The AFC Asian Cup, held every four years is one of the six FIFA confederation championships and it is run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It's been going on since 1956 but understandably, it is not as glamourous as the Euro or the Copa America. Ask the average fan who was the last Euro champs nearly everyone will have the answer but I don't think many would recall the current Asian Cup holders.
The winning national team is proclaimed champions of Asia and would qualify for the FIFA Confederations Cup where they will then compete in the tournament against 7 other teams - winners of the Copa America, the African Nations Cup, the Euro, The OFC Nations Cup (Oceania), the Gold Cup (CONCACAF), the World Cup Winner and the World Cup Host Nation.
The last Asian Cup was held in China in 2004 where the Japan retained their title which they won four years earlier in Lebanon. The competition is usually dominated by teams from Mid-Asia namely Saudi Arabia and Iran but Japan has also sneaked in and took the cup back to the Far East 3 times and the Koreans are always a tough competitor. This year's competition will also see the the participation of the new AFC member, Australia (who's been pissed out because they always missed the World Cup for having to play in an intercontinental play-off. Now they figured it might be easier to do it the through the Asian door, which is why they left the OFC). Note that the Socceroos was the first non-host team to qualify.
What a minute, someone's asking, this year is only 2007? Shouldn't the Cup be played next year? Good question. The thing is, they wisely realised that Beijing and Euro is coming in 2008 and all this while they've been playing in the same years as the Olympics and Euro. So they pushed the Asian Cup to this year and it will be every four years onward after that.
What's special about the AFC Asian Cup 2007 is that this will be the first time in history that four nations will be co-hosting the tournament - Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The competition will start on 7 July 2007 and the final will be held at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia on the 29 July 2007.
There will be 16 teams vying for those two spots in the final and ultimately lift the Cup itself. The Pasukan Kebangsaan is in Group C along with 2004 losing finalist China, 3 times Asian Champs Iran and Uzbekistan. Matches will be played at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam Stadium, Selangor.
Matches involving Pasukan Kebangsaan are (all times local):
10 July 2007 (Tue) - 2035 hrs MALAYSIA v CHINA
14 July 2007 (Sat) - 1820 hrs UZBEKISTAN v MALAYSIA
18 July 2007 (Wed) - 2035 hrs MALAYSIA v IRAN
Tickets should be between RM 20 for covered stands and RM 30 for grand stands. You can get the tickets online by going here and clicking the link in there. I'm getting mine soon and I'll inform everyone where I got them and I hope you guys will keep these dates clear and go to the stadium in our yellow and black and support our team.
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