Tournament Summary
The Asian Cup saw many upsets in the early stages of the tournament. In Group A, Oman held favourites Australia to a surprising draw. Oman took the lead and would have won save for an injury time goal from Tim Cahill. Next, hosts Vietnam shocked Gulf Champions UAE with a 2-0 victory. In the same group, Qatar held Japan to a shock 1-1 draw, which caused Japan coach Ivica Osim to fly into a rage in which he branded his players as 'amateurs' and reduced his interpreter to tears. In Group D, Indonesia continued the undefeated streak of the hosts by defeating Bahrain 2-1. Malaysia ended up as the only host country to drop their match, losing to China 5-1. Thailand recorded just its 2nd win in the Asian Cup finals (their other was in 1972 against Cambodia), and its first ever win in regulation, when they beat Oman 2-0 on July 12. Meanwhile, Australia was upset by a 3-1 defeat against Iraq the following day, leaving them floundering in the tournament despite high expectations.
In the quarterfinals, Iraq defeated Vietnam 2-0, South Korea (known as 'Korea Republic') beat Iran in a shootout 4-2, as did Japan over Australia 4-3 (this was the first time Australian 'keeper Mark Schwarzer had ever come out on the losing end of a penalty shoot-out), and Saudi Arabia won over Uzbekistan 2-1. Iraq upset South Korea in the semi-finals by winning 4-3 on penalties, resulting in thousands of Iraqis celebrating in the streets of Baghdad. Over 50 Iraqis were killed by terrorist bombs targeting these crowds. In the other semi-finals, Saudi Arabia topped defending champions Japan 3-2 to make an all-Arab affair for the final match.
Iraq went on to defeat Saudi Arabia 1-0 taking the Asian Cup title. Iraqi forward and captain Younis Mahmoud was given the title of Most Valuable Player. South Korea took third place narrowly beating Japan in penalties 6-5. It was the third consecutive match in the tournament that South Korea played 0-0 before a penalty shootout. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea, as the top three national teams in the tournament, all received automatic berths to the 2011 Asian Cup finals to be held in Qatar.
Read more about this topic: 2007 AFC Asian Cup
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