2007 AFC Asian Cup
  • Piala Asia 2007
  • เอเชียนคัพ 2550
  • Cúp bóng đá châu Á 2007
Tournament details
Host countriesIndonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Vietnam
Dates7–29 July
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)8 (in 7 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Iraq (1st title)
Runners-up Saudi Arabia
Third place South Korea
Fourth place Japan
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored84 (2.63 per match)
Attendance724,222 (22,632 per match)
Top scorer(s)Iraq Younis Mahmoud
Japan Naohiro Takahara
Saudi Arabia Yasser Al-Qahtani
(4 goals each)
Best player(s)Iraq Younis Mahmoud
Best goalkeeperIraq Noor Sabri
Fair play award Japan

The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its history, the competition was co-hosted by four countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam; it was the first time in football history more than two countries joined host of a major continental competition and the only one to have ever taken place until the UEFA Euro 2020.

Iraq won the continental title for the first time after defeating three-time champion Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final. As the winner, Iraq represented the AFC in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Before 2007 and every four years, Asia often held its continental tournament from 1956 until China in 2004. With the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the same year as the Asian Cup, the AFC changed their tradition. From 2007, AFC decided to hold its continental tournament a year earlier, and every four years henceforth from that date.

An estimated worldwide television audience of 650 million people tuned in to watch the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.[1]

Australia participated for the first time since moving to the AFC from the OFC. Australia also happened to be the tournament's first nation aside from the co-hosts to qualify for the 2007 Asian Cup.

Host selection

Initially, three Southeast Asian countries, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, represented each other bids hoping to win the rights to host the tournament. The then-AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam proposed and presented a move to have four host nations for the 2007 Asian Cup to these Southeast Asian states. This led to a scramble to have the fourth host country, which Vietnam was later chosen to co-host alongside the three others.[2]

However, Bin Hammam later regretted this decision and called it his "mistake", citing the financial and logistic difficulties in organising an event across four countries. He said that "It is proving very difficult for [the executive committee as they] have to have four organising committees, four media centres and there are also financial considerations." He also revealed that "[he would] definitely [not do] it [again]", if he had the choice.

In June 2005, the AFC warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On 12 August of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup.[3] However, in October 2006, Thailand was again warned to improve its facilities in 90 days.[4]

Venues

Indonesia Jakarta Indonesia Palembang Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Shah Alam
Gelora Bung Karno Stadium Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium Bukit Jalil National Stadium Shah Alam Stadium
Capacity: 88,083 Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 87,411 Capacity: 80,372
Indonesia Malaysia
Thailand Bangkok Thailand Vietnam Vietnam Hanoi
Rajamangala Stadium Mỹ Đình National Stadium
Capacity: 49,722 Capacity: 40,192
Thailand Bangkok Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City
Supachalasai Stadium Army Stadium
Capacity: 19,793 Capacity: 25,000

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 an 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.

TeamQualified asDate qualification was securedPrevious appearances in tournament1, 2
 IndonesiaCo-hosts7 August 20043 (1996, 2000, 2004)
 Malaysia2 (1976, 1980)
 Thailand5 (1972, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Vietnam32 (19564, 19604)
 AustraliaGroup D winner16 August 20060 (debut)
 QatarGroup F winner6 September 20066 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004)
 JapanGroup A winner6 September 20065 (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Saudi ArabiaGroup A runner-up6 September 20066 (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 IranGroup B winner11 October 200610 (1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 South KoreaGroup B runner-up11 October 200610 (1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 United Arab EmiratesGroup C winner11 October 20066 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004)
 OmanGroup C runner-up11 October 20061 (2004)
 IraqGroup E winner11 October 20065 (1972, 1976, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 ChinaGroup E runner-up11 October 20068 (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 BahrainGroup D runner-up15 November 20062 (1988, 2004)
 UzbekistanGroup F runner-up15 November 20063 (1996, 2000, 2004)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year
2 Italic indicates host
3 Vietnam's debut since the reunification of Vietnam in 1976

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.[5]

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.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
 Indonesia (153)
 Malaysia (152)
 Thailand (137)
 Vietnam (172)		  China (84)
 Iraq (83)
 United Arab Emirates (87)
 Bahrain (97)		  Qatar (58)
 Uzbekistan (45)
 Saudi Arabia (64)
 Oman (72)		  Australia (39)
 Iran (38)
 Japan (47)
 South Korea (51)

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.[6]

(†): Replaced Singapore Shamsul Maidin after he pulled out with injury.[7]

Squads

Tournament summary

Participating countries.
Results of the participating teams

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.[8] 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 the tournament despite high expectations in third place. However, Australia's 4–0 demolition of Thailand at the last match day saw them into 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 witnessed Vietnam's first time ever to qualify into the next round and became the only host to progress through despite being in the group of three different champions. On the other hand, while Malaysia continued its poor form with 0–5 and 0–2 losses to Uzbekistan and Iran, thus going out of the tournament without a 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 in the verge of elimination when Indonesia was beaten 1–2 by Saudi Arabia. However, South Korea finally progressed with a 1–0 win over hosts Indonesia and with Saudi Arabia destroying Bahrain 4–0, it was enough to seal them in.

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.[9] In the other semi-finals, Saudi Arabia eliminated defending champions Japan after a 3–2 win to make an all-Arab affair for the final match.

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.[10]

Group stage

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iraq 3 1 2 0 4 2 +2 5 Advance to knockout stage
2  Australia 3 1 1 1 6 4 +2 4
3  Thailand (H) 3 1 1 1 3 5 −2 4
4  Oman 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
Source: Asian Cup 2007
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Thailand 1–1 Iraq
Sutee 6' (pen.) Report Mahmoud 32'
Attendance: 30,000
Australia 1–1 Oman
Cahill 90+2' Report Al-Maimani 32'
Attendance: 5,000
Oman 0–2 Thailand
Report Pipat 70', 78'
Attendance: 19,000
Iraq 3–1 Australia
Akram 22'
M. Mohammed 60'
Jassim 86'		 Report Viduka 47'
Attendance: 6,000
Referee: Jasim Karim (Bahrain)
Thailand 0–4 Australia
Report Beauchamp 21'
Viduka 80', 83'
Kewell 90'
Attendance: 46,000
Oman 0–0 Iraq
Report
Attendance: 500

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Japan 3 2 1 0 8 3 +5 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Vietnam (H) 3 1 1 1 4 5 −1 4
3  United Arab Emirates 3 1 0 2 3 6 −3 3
4  Qatar 3 0 2 1 3 4 −1 2
Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Japan 1–1 Qatar
Takahara 61' Report Soria 88'
Attendance: 5,000
Qatar 1–1 Vietnam
Soria 79' Report Phan Thanh Bình 32'
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
United Arab Emirates 1–3 Japan
Al-Kass 66' Report Takahara 22', 27'
S. Nakamura 42' (pen.)
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Satop Tongkhan (Thailand)
Vietnam 1–4 Japan
Suzuki 8' (o.g.) Report Maki 12', 59'
Endō 31'
S. Nakamura 53'
Attendance: 40,000
Qatar 1–2 United Arab Emirates
Soria 42' (pen.) Report Al-Kass 60'
Khalil 90+4'
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iran 3 2 1 0 6 3 +3 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Uzbekistan 3 2 0 1 9 2 +7 6
3  China 3 1 1 1 7 6 +1 4
4  Malaysia (H) 3 0 0 3 1 12 −11 0
Source: Asian Cup 2007
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Malaysia 1–5 China
Indra Putra 74' Report Han Peng 15', 55'
Shao Jiayi 36'
Wang Dong 51', 90+3'
Attendance: 21,155
Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)
Uzbekistan 5–0 Malaysia
Shatskikh 10', 89'
Kapadze 30'
Bakayev 45+2' (pen.)
Ibrahimov 85'		 Report
Attendance: 7,137
Malaysia 0–2 Iran
Report Nekounam 29' (pen.)
Teymourian 77'
Attendance: 4,520
Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)
Uzbekistan 3–0 China
Shatskikh 72'
Kapadze 86'
Geynrikh 90+4'		 Report
Attendance: 2,200

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Saudi Arabia 3 2 1 0 7 2 +5 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  South Korea 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4
3  Indonesia (H) 3 1 0 2 3 4 −1 3
4  Bahrain 3 1 0 2 3 7 −4 3
Source: Asian Cup 2007
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Indonesia 2–1 Bahrain
Budi 14'
Bambang 64'		 Report Jalal 27'
Attendance: 60,000
Bahrain 2–1 South Korea
Isa 43'
AbdulLatif 85'		 Report Kim Do-heon 4'
Attendance: 9,000
Referee: Sun Baojie (China)

Knockout stage

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
21 July – Bangkok
 
 
 Iraq2
 
25 July – Kuala Lumpur
 
 Vietnam0
 
 Iraq (pen.)0 (4)
 
22 July – Kuala Lumpur
 
 South Korea0 (3)
 
 Iran0 (2)
 
29 July – Jakarta
 
 South Korea (pen.)0 (4)
 
 Iraq1
 
21 July – Hanoi
 
 Saudi Arabia0
 
 Japan (pen.)1 (4)
 
25 July – Hanoi
 
 Australia1 (3)
 
 Japan2
 
22 July – Jakarta
 
 Saudi Arabia3 Third place
 
 Saudi Arabia2
 
28 July – Palembang
 
 Uzbekistan1
 
 South Korea (pen.)0 (6)
 
 
 Japan0 (5)
 

Quarter-finals

Iraq 2–0 Vietnam
Mahmoud 2', 65' Report
Attendance: 9,720

Semi-finals

Japan 2–3 Saudi Arabia
Nakazawa 37'
Abe 53'		 Report Y. Al-Qahtani 35'
Mouath 47', 57'
Attendance: 10,000

Third place play-off

Final

Iraq 1–0 Saudi Arabia
Mahmoud 72' Report
Attendance: 60,000

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
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal

Awards

Most Valuable Player[11]

Top scorer

Best Goalkeeper[11]

Best Defender[11]

Fair Play Award[11]

Most Entertaining Team[11]

Team of the tournament

The Toshiba All-Star XI was voted for by fans on the official Asian Cup website.[12][13]

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards

South Korea Lee Woon-jae

Iraq Bassim Abbas
Japan Yuji Nakazawa
Iran Rahman Rezaei
Australia Lucas Neill

Japan Shunsuke Nakamura
Australia Harry Kewell
South Korea Lee Chun-soo
Iraq Nashat Akram

Japan Naohiro Takahara
Saudi Arabia Yasser Al-Qahtani

Final standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts PCT Result
1  Iraq 6 3 3 0 7 2 +5 12 .750 1st
2  Saudi Arabia 6 4 1 1 12 6 +6 13 .750 2nd
3  South Korea 6 1 4 1 3 3 0 7 .500 3rd
4  Japan 6 2 3 1 11 7 +4 9 .583 4th
5  Iran 4 2 2 0 6 3 +3 8 .750 Eliminated
in the
quarterfinals
6  Uzbekistan 4 2 0 2 10 4 +6 6 .500
7  Australia 4 1 2 1 7 5 +2 5 .500
8  Vietnam 4 1 1 2 4 7 −3 4 .375
9  China 3 1 1 1 7 6 +1 4 .500 Eliminated
in the
first stage
10  Thailand 3 1 1 1 3 5 −2 4 .500
11  Indonesia 3 1 0 2 3 4 −1 3 .333
12  United Arab Emirates 3 1 0 2 3 6 −3 3 .333
13  Bahrain 3 1 0 2 3 7 −4 3 .333
14  Qatar 3 0 2 1 3 4 −1 2 .333
15  Oman 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2 .333
16  Malaysia 3 0 0 3 1 12 −11 0 .000
Source: rsssf.com

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.[14] 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.[15]

Official song

The AFC selected "I Believe", a 2004 single by Thai singer Tata Young as the tournament's official song.[16]

Sponsorships

Official Sponsors

Official Supporters

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Cities fight for Asian Cup motza". Archived from the original on 28 September 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Việt Nam và ba nước ASEAN làm đồng chủ nhà Asian Cup 2007".
  3. ↑ "Thailand confirmed as AFC Asian Cup 2007 co-host". AFC. 12 August 2005. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007.
  4. ↑ "Thailand handed 90-day Asian Cup reprieve". The Guardian. 17 October 2006. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
  5. ↑ "AFC Asian Cup 2007 Organising Committee approves team classification for Final Draw". AFC. 19 December 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  6. ↑ "Officials announced for Asian Cup". AFC. 21 June 2007. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007.
  7. ↑ "Referee Maidin ruled out through injury". AFC. 26 June 2007. Archived from the original on 10 July 2007.
  8. ↑ "AFC Asian Cup – ESPN Soccernet". Archived from the original on 19 August 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  9. ↑ "Iraq bombs strike football fans", BBC News, 25 July 2007
  10. ↑ The Times of India Sports: Extensive sports coverage, key statistics and free downloads
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Special AFC Awards for 2007 Asian Cup" (in Arabic). Kooora. 29 July 2007.
  12. ↑ "Toshiba All Star XI Contest". AFC Asian Cup. Archived from the original on 7 July 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  13. ↑ "Official All-Star XI". BigSoccer Forum. 18 August 2007.
  14. ↑ "AFC Asian Cup 2007 Official Match Ball launched". AFC. 26 June 2006. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007.
  15. ↑ "Exclusive Pictures: Asian Cup Match Ball". 442 Magazine Australia. 14 May 2007. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
  16. ↑ "SI believe⬝ - bài hát chính thức của Asian cup 2007" (in Vietnamese). Vietnam Football Federation. 25 June 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  17. ↑ Long, Michael (1 June 2012). "AFC announces further sponsorship renewals". SportsPro. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  18. ↑ "[AsiaNet] ING To Sponsor AFC Asian Cup 2007". 매일경제 (in Korean). 5 September 2005. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  19. ↑ "Toshiba Asia Pacific". Toshiba Asia Pacific. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  20. ↑ "YMC Becomes Official Asian Football Confederation Sponsor" (PDF).
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