Football Asian Cup 2004

Football Asian Cup 2004
AFC Asian Cup 2004
Number of nations	16  (of 43 applicants)
Asian champion	Japan (3rd title)
venue	China
Opening game	July 17, 2004
Endgame	August 7, 2004
Games	32
Gates	96  (⌀: 3 per game)
spectator	1,023,050  (⌀: 31,970 per game)
Top scorer	A'ala Hubail Ali Karimi (5 goals)
Best player	Shunsuke Nakamura
yellow cards	132  (⌀: 4.13 per game)
Yellow-red cards	6  (⌀: 0.19 per game)
Red cards	11  (⌀: 0.34 per game)

The 13th Asian Football Championship took place from July 17 to August 7, 2004 in China . The largest Asian football tournament has been held by the Asian Football Association (AFC) since 1956 .

The defending champions Japan won the final in Beijing against hosts China and qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup .

The award for the best player of the tournament went to the Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura , the top scorers were Ali Karimi ( Iran ) and A'ala Hubail ( Bahrain ), who each scored five goals.

Award

China, Thailand and Iran had applied to host the tournament . In the vote on October 27, 2000, the People's Republic finally prevailed with 10: 6 votes against Thailand and became the host of the final round. Iran had withdrawn its application shortly before.

It was the first time that China hosted the Asian Cup. The number of finalists has been increased to 16.

Venues

Beijing Jinan Chongqing Cheng you

Venues

place	Stadion	capacity	Field size
Cheng you	Sichuan Longquanyi	27,333	120 m × 80 m
Chongqing	Chongqing Olympic Sports Center	58,680	105 m × 68 m
Jinan	Shandong Provincial Stadium	43,700	110 m × 72 m
Beijing	Workers stadium	66.161	105 m × 68 m

Qualification phase

→ s. Main article 2004 Asian Football Championship / Qualification

mode

Host China and defending champions Japan were automatically qualified for the final tournament. The remaining 44 participating teams had to determine the remaining 14 teams in a qualification phase. The qualification took place as follows:

The 20 weakest teams according to the FIFA world rankings first had to contest a pre-qualification, the respective group winners advanced to the main round with seven groups of 4 teams. The first two teams in each group then qualified for the final tournament in China. The qualification phase ran from March to October 2003.

Attendees

Jordan, Turkmenistan and Oman took part in an Asian Cup finals for the first time. Bahrain qualified for an Asian football championship for the first time since 1988.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Bahrain	Jordan	Iraq	Iran
People's Republic of China	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia	Japan
Indonesia	South Korea	Turkmenistan	Oman
Qatar	UAE	Uzbekistan	Thailand

Preliminary round

Group A

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	China	3	2	1	0	008: 200	+6	07th
2.	Bahrain	3	1	2	0	006: 400	+2	05
3.	Indonesia	3	1	0	2	003: 900	−6	03
4th	Qatar	3	0	1	2	002: 400	−2	01

July 17, 2004 in Beijing
China	-	Bahrain	2: 2 (0: 1)
July 18, 2004 in Beijing
Indonesia	-	Qatar	2: 1 (1: 0)
July 21, 2004 in Beijing
China	-	Indonesia	5: 0 (2: 0)
July 21, 2004 in Beijing
Bahrain	-	Qatar	1: 1 (0: 0)
July 25, 2004 in Beijing
China	-	Qatar	1: 0 (0: 0)
July 25, 2004 in Jinan
Bahrain	-	Indonesia	3: 1 (1: 0)

Host China gambled away victory in the first game at the last minute, but the team trained by Dutchman Arie Haan qualified as group winners for the quarter-finals. Bahrain secured second place in the final game against Indonesia - which celebrated its first victory in an Asian Cup with a 2-1 win over Qatar - and thus made it to the quarter-finals.

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	South Korea	3	2	1	0	006-000	+6	07th
2.	Jordan	3	1	2	0	002-000	+2	05
3.	Kuwait	3	1	0	2	003: 700	−4	03
4th	UAE	3	0	1	2	001: 500	−4	01

July 19, 2004 in Jinan
Jordan	-	South Korea	0-0
July 19, 2004 in Jinan
Kuwait	-	UAE	3: 1 (3: 0)
July 23, 2004 in Jinan
South Korea	-	UAE	2: 0 (1: 0)
July 23, 2004 in Jinan
Jordan	-	Kuwait	2: 0 (0: 0)
July 27, 2004 in Jinan
South Korea	-	Kuwait	4: 0 (3: 0)
July 25, 2004 in Beijing
Jordan	-	UAE	0-0

Newcomer Jordan qualified as second in the group behind the World Cup semi-finalist South Korea for the quarter-finals. The two winning goals against Kuwait fell in the 2nd and 3rd minutes of stoppage time. Kuwait and the UAE could not convince in this group and were eliminated.

Group C

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	003-000	+3	09
2.	Iraq	3	2	0	1	005: 400	+1	06th
3.	Turkmenistan	3	0	1	2	004: 600	−2	01
4th	Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	003: 500	−2	01

July 18, 2004 in Chengdu
Saudi Arabia	-	Turkmenistan	2: 2 (1: 1)
July 18, 2004 in Chengdu
Uzbekistan	-	Iraq	1: 0 (1: 0)
July 22, 2004 in Chengdu
Iraq	-	Turkmenistan	3: 2 (1: 1)
July 22, 2004 in Chengdu
Uzbekistan	-	Saudi Arabia	1: 0 (1: 0)
July 26, 2004 in Chengdu
Iraq	-	Saudi Arabia	2: 1 (0: 0)
July 26, 2004 in Chonqing
Uzbekistan	-	Turkmenistan	1: 0 (0: 0)

The elimination of the vice-champions Saudi Arabia was the biggest surprise of the preliminary round. The Saudis, who have reached the final every time since 1984, had to be content with a 2-2 draw against Turkmenistan at the beginning and lost the remaining games against Uzbekistan and Iraq. Dutch coach Gerard van der Lem was sacked after losing to Iraq. Uzbekistan narrowly won all of its games and survived the preliminary round for the first time in its third finals. Iraq also qualified for the quarter-finals.

Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Japan	3	2	1	0	005: 100	+4	07th
2.	Iran	3	1	2	0	005: 200	+3	05
3.	Oman	3	1	1	1	004: 300	+1	04th
4th	Thailand	3	0	0	3	001: 900	−8	00

July 20, 2004 in Chonqing
Japan	-	Oman	1: 0 (1: 0)
July 20, 2004 in Chonqing
Iran	-	Thailand	3: 0 (0: 0)
July 24, 2004 in Chonqing
Iran	-	Oman	2: 2 (0: 2)
July 24, 2004 in Chonqing
Japan	-	Thailand	4: 1 (1: 1)
July 28, 2004 in Chonqing
Oman	-	Thailand	2: 0 (1: 0)
July 26, 2004 in Chengdu
Iran	-	Japan	0-0

Japan and Iran prevailed in this group as expected, Oman was able to convince in both games against Iran and Japan (against the Iranians, Oman led 2-1 up to the 93rd minute before Nosrati equalized). Thailand remained in its 5 participation without a win in the regular time.

Final round

Quarter finals

In the Japan-Jordan match there was a controversial scene during the penalty shoot-out when Japanese coach Zico arranged for the goal to be changed. Protests by the Jordanians that this approach cost them victory were rejected.

Iran and South Korea met for the third time in a row in the quarter-finals, the Iranians prevailing 4-3 thanks to a strong Ali Karimi who scored three goals.

Host China beat Iraq 3-0, while Bahrain prevailed in the surprise team duel against Uzbekistan.

July 30, 2004 in Beijing
China	-	Iraq	3: 0 (1: 0)
July 30, 2004 in Chengdu
Uzbekistan	-	Bahrain	2: 2 n.V. (2: 2, 0: 0), 3: 4 i. E.
July 31, 2004 in Jinan
South Korea	-	Iran	3: 4 (2: 2)
July 31, 2004 in Chongqing
Japan	-	Jordan	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1), 4: 3 i. E.

Semifinals

August 3, 2004 in Beijing
China	-	Iran	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1), 4: 3 i. E.
August 3, 2004 in Jinan
Japan	-	Bahrain	4: 3 n.V. (3: 3, 0: 1)

Game for third place

August 6, 2004 in Beijing
Bahrain	-	Iran	2: 4 (1: 1)

final

August 7, 2004 in Beijing
Japan	-	China	3: 1 (1: 1)

rank	player	Gates
1	A'ala Hubail	5
	Ali Karimi	5
3	Lee Dong-gook	4th
4th	Ali Daei	3
	Imad Ali	3
	Zheng Zhi	3
	Shao Jiayi	3
	Yūji Nakazawa	3

Web links

• Tournament site on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ New Straits Times: Youthful Japan Look A Class Above Their Final Rivals , October 29, 2000.