Asian Cup 2007 Final: Iraq vs Saudi Arabia

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Asian Cup 2007: Iraq vs Saudi Arabia Live Update

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Iraq and Saudi Arabia are going to face each other in the final of Asian Cup 2007. The final match will be held in Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia on 29 July 2007. So, to see the champion team of Asian Cup 2007, you just need to wait some days. To be honest, before the tournament, it was unexpected that Iraq and Saudi Arabia will play in the final; rather the debutant Australia, defending champion Japan and Korea was the hot favorite to win the cup. However, the reality is different as both Iraq and Saudi Arabia have already reached in the final and now waiting to lift the trophy.

Iraq came to play in Asian Cup 2007 with a young team. The war torn country did not have any high expectation as there were some mighty participants in the tournament. From that point of view, I think, Iraq’s reaching into the final is something special for them. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is the three times winner of Asian Cup and they were in the list of favorites from the beginning of Asian Cup 2007. However, there was doubt regarding their success because most of their veteran players were out of the Asian Cup 2007 squad. Saudi coach included some young and potential footballers thinking that they would serve the team for long time. I think, Saudi footballers could prove the plan as they could show some impressive performance throughout the tournament.

From the very beginning of the tournament, Iraq was out of the lime light despite they were playing very well from their first group match. In the first match they could draw against the host Thailand by 1-1. However, in the second group match against Australia, they surprised their fans by defeating mighty Australia by 3-1. It was most probably the first upset of the Asian Cup 2007. Then in the third match, they could make a goalless draw against Oman. Thus they qualified for the quarter final stage as the A group champion. Tournament favorite Australia also got into the quarter final as the runner up in the group. In the quarter final, Iraq faced Vietnam and could easily beat Vietnam by 2-0. In the semi final round, Iraq had to play against South Korea, one of the football powers in Asia. Before the match, most of the analyst though that South Korea would progress to the final. I also support the analyst because, in term of skill and experience, Iraq was far behind than the Koreans. You know prediction sometimes remains as mere prediction which is unlike to the reality. Yes, the reality was different and Iraqi footballers showed some tremendous performance against South Korea. Especially their defenders were really unbreakable. In the full time, both the teams were goalless and the same result happened in the 30 minutes of extra time. Then tiebreaker round came into the scene and Iraq beat the mighty South Korea by 4-3.

In contrast, Saudi Arabia was one of the favorites to win the cup and they were expected to see in the final at least. Saudi Arabia is the three times winner of Asian Cup, only Iran and Japan has the same feat in the history of Asian Cup. However, there was a doubt in the mind of Saudi fans because most of their veteran footballers could not get chance in the squad that I mentioned earlier. With the time passed, young but the talented footballers of Saudi Arabia could prove that they have maturity to play in this level. Now, they are just one match away to be recognized as the best Asian teams for the next four years.

Saudi Arabia started the tournament through the match against mighty South Korea and both the teams achieved 1 point through a drawn match with the score line of 1-1. Then in the second group match, Saudi Arabia faced Indonesia and won the match by 2-1. Actually, Saudi Arabia started playing like a favorite from the last group match that they won in style. They defeated Bahrain with a big margin of 4-0. Thus, Saudi Arabia qualified for the quarter final as the D Group champion. In quarter final, Saudi Arabia beat Uzbekistan by 2-1. Then in the semi final, Saudi Arabia faced Japan, defending champion of last two Asian Cup tournaments, by 3-2. For Saudi Arabia Yasser Al-Qahtani scored the first goal. This is the forth goal of Yasser Al-Qahtani in this tournament. Now, Yasser Al-Qahtani and Japan’s Naohiro Takahara are jointly top goal scorer of the tournament as both of them could score four goals.

If you go for statistics of international success of Iraq and Saudi Arabia then you will apparently see that Saudi Arabia is far ahead of Iraq. In Asian Cup, Iraq is going to play in final for the first time in the history whereas Saudi Arabia has already been one of the successful teams in the history of Asian Cup with three Asian Cup victories. Since 1994, Saudi Arabia played in all of the four World Cup tournaments. In contrast, Iraq played in World Cup once in 1986. So, you can see Iraq has little success in international tournaments.

Anyway, in terms of performance in Asian Cup 2007, Iraq and Saudi Arabia both have the equal chance to win the championship. This is going to be the record sixth Asian Cup final for Saudi Arabia and if they can win in the final then this would be the record forth Asian Cup victory for Saudi Arabia. So, some alluring records are waiting for Saudi Arabia and it is well expected that their players will give their 100 percent to win the cup and be a part of the history.

On the other hand, this is the first Asian Cup final for Iraq so they have nothing to lose. Whatever Iraq did so far in the tournament, it is enough to appreciate the Saudi footballers. Now, I guess, Iraqi footballers must be inspired to show their magic for another 90 minutes to make the world amazed for another occasion.