ghana 1
Senegal 3 Gambia 0
Cameroon 1 Guinea 1
Algeria 1 Angola 1
Burkina Faso 1 Mauritania 0
Namibia 1 Tunisia 0
Mali 2 South Africa 0
Morocco 3 Tanzania 0
DR Congo 1 Zambia 1

Tunisia (FIFA ranking 28) losing to lowly Namibia (ranked 115) is a shock. Fingers crossed AWs draw Tunisians for their semi in March with that tourney in the UAE.

Socceroos (6 pts) with a tight 1-0 win over Syria (1 pt). Jackson Irvine the goal. Confirms their place in the round of 16, with a game to play.

Uzbekistan (4 pts) beat India 3-0. Socceroos play Uzbeks in their last pool game to see who finishes top in the group.

https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/watch-subway-socceroos-make-it-two-wins-two-after-syria-triumph

Anyone know how I can watch the Asian Cup in NZ? Especially with playoff matches not far off there should be some good matches.

I can't even find a paid option (not on Sky Sports, that I can see).

Japan lost 2-1 to Iraq earlier tonight!

siac

Anyone know how I can watch the Asian Cup in NZ? Especially with playoff matches not far off there should be some good matches.

I can't even find a paid option (not on Sky Sports, that I can see).

Japan lost 2-1 to Iraq earlier tonight!

After being down 2-0 at half. Just saw that. No Mitoma, all cry!

Matt Orr 73 mins (1-0) for Hong Kong in a 1-0 loss to Iran.
HK have done okay against the UAE (3-1 loss) & the Iranis.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/19/asia/asian-cup/hong-kong/iran/4073528/

Their best chance of a result is their last pool game against Palestine.

I have to share this.🤷

The Women's AFCON has existed since 1991.👍

I was just reading a comments thread, not on here, where the angry mob was demanding to know why a women's AFCON doesn't exist. 🫣🫣

siac

Anyone know how I can watch the Asian Cup in NZ? Especially with playoff matches not far off there should be some good matches.

I can't even find a paid option (not on Sky Sports, that I can see).

Japan lost 2-1 to Iraq earlier tonight!

TAB will have it if no one else has rights, you need to set up an account though

Socceroos (6 pts) to play Uzbekistan (4 pts) tonight. Winner tops the pool.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/23/asia/asian-cup/australia/uzbekistan/4073524/

siac

Anyone know how I can watch the Asian Cup in NZ? Especially with playoff matches not far off there should be some good matches.

I can't even find a paid option (not on Sky Sports, that I can see).

Japan lost 2-1 to Iraq earlier tonight!

Vipbox?

Few changes. Mitch Duke is rested with a hammy twinge.

The JourneyFan

siac

Anyone know how I can watch the Asian Cup in NZ? Especially with playoff matches not far off there should be some good matches.

I can't even find a paid option (not on Sky Sports, that I can see).

Japan lost 2-1 to Iraq earlier tonight!

TAB will have it if no one else has rights, you need to set up an account though

Thanks, they do. It's quite small and blurry, but better than nothing and decent audio quality/commentary at least.

Socceroos benefit from a soft pen decision in their favour to get a 1-1 draw and finish group winners. Boyle with the pen.
Uzbeks finished 2nd (5 pts) & Syria 3rd (4 pts). India 3 losses.

https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/watch-subway-socceroos-clinch-top-spot-group-b-following-uzbekistan-draw

Next Round of 16 against an unknown as yet 3rd placed team (from either Group A, C or D) 

Kiwi Matt Orr a full game as Hong Kong have a disappointing finish to their Asian Cup campaign, a 3-0 loss to Palestine. Honkers with 3 losses. One of Orr's team mates missed a 99th min consolation penalty.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/23/asia/asian-cup/hong-kong/palestine/4073529/

Big tourney (aside from what's happening in Gaza) for Palestine (4 pts). They are edged into 3rd only on GD by UAE, and are likely to make the Round of 16 as a best 3rd placed team.

Orr has got his big career move to a Chinese Super League club so be interesting to see how he goes.

All sorts of chaos in the final group games in AFCON.
Nigeria beat Guinea-Bissau 1-0 as expected to qualify for next round BUT Ivory Coast lose 0-4 vs Equatorial Guinea and could be out of their own tournament. Cape Verde draw 2-2 with Egypt (both qualify for next round) while Ghana throw away a 2 goal advantage going into injury time to draw 2-2 with Mozambique, so they're out.  Senegal beat Guinea 2-0, while Cameroon beat Gambia 3-2 in a real roller coaster game, Gambia being 2-1 up with 5 mins to go. Then Angola won their group surprisingly beating Burkina Faso 2-0, but the big surprise was Algeria losing to Mauritania 0-1, so Algeria is out as well!

So we have the might of Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde and Angola winning their groups, while big guns like Ghana and Algeria (and probably Ivory Coast) on their way out.

Group games in the Asian Cup now completed. Socceroos will play Indonesia in their Round of 16 game. Win that and it's a tough Quarterfinal against either Saudi Arabia or South Korea.

Palestine made it through as one of best 3rd placed teams & will play 'we host everything' Qatar in the R16. China didn't progress out of their pool (2 draws = 2 pts).

Mikey Boxall's close friend Yusuf Abdurisag started 2 of Qatar's 3 pool games (all wins).

Round of 16. Socceroos verus Indonesia

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/28/asia/asian-cup/australia/indonesia/4073549/

Sidi 1

All sorts of chaos in the final group games in AFCON.
Nigeria beat Guinea-Bissau 1-0 as expected to qualify for next round BUT Ivory Coast lose 0-4 vs Equatorial Guinea and could be out of their own tournament. Cape Verde draw 2-2 with Egypt (both qualify for next round) while Ghana throw away a 2 goal advantage going into injury time to draw 2-2 with Mozambique, so they're out.  Senegal beat Guinea 2-0, while Cameroon beat Gambia 3-2 in a real roller coaster game, Gambia being 2-1 up with 5 mins to go. Then Angola won their group surprisingly beating Burkina Faso 2-0, but the big surprise was Algeria losing to Mauritania 0-1, so Algeria is out as well!

So we have the might of Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde and Angola winning their groups, while big guns like Ghana and Algeria (and probably Ivory Coast) on their way out.

I think AFCON is becoming my favourite football tournament. It is just bonkers and amazing. Like did you see the player who hospitalised himself trying to do a back flip in training? fudgeing lol!!!

Socceroos up 2-0 at 85 mins. Oggie & Boyle.

Finishes 4-0. Late goal Goodwin & Souttar.
Socceroos await Saudi v Sth Korea R16, to know their QF opponent.

Other R16 game Tajikistan knocked out UAE on pens (1-1 after ET)

Highlights Socceroos game
https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/watch-subway-socceroos-book-quarter-final-spot-after-comfortable-indonesia-victory

🇨🇩 Egypt, who have won the Africa Cup of Nations a record seven times, have been eliminated by DR Congo after their eighth consecutive draw (in 90 minutes) in the competition.

DR Congo are themselves through to the quarter-finals without winning a single game at this tournament. pic.twitter.com/pwifNR2x1p

— The Sweeper (@SweeperPod) January 28, 2024

AFCON - the tournament that keeps on giving. 🤲

So AWs draw 1-1 against Congo back in October and have Egypt as their next game. Depending alot on who's available for Egypt in March, we must be at least a chance of an upset result.

Salah missed this R16 game with a hammy strain.

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/28/africa/africa-cup-of-nations/egypt/congo-dr/4273894/

coochiee

So AWs draw 1-1 against Congo back in October and have Egypt as their next game. Depending alot on who's available for Egypt in March, we must be at least a chance of an upset result.

Salah missed this R16 game with a hammy strain.

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/28/africa/africa-cup-of-nations/egypt/congo-dr/4273894/

More of a chance of an upset than I would have thought previously. I had Egypt as one of my favourites for AFCON, but the whole tournament has been completely bonkers from the get go. 

Who knows, we might even see a change in management too. Egypt, despite drawing all their games prior to DR Congo were still favourites to get the job done. So there will be a level of disappointment that they've been eliminated. That usually ends up with a head on the chopping block.

Perhaps we might even see a more experimental lineup from Egypt come March, as they look towards the future and the near term resumption of their WCQ campaign for 2026.

Yipe CAF WC qualifying resumes in June. Eygpt (2 wins from 2 to date) have a fairly tough group including Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau & Sierra Leone. 

So if you are ever going to experiment, try new players it's in the W Cup, which will mean squat to the Egyptian football public. Reckon with Liverpool still involved in 4 different comps, incl a tight EPL race - Salah is high chance of skipping the UAE in March. AWs may not get a better chance to upset a top 40 ranked side.

Still think it's unlikely Salah skips the March window. He's under fire for not being loyal enough to the team, and that will sting (given that it's pretty baseless in my view). He'll be there. 

Asian Cup, Palestine out in the R16, losing 2-1 to hosts Qatar. Very creditable tourney for the Palestinians who would have been riding a wave of emotion no doubt. Trust the Hamas officials in attendance enjoyed their comfortable VIP seats, canapes & running water.

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/01/29/asia/asian-cup/qatar/palestine/4073552/

AFCON 2nd round games so far...
Nigeria 2 Cameroon 0
Angola 3 Namibia 0
DR Congo 1 Egypt 1 (8-7 pens)
Guinea 1 Equatorial Guinea 0
Cape Verde 1 Mauritania 0
Ivory Coast 1 Senegal 1 (5-4 pens)
Mali 2 Burkina Faso 1
South Africa 2 Morocco 0

So holders Senegal are out after Ivory Coast came back from the dead to win (without an official coach)...little Cape Verde keep rolling on, Angola look impressive, Nigeria win the game of the heavyweights (still without really impressing so far), Egypt lose on pens to the DR from Congo, and Guinea beat their Equatorial namesakes with a goal in injury time...theres  gonna be some unusual semifinalists at this rate...now South Africa beat favourites Morocco and Mali beat Burkina Faso, so its anyones pick on who is gonna win this now.

Socceroos will play Sth Korea in their Asian Cup quarter final. Koreans beat Saudi Arabia 4-2 on pens (1-1 end of ET). Think Arnie would prefer Sth Korea. Aussies struggled against Saudi in the last WC AFC qualifying campaign.

Though fellow Aussie Ange likely not pleased Heung-Min Son, will be in Qatar another week.

AFCON quarters
Nigeria vs Angola
South Africa vs Cape Verde
Ivory Coast vs Mali
DR Congo vs Guinea

The way its going, probably be a Cape Verde vs Guinea final LOL!!!

Asian Cup quarters.

Socceroos verus Sth Korea
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/02/02/asia/asian-cup/australia/korea-republic/4073557/

Tajikistan verus Jordan 
IR Iran verus Japan 
Qatar verus Uzbekistan

coochiee

Asian Cup quarters.

Socceroos verus Sth Korea
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/02/02/asia/asian-cup/australia/korea-republic/4073557/

Tajikistan verus Jordan 
IR Iran verus Japan 
Qatar verus Uzbekistan

Big game for A league and Ange watchers! 

And Goodwin has the goal. Aussie 1-0 at half time. Korea scored an artistic goal ruled out for offside of half a head. 

I was so sure a few years back Goodwin was washed up.

Since then he’s scored against France  in a World Cup and here against Korea in an Asian cup. 

Though with Duke leading the line, Arnold’s idiosyncratic Socceroos is almost a collection of unfashionable players. 

That Australian subs bench  is a pretty strong selection.

South Korea have been ridiculously lucky this tournament.

So yes heart break for the Socceroos losing in ET. Sth Korea got a late pen at 93 min, and then Heung-Min Son a brilliant on free kick in ET to win it
https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/watch-subway-socceroos-defeated-extra-time-korea-republic

Jordan beat Tajikistan 1-0, to make semi final verus the Koreans. Massive missed opportunity for Australia to make another Asian Cup final you feel.

Ange likely another 2 weeks without Son at Spurs. Korean manager and ex Tottenham player Jürgen Klinsmann likely a bit happier than Ange P.

Today: Japan v Iran at Asian cup.

Edit and Japan ahead to one of the softest goals 1-0.