2007 AFC Asian Cup

Venues

| shape-color1 = #036e52 | mark-title1 = Jakarta | mark-description1 = Gelora Bung Karno Stadium | mark-coord1 = | shape-color2 = #036e52 | mark-title2 = Palembang | mark-description2 = Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium | mark-coord2 = | shape-color3 = #ecc311 | mark-title3 = Kuala Lumpur | mark-description3 = Bukit Jalil National Stadium | mark-coord3 = | shape-color4 = #ecc311 | mark-coord4 = | mark-title4 = Shah Alam | mark-description4 = Shah Alam Stadium | shape-color5 = #1c5f96 | mark-coord5 = | mark-title5 = Bangkok | mark-description5 = Rajamangala Stadium Supachalasai Stadium | shape-color6 = #bc2945 | mark-coord6 = | mark-title6 = Hanoi | mark-description6 = Mỹ Đình National Stadium Supachalasai Stadium | shape-color7 = #bc2945 | mark-coord7 = | mark-title7 = Ho Chi Minh City | mark-description7 = Rajamangala Stadium Supachalasai Stadium

Since the tournament, the Shah Alam Stadium has been demolished. The Rajamangala Stadium, the Mỹ Đình National Stadium, the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, the Bukit Jalil National Stadium and the Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium have all been moderately or heavily modified. The Supachalasai Stadium and the Army Stadium are the only largely unmodified stadiums used for this tournament.

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Qualification

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The qualification ran from 22 February 2006 to 15 November 2006. For the first time, the defending champions (in this tournament, Japan) did not get automatic qualification. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam automatically qualified as co-hosts. Twenty-four teams were split into six groups of four to compete for the 12 remaining spots in the final tournament.

:1 Bold indicates champion for that year :2 Italic indicates host :3 Vietnam's debut since the reunification of Vietnam in 1976 :4 As South Vietnam

Seeds

For the first time, the seeds are based on the October 2006 FIFA World Rankings instead of the basis of the performance from the previous AFC Asian Cup competition. This was to ensure that the same number of strong teams do not meet in the early stage.

The four seeded teams were announced on 19 December 2006. The seeds comprised Pot 4 in the draw. Pot 1 consists of the teams from all co-hosts.

The draw was held on 19 December 2006 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Officials

16 referees and 24 assistant referees were officially cleared following a fitness test on 2 July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One referee and two assistant referees were also named from the CAF.

;Referees

• AUS Matthew Breeze
• AUS Mark Shield
• BHR Jasim Karim
• CHN Sun Baojie
• IRN Masoud Moradi
• JPN Yuichi Nishimura
• KUW Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli
• LIB Talaat Najm
• QAT Abdulrahman Abdou
• KSA Khalil Al-Ghamdi
• SEY Eddy Maillet
• KOR Kwon Jong-chul
• KOR Lee Gi-young
• SYR Muhsen Basma
• THA Satop Tongkhan (†)
• UAE Ali Al-Badwawi ;Assistant Referees
• BAN Mohd. Shahidul Islam
• CHN Liu Tiejun
• CMR Evarist Menkouande
• HKG Poon Ming Fai
• IND Benjamin Silva
• IRN Reza Sokhandan
• IRQ Mohammad Kadom Arab
• JOR Awni Hassouneh
• JPN Toru Sagara
• KOR Jeong Hae-sang
• KSA Mohammed Al-Ghamdi
• KUW Yaser Ahmad Marad
• LBN Mustafa Taleb
• MAS Mohd. Sabri bin Mat Daud
• MYA Win U Kyaw
• MDV Mohamed Saeed
• OMA Abdullah Al-Amouri
• QAT Ibrahim Ali Mohammed
• RWA Célestin Ntagungira
• SIN Yew Mun Tang
• SYR Hamdi Al-Kadri
• TKM Begench Allaberdiyev
• UAE Saleh Al-Marzouqi
• UZB Viktor Serazitdinov (†): Replaced SIN Shamsul Maidin after he pulled out with injury.

Squads

Tournament summary

The Asian Cup saw many upsets in the early stages of the tournament, with tournament favourites Australia and South Korea performing poorly in the group stage.

In Group A, Oman held the Socceroos to a surprising draw. The Omanis took the lead and would have won, if not for an injury time goal from Tim Cahill. Next, joint hosts and the lowest-ranked team in the competition, Vietnam, shocked the UAE with a 2–0 victory. In the same group, Qatar held Japan to a shock 1–1 draw. The result caused Japan's coach Ivica Osim to fly into a rage in which he branded his players as 'amateurs' and reduced his interpreter to tears. In Group D, Indonesia continued the undefeated streak of the hosts by defeating Bahrain 2–1. Malaysia ended up as the only host country to lose their opening match after a crushing 5–1 defeat to China. Thailand recorded just their 2nd win in the Asian Cup finals (their other was in 1972 against Cambodia), and its first ever win in regulation, when they beat Oman 2–0 on 12 July. Meanwhile, Australia was upset by a 3–1 defeat to Iraq the following day, leaving them floundering in third place in their group despite high expectations. However, Australia's 4–0 demolition of Thailand at the last match day saw them move on to the quarter-finals, as Oman was unable to overcome Iraq in a goalless draw.

Vietnam continued to stun all predictions when they drew 1–1 with 2006 ASIAD champions Qatar, while Japan finally got their first win when they thrashed the UAE 3–1. Although Vietnam lost 1–4 to Japan, the UAE's 2–1 comeback win over Qatar resulted in Vietnam's first ever qualification into the next round. They became the only host to progress through despite being in a group with three different champions. On the other hand, Malaysia continued its poor form with 0–5 and 0–2 losses to Uzbekistan and Iran, exiting the tournament without a single point. China's shocking elimination occurred when they were hammered 0–3 by the Uzbeks, despite having drawn 2–2 with Iran and was expected to qualify from group stage with an easy win.

Bahrain shocked the whole tournament by defeating South Korea 2–1 in Group D, leaving the Koreans on the verge of elimination when Indonesia was beaten 1–2 by Saudi Arabia. However, South Korea secured a 1–0 win over hosts Indonesia and with Saudi Arabia destroying Bahrain 4–0, it was enough for the Koreans to qualify to the quarter-finals.

In the quarter-finals, Iraq defeated Vietnam 2–0, while South Korea needed a penalty shootout to eliminate Iran 4–2. Japan also needed a penalty shootout to defeat Australia 4–3 (this was the first time Australia's goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer had ever come out on the losing end of a penalty shoot-out), and Saudi Arabia won over Uzbekistan 2–1. Iraq upset the Koreans in the semi-finals by winning 4–3 on penalties, resulting in thousands of Iraqis celebrating in the streets of Baghdad. Over 50 Iraqis were killed by terrorist bombs targeting these crowds. In the other semi-finals, Saudi Arabia eliminated defending champions Japan after a 3–2 win to make the final match an all-Arab affair.

Iraq went on to defeat the Saudis 1–0, taking the Asian Cup title. Iraqi forward and captain Younis Mahmoud was given the title of Most Valuable Player. South Korea took third place, narrowly beating Japan 6–5 on penalties. It was the third consecutive match in the tournament that South Korea drew 0–0 before a penalty shootout. Iraq, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, as the top three teams in the tournament, all received automatic berths to the 2011 Asian Cup along with the next hosts Qatar.

Group stage

Group A

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup Group A

Hawar Jassim

Viduka Kewell

Group B

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup Group B

Lê Công Vinh

S. Nakamura

Endō S. Nakamura

Khalil

Group C

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup Group C

Shao Jiayi Wang Dong

Kazemian

Kapadze Bakayev Ibrahimov

Mao Jianqing Nekounam

Teymourian

Kapadze Geynrikh

Group D

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup Group D

Bambang

Al-Harthi

Abdullatif

A. Al-Qahtani Al-Jassim

Knockout stage

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup knockout stage

|21 July – Bangkok||2||0 |22 July – Kuala Lumpur||0 (2)| (pen.)|0 (4) |21 July – Hanoi|**** (pen.)|1 (4)||1 (3) |22 July – Jakarta||2||1 |25 July – Kuala Lumpur| (pen.)|0 (4)||0 (3) |25 July – Hanoi||2||3 |29 July – Jakarta||1||0 |28 July – Palembang|**** (pen.)|0 (6)||0 (5)

Quarter-finals

Endō Komano Takahara Nakazawa Neill Cahill Carle Carney

Mahdavikia Enayati Khatibi Kim Sang-sik Kim Do-heon Cho Jae-jin Kim Jung-woo

Al-Mousa

Semi-finals

Munir Abdul-Amir Mnajed Lee Dong-gook Cho Jae-jin Yeom Ki-hun Kim Jung-woo

Abe Mouath

Third place play-off

Oh Beom-seok Lee Chun-soo Lee Ho Kim Jin-kyu Kim Chi-woo Endō Abe Komano Nakazawa Hanyu

Final

Main article: 2007 AFC Asian Cup final

Statistics

Goalscorers

With four goals, Younis Mahmoud, Naohiro Takahara and Yasser Al-Qahtani are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 84 goals were scored by 57 different players, with two of them credited as own goals. ;4 goals

• IRQ Younis Mahmoud
• JPN Naohiro Takahara
• KSA Yasser Al-Qahtani ;3 goals
• AUS Mark Viduka
• QAT Sebastián Soria
• UZB Maksim Shatskikh ;2 goals
• CHN Han Peng
• CHN Shao Jiayi
• CHN Wang Dong
• IRN Javad Nekounam
• JPN Seiichiro Maki
• JPN Shunsuke Nakamura
• KSA Ahmed Al-Mousa
• KSA Malek Mouath
• KSA Taisir Al-Jassim
• THA Pipat Thonkanya
• UAE Saeed Al Kass
• UZB Timur Kapadze ;1 goal
• AUS Harry Kewell
• AUS John Aloisi
• AUS Michael Beauchamp
• AUS Tim Cahill
• BHR Ismail Abdul-Latif
• BHR Salman Isa
• BHR Sayed Jalal
• CHN Mao Jianqing
• IDN Bambang Pamungkas
• IDN Budi Sudarsono
• IDN Elie Aiboy
• IRN Andranik Teymourian
• IRN Ferydoon Zandi
• IRN Jalal Hosseini
• IRN Javad Kazemian
• IRQ Hawar Mulla Mohammed
• IRQ Karrar Jassim
• IRQ Nashat Akram
• JPN Yasuhito Endō
• JPN Yuji Nakazawa
• JPN Yuki Abe
• MAS Indra Putra
• OMA Badar Al-Maimani
• KSA Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani
• KSA Saad Al-Harthi
• KOR Choi Sung-kuk
• KOR Kim Do-heon
• KOR Kim Jung-woo
• THA Sutee Suksomkit
• UAE Faisal Khalil
• UZB Alexander Geynrikh
• UZB Aziz Ibragimov
• UZB Pavel Solomin
• UZB Ulugbek Bakayev
• VIE Huỳnh Quang Thanh
• VIE Lê Công Vinh
• VIE Phan Thanh Bình ;1 own goal
• IRN Rahman Rezaei (against Uzbekistan)
• JPN Keita Suzuki (against Vietnam)

Awards

Most Valuable Player

• IRQ Younis Mahmoud

Top scorer

• IRQ Younis Mahmoud
• KSA Yasser Al-Qahtani
• JPN Naohiro Takahara

Best Goalkeeper

• IRQ Noor Sabri

Best Defender

• IRQ Bassim Abbas

Fair Play Award

Most Entertaining Team

Team of the tournament

The Toshiba All-Star XI was voted for by fans on the official Asian Cup website.

Marketing

Official match ball

The Official Match Ball for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was launched by Nike on 15 May 2007, making it the first time ever that a ball had been launched specifically for any football competition in Asia. The Nike Mercurial Veloci AC features four blue stripes with gold trim with each host city's name inscribed, as well as the AFC Asian Cup logo.

Official song

The AFC selected "I Believe", a 2004 single by Thai singer Tata Young as the tournament's official song.

Sponsorships

Official Sponsors

• Emirates
• Epson
• ING Group
• JCB Co., Ltd.
• Konica Minolta
• Maxell
• Samsung
• The Asahi Shimbun
• Toshiba
• Yamaha Motor Company

Official Supporters

• FamilyMart
• Hyundai Heavy Industries
• Kirin Company
• Makita
• Nike, Inc.
• Nikon

References

References

1. (29 July 2007). "Special AFC Awards for 2007 Asian Cup". Kooora.
2. "Cities fight for Asian Cup motza".
3. (19 December 2006). "AFC Asian Cup 2007 Organising Committee approves team classification for Final Draw". AFC.
4. (21 June 2007). "Officials announced for Asian Cup". AFC.
5. (26 June 2007). "Referee Maidin ruled out through injury". AFC.
6. "AFC Asian Cup – ESPN Soccernet".
7. (2007-07-25). "Iraq bombs strike football fans". [[BBC News]].
8. [https://archive.today/20110719073026/http://sports.indiatimes.com/Sections/Top_3_teams_guaranteed_2011_berths/articleshow/2231281.cms The Times of India Sports: Extensive sports coverage, key statistics and free downloads]
9. "Toshiba All Star XI Contest". AFC Asian Cup.
10. (18 August 2007). "Official All-Star XI". BigSoccer Forum.
11. (26 June 2006). "AFC Asian Cup 2007 Official Match Ball launched". AFC.
12. (14 May 2007). "Exclusive Pictures: Asian Cup Match Ball". 442 Magazine Australia.
13. (25 June 2007). "SI believe⬝ - bài hát chính thức của Asian cup 2007". [[Vietnam Football Federation]].
14. Long, Michael. (2012-06-01). "AFC announces further sponsorship renewals".
15. (2005-09-05). "[AsiaNet] ING To Sponsor AFC Asian Cup 2007".
16. "Toshiba Asia Pacific".
17. "YMC Becomes Official Asian Football Confederation Sponsor".