Football Asian Cup 2000

Football Asian Cup 2000
AFC Asian Cup 2000
Number of nations	12  (from 44 applicants)
Asian champion	Japan (2nd title)
venue	Lebanon
Opening game	October 12, 2000
Endgame	October 29, 2000
Games	26th
Gates	77  (⌀: 2.96 per game)
spectator	236,600  (⌀: 9,100 per game)
Top scorer	Lee Dong-gook (6 goals)
Best player	Hiroshi Nanami
yellow cards	76  (⌀: 2.92 per game)
Yellow-red cards	1  (⌀: 0.04 per game)
Red cards	1  (⌀: 0.04 per game)

The 12th AFC Asian Cup (officially: 2000 AFC Asian Cup ™ Lebanon ) took place in the period from 12 to 29 October 2000 in Lebanon instead. Twelve national teams competed against each other, first in groups and then in qualifying games, with a total of 26 games being played. Japan became Asian champions with a 1-0 victory over defending champions Saudi Arabia .

A total of 77 goals were scored in the 26 games, giving an average of 2.96 goals per game. The top scorer was the South Korean Lee Dong-gook , Japan scored the most goals with a total of 21. The audience response was disappointing, with an average of only 8865 spectators attending the games, which was a decrease of almost 50% compared to the previous tournament in the Emirates .

For the first time, an Asian soccer championship received an official website . The website in five languages ​​(Arabic, Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean) was created by Tohidi .

Host

China and Lebanon had applied to host the 2000 Asian Football Championship , with the West Asian country receiving support primarily from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Since the United Arab Emirates were allowed to host the final round in 1996, a final round in Lebanon would have meant that the informal west-east switch when hosting the Asian Cup was interrupted. The poor security situation and the lack of infrastructure in the country were also criticized.

In the vote on December 21, 1996 in Abu Dhabi, Lebanon clearly prevailed with 14: 2 votes against China, only the two Korean states voted for the People's Republic.

Venues

Beirut Sidon Tripoli

Venues

The tournament was held in three cities in Lebanon: the capital Beirut , Sidon and Tripoli .

• Beirut: The Camille Chamoun Stadium , which was built in 1957 and has a capacity of 49,000 , played most of the games. All three games of the host, two further games in group A, one game each in groups B and C as well as two quarter-finals, both semi-finals, the game for third place and the final were played.
• Sidon: The games in Sidon took place in the Saida International Stadium , the stadium holds 22,600 spectators and accommodated most of the group matches of group C as well as a quarter-final encounter.
• Tripoli: Group B games and a quarter-final match took place in the International Olympic Stadium . With a capacity of 22,400, the stadium was the smallest of the three venues.

qualification

Lebanon as host and defending champion Saudi Arabia were automatically qualified for the finals. 42 teams played for the remaining 10 final round places in a qualifying round.

The qualification for the Asian Cup 2000 started on August 3, 1999 with the game between Oman and Kyrgyzstan (final score 2-0). Iraq was the first team to qualify from this group. The last games took place on April 8, 2000. The only surprise of the qualifying matches was the elimination of the Arab Emirates , the vice-Asian champions failed to Uzbekistan.

Attendees

The following teams qualified for the finals after 62 qualifying matches:

People's Republic of China  Indonesia  Iran  Iraq  Japan  Qatar

Kuwait  Lebanon  South Korea  Saudi Arabia  Thailand  Uzbekistan

mode

At the Asian Cup 2000, the 12 teams played the Asian champions in two phases. A total of 26 games took place.

Preliminary round

Four teams each competed in three groups (A, B and C) in the championship system. H. each team played once against each other team in the group. In the group stage, a win counts three, a draw one point, a defeat counts no points. In the table of the respective group, the points were added. The two teams with the best points in each group and the two best thirds in the group advance to the final round.

Final round

In the quarter and semi-finals, in the game for third place and in the final, the knockout system was used . If the games in the final round were tied after the regular playing time of 90 minutes, there was an extension of 15 minutes twice and possibly (if there is still no winner) a penalty shoot-out . If a so-called golden goal was dropped during extra time , the game was over immediately.

Preliminary round

In the event of a tie between two teams, the table position and advancement were decided in the following order:

1. the goal difference and the higher number of goals scored in all group matches
2. the direct encounters between the teams concerned (higher number of points, goal difference, goals scored)
3. the lot

Group A

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Iran	3	2	1	0	006: 100	+5	07th
2.	Iraq	3	1	1	1	004: 300	+1	04th
3.	Thailand	3	0	2	1	002: 400	−2	02
4th	Lebanon	3	0	2	1	003: 700	−4	02

October 12, 2000 in Tripoli
Iraq	-	Thailand	2: 0 (1: 0)
October 12, 2000 in Beirut
Lebanon	-	Iran	0: 4 (0: 1)
October 15, 2000 in Beirut
Iran	-	Thailand	1: 1 (0: 1)
October 15, 2000 in Beirut
Iraq	-	Lebanon	2: 2 (2: 1)
October 18, 2000 in Sidon
Iran	-	Iraq	1: 0 (0: 0)
October 18, 2000 in Beirut
Thailand	-	Lebanon	1: 1 (0: 0)

The Iran , after the strong World Cup in France one of the main favorites for the title, secured expected to win the group. Already in the first game the team around the Bundesliga legionaries Ali Daei and Karim Bagheri showed their skills and won confidently against the hosts, after a surprising draw against Thailand Daei scored the winning goal against long-term rivals Iraq and thus secured the group victory for the Iranians.

Iraq was able to qualify for the quarter-finals, but the team did not know how to convince. The 2-0 opening win was followed by a 2-2 draw against the Lebanese, with Iraq leading 2-0 in the meantime. Due to the defeat against Iran only the second place in the group was achieved.

For Thailand this Asian Cup ended again with the end in the preliminary round. In the last game, the Southeast Asians had led up to the 82nd minute and were thus qualified as one of the two thirds in the group for the quarter-finals, but the hosts' equalizer and the draw between Qatar and Japan ensured the end.

The Lebanon was launched as a host in the tournament and the preliminary round first wanted to survive, but Iran showed the Lebanese in the first game clearly their boundaries. The catch-up races against Iraq and Thailand were not enough to secure progress, the last place in this group was disappointing for many Lebanese.

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	People's Republic of China	3	1	2	0	006: 200	+4	05
2.	Kuwait	3	1	2	0	001-000	+1	05
3.	South Korea	2	1		1	005: 300	+2	03
4th	Indonesia	4th	0	1	3	000: 700	−7	01

October 13, 2000 in Tripoli
South Korea	-	China	2: 2 (1: 1)
October 13, 2000 in Tripoli
Kuwait	-	Indonesia	0-0
October 16, 2000 in Tripoli
China	-	Indonesia	4: 0 (3: 0)
October 16, 2000 in Tripoli
South Korea	-	Kuwait	0: 1 (0: 1)
October 19, 2000 in Tripoli
Kuwait	-	China	0-0
October 19, 2000 in Beirut
Indonesia	-	South Korea	0: 3 (0: 1)

China secured group victory in this balanced group, two draws and one win was enough for the team to take the lead ahead of Kuwait and South Korea. The East Asians' strongest players were Yang Chen , Qi Hong and Fan Zhiyi .

Kuwait's narrow 1-0 win over South Korea was enough to survive the group stage. Jassim al-Houwaidi scored the only goal in the preliminary round.

South Korea could not convince in the preliminary round, only the 3-0 over the weak Indonesians ensured the team advance. Previously, after the 2-2 draw against China, there was a surprising defeat against Kuwait.

The Indonesian team had as early as 1996 with the last place content, in addition, the Southeast Asians were the only team that remained in this tournament without its own results.

Group C

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Japan	3	2	1	0	013: 300	+10	07th
2.	Saudi Arabia	3	1	1	1	006: 400	+2	04th
3.	Qatar	3	0	3	0	002: 200	± 0	03
4th	Uzbekistan	4th	0	1	3	002:140	−12	01

October 14, 2000 in Sidon
Saudi Arabia	-	Japan	1: 4 (0: 2)
October 14, 2000 in Sidon
Qatar	-	Uzbekistan	1: 1 (0: 0)
October 17, 2000 in Sidon
Japan	-	Uzbekistan	8: 1 (5: 1)
October 17, 2000 in Sidon
Saudi Arabia	-	Qatar	0-0
October 20, 2000 in Sidon
Saudi Arabia	-	Uzbekistan	5: 0 (2: 0)
October 20, 2000 in Beirut
Japan	-	Qatar	1: 1 (0: 1)

Japan caused a sensation in the first game after a clear 4-1 win over Saudi Arabia. In the second game Uzbekistan was outclassed with eight goals, so that the group victory was already clear after two game days. In the last game there was only one B-team against Qatar and reached a draw.

Defending champion Saudi Arabia was caught off guard in the first game and the Saudis could not recover in the second game, only the 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan ensured the sons of the desert to advance.

Qatar was the first team to reach the quarter-finals without having won a single game, but was at least the only team in this group that had not lost to the Japanese.

Uzbekistan was overwhelmed in this group and ended the Asian Cup as the worst team. Although they managed a respectable 1-1 draw against Qatar in the first game, in the other two games the team had to concede 13 goals with just one goal.

Comparison of third party groups

At the end of the preliminary round, the third-placed teams in each group were compared. The two best third place finishers qualified for the quarter-finals.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	South Korea (Group B)	3	1	1	1	005: 300	+2	04th
2.	Qatar (Group C)	3	1	0	2	002: 200	± 0	03
3.	Thailand (Group A)	3	0	2	1	002: 400	−2	02

Final round

In the quarter-finals, the winner of group A played against the third of group B, the winner of group B against the third of group C, the winner of group C against the second in group A and the second in group B against the second in group C. .

In the semifinals, the winners of games winner A / third B met the winner of the game runner-up B / runner-up C. The other semifinals were contested by the winners of games winner B / third-C and winner C / runner-up A. The two winners play in the final for the Asian Cup, the losers for third place.

Quarter finals

The Iran went into the match against South Korea after 71 minutes through Karim Bagheri lead and seemed to save this until injury time over time. However, Kim Sang-sik equalized in the last minute of the game, forcing extra time, which ended with Lee Dong-gook's winning goal to 2-1 in the 99th minute. For South Korea this victory was also a revenge for the 2: 6 bankruptcy four years earlier.

China has no problems with its opponent from Qatar and won 3-1 with confidence. Li Ming , Qi Hong and Yang Chen had given the Chinese a 3-0 lead by the 54th minute, al-Enazi's goal to make it 3-1 was only cosmetic.

Japan surprisingly fell behind in the fourth minute of their game against Iraq when Abbas Obeid Jassim used a defensive error by the Japanese team to take the lead. Hiroshi Nanami and Naohiro Takahara turned the game in favor of the favorite until the 29th minute, Tomokazu Myōjin scored after one hour to make it 4-1.

The game between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia was very even and there was no winner for a long time. Only Nawaf Al-Temyat's golden goal to 3-2 for Saudi Arabia decided the game.

October 23, 2000 in Tripoli
Iran	-	South Korea	1: 2 n.GG (1: 1, 0: 0)
October 23, 2000 in Sidon
China	-	Qatar	3: 1 (2: 0)
October 24, 2000 in Beirut
Japan	-	Iraq	4: 1 (3: 1)
October 24, 2000 in Beirut
Kuwait	-	Saudi Arabia	2: 3 n.GG (2: 2, 0: 0)

Semifinals

Japan kept the upper hand 3-2 against China and reached the final for the second time since 1992. The strongest player was Akinori Nishizuki , who was able to turn the game around with two goals after the interim 2-1 for China.

Talal al-Meshal scored twice in the game between Saudi Arabia and South Korea in the 76th and 80th minutes, securing the Saudis their fifth finals in a row, South Korea's goal in the 90th minute by Lee Dong-gook came too late.

October 26, 2000 in Beirut
Japan	-	China	3: 2 (1: 1)
October 26, 2000 in Beirut
Saudi Arabia	-	South Korea	2: 1 (0: 0)

Game for third place

South Korea secured third place in the final game, the only goalscorer being Lee Dong-gook, who scored his sixth goal and was top scorer.

October 29, 2000 in Beirut
South Korea	-	China	1: 0 (0: 0)

final

In the ninth minute of the game Talal al-Meshal was fouled in the penalty area, but the subsequent penalty from Hamza Idris was parried by Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi . In the 29th minute of the game, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki scored the only goal of the final. The Saudis did not succeed in overcoming Kawaguchi despite several great opportunities.

Japan was the Asian champion for the second time after 1992.

October 29, 2000 in Beirut
Japan	-	Saudi Arabia	1: 0 (1: 0)

Honors

• Top scorer: Lee Dong-gook (South Korea)
• Best Player: Hiroshi Nanami (Japan)
• Best Defender: Ryūzō Morioka (Japan)
• Best goalkeeper: Jiang Jin (China)
• Fair Play Award: China

All-Star Team

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker
Jiang Jin	Hong Myung-bo Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi Jamal Mubarek	Hiroshi Nanami Nawaf Al-Temyat Abbas Obeid Jassim Karim Bagheri Shunsuke Nakamura	Lee Dong-gook Naohiro Takahara

Web links

• The AFC for the 2000 Asian Football Championship
• The 2000 Asian Cup at the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Individual evidence

1. ^ Asian Cup 2000 (Final Tournament) - Goal Scorers RSSSF.com
2. ↑ Asian Cup 2000-Tohidi.com
3. ^ Saudi move may split Asia , New Straits Times, December 18, 1996. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
4. ↑ Lebanon Chosen As Next Asian Cup Host Over China , Manila Standard, December 23, 1996. Retrieved August 11, 2010.