2000 AFC Asian Cup

Qualification

Main article: 2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification

42 teams participated in a preliminary tournament. It was divided into 10 groups and the first-placed team of each group thus qualified. A total of 84 games were held, starting with the Oman versus Kyrgyzstan game on 3 August 1999.

The 12 qualifying teams were:

Notes: :1 Bold indicates champion for that year :2 Italic indicates host

Stadiums

Squads

Tournament summary

Lebanon participated in the country's first ever football competition in the history as host, but began disappointingly, losing 0–4 to Iran. Lebanon sought to reinvigorate the team against Iraq and Thailand, but all ended up in just draws, and Lebanon finished bottom in the group, the first host nation since Qatar 1988 to not progress from the group stage. Iran and Iraq managed to survive in the group A with seven and four points respectively, and Thailand took the third, but did not progress due to inferior points, having won no match in their group. Group B saw South Korea failed to achieve a top two finish, falling behind group winner China and Kuwait, but qualified as the best third place team, with the team's only win was against Indonesia. Indonesia was the only team to not score a single goal in the tournament, being beaten by South Korea and China, and a goalless draw with Kuwait. Group C witnessed Uzbekistan to become the worst-performed team in the tournament, being heavily beaten 1–8 by Japan and 0–5 by defending champions Saudi Arabia. The Japanese scrambled to top the group with a famous 4–1 win over the Saudis, though Saudi Arabia would go on to progress together after an unpromising group stage performance. Qatar, another participant in the group, finished in third and progressed thanked for one point ahead of Thailand, having drawn in all three matches.

The quarter-finals saw Iran lost 1–2 to South Korea by a golden goal of Lee Dong-gook, and the same happened in Saudi Arabia's victory over Kuwait, also by a golden goal of Nawaf Al-Temyat. China and Japan easily passed through their Arab rivals Qatar and Iraq, with 3–1 and 4–1 wins respectively, to set up an entirely East Asian affair in the semi-finals, with Saudi Arabia being the only non-East Asian team to be here.

The first semi-finals saw Saudi Arabia sealed the victory over the South Koreans, with two goals by Talal Al-Meshal at 76' and 80' meant Lee Dong-gook's late equalizer was too little, too late. Japan beat China in a thriller in Beirut, 3–2, to once again face the Saudis in the final. In the third place match, South Korea won bronze with a 1–0 win over China.

The final in Beirut was filled with majority of Saudi supporters, and was seen as the rematch of the 1992 final and earlier group stage encounter. Hamzah Idris had a chance to take the Saudis ahead of Japan at 10', but he missed the opportunity. Eventually, the missing penalty was what the Saudis regretted the most, because Shigeyoshi Mochizuki, who had accidentally given the Saudis the failed opportunity on the penalty earlier, became the hero of Japan with a goal in 30'. Saudi attempt proved to be fruitless, and Japan won the game by just one goal margin, to conquer its second Asian trophy, repeating Japan's victory over Saudi Arabia eight years ago. Subsequently, Japan, the winner, automatically qualified for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup.

First round

All times are Lebanon summer time (UTC+3).

Group A

Main article: 2000 AFC Asian Cup Group A

Mahmoud

Estili Daei

Hojeij

Group B

Main article: 2000 AFC Asian Cup Group B

Noh Jung-yoon Fan Zhiyi

Shen Si Yang Chen Qi Hong

Group C

Main article: 2000 AFC Asian Cup Group C

Takahara Nanami Ono

Nishizawa Takahara Kitajima

Al-Shalhoub Al-Temyat

Third-placed qualifiers

At the end of the first stage, a comparison was made between the third placed teams of each group. The two best third-placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals.

South Korea and Qatar, the two best third-placed teams, qualified for the quarter-finals.

Knockout stage

All times are Lebanon summer time (UTC+3)

Extra times were played under the golden goal rule.

Main article: 2000 AFC Asian Cup knockout stage

|23 October – Sidon||3||1 |24 October – Beirut||4||1 |23 October – Tripoli||1|**** |2 |24 October – Beirut||2|**** |3 |26 October – Beirut||2||3 |26 October – Beirut||1||2 |29 October – Beirut||1||0 |29 October – Beirut||0||1

Quarter-finals

Lee Dong-gook

Qi Hong Yang Chen

Takahara Myojin

Al-Huwaidi Al-Meshal

Semi-finals

Yang Chen Nishizawa Myojin

Third place play-off

Final

Main article: 2000 AFC Asian Cup final

Statistics

Goalscorers

With six goals, Lee Dong-Gook is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 77 goals were scored by 43 different players, with two of them credited as own goals.

**6 goals **

• KOR Lee Dong-gook

**5 goals **

• JPN Akinori Nishizawa
• JPN Naohiro Takahara **3 goals **
• CHN Qi Hong
• CHN Yang Chen
• IRN Ali Daei
• JPN Hiroshi Nanami
• KSA Talal Al-Meshal
• KSA Mohammad Al-Shalhoub
• KSA Nawaf Al-Temyat ** 2 goals **
• CHN Li Ming
• IRN Karim Bagheri
• IRN Hamid Estili
• IRQ Sabah Jeayer
• JPN Tomokazu Myojin
• KUW Jasem Al-Huwaidi
• THA Sakesan Pituratana ** 1 goal **
• CHN Fan Zhiyi
• CHN Shen Si
• CHN Su Maozhen
• IRQ Qahtan Chathir
• IRQ Abbas Obeid
• IRQ Haidar Mahmoud
• JPN Hideaki Kitajima
• JPN Shigeyoshi Mochizuki
• JPN Hiroaki Morishima
• JPN Shinji Ono
• JPN Atsushi Yanagisawa
• KOR Kim Sang-sik
• KOR Lee Young-pyo
• KOR Noh Jung-yoon
• KUW Bashar Abdullah
• LIB Abbas Chahrour
• LIB Luís Fernandes
• LIB Moussa Hojeij
• QAT Mohammed Salem Al-Enazi
• QAT Abdulnasser Al-Obaidly
• QAT Mohammed Gholam
• KSA Marzouk Al-Otaibi
• UZB Sergey Lushan
• UZB Mirjalol Qosimov Own goal
• CHN Fan Zhiyi (for Japan)
• JPN Ryuzo Morioka (for Saudi Arabia)

Awards

Most Valuable Player

• JPN Hiroshi Nanami

Top scorer

• KOR Lee Dong-gook

Best Defender

• JPN Ryuzo Morioka

Best Goalkeeper

• CHN Jiang Jin

Fair Play Award

Team of the Tournament

References

References

1. link. JoongAng Ilbo. (25 February 2002)
2. link. WorldCup's world