man, that no 9 saudi guy Malek is damn quick...i can;t believe he will shoot for the 3rd goal from that position, but excellent goal, credit to him!!
Malek is unbelievable player. I reckon there isnt a better forward than him in Asia. Yasser gets all the goals like Inzaghi, but IMO Malek is the one who possess the creativity, movement, to unlock the defence. The reason I feared Malek is that he is extremely difficult to pick up. You can't give him to much room because he can dribble at you, but if you stay too close to him, he simply moves deep into his own terriority, starts attack from there leaving defence totally shapeless. One thing for sure though, Malek and Yasser complement each other extremely well, espcially on the break.
One thing i was very furious was the attitude of saudi keeper...he fell down and rolled over and over again as if he has shot in his chest by ak47...it was not a sportsman behaviour and it was a big SHAME to the greatest AFC game so far...
I agree. I thought Saudi keeper played a bit of gamesmanship out there. Fair enough to him, he wasnt half as bad as Iraqi keeper, who went down like he was shot everytime he made a save or tow.
Sad to see Japan out, they played wonderfully, bear in the mind, this is not the strongest J team, Takahara was too isolated, he should have a better, stronger striking partner...but i am sure Japan will come back again, in terms of team overall performance, Japan still come out on top..
Good mention on Takahara my friend. I have expressed my doubts on Maki. As a matter of fact, I have never been impressed with him eversince he made his debut under Zico with East-Asia Cup. Maki is a real good boy. I guarantee you that. He recently got married so that he can concentrate on his game and make himself fully available for Asia Cup and World Cup. That alone makes him coaches' favorite. Add to that Osim coached Maki for many years under Chiba JEF Utd. you know Maki was bound to be given a lot of minutes in this competition. The problem is that coming into competition his goal ration was 5 goals in 20 games. Choi Jae-Jin who is currently top scorer in J-League and has a slightly better strike ratio than Maki career wise, can't get a goal in this competition, the chances of Maki scoring is pretty much zero (bar Vietnam of course). Maki works his socks off for teammates, but at this level of competition, you got to have a bit of edge, and beside, his movement overlaps too much with Takahara. Pity Sato isnt too much upgrade either.
If this team is to improve we got find a quality segunda punta like Saudi's. Oguro, Tanaka, Tamada, Suzuki, Yanigisawa, Kubo are some of the strikers that played over the years, but none of them really impressed. My bet is on Morimoto Takayuki. The kid can be a real phenom even for a European standards. I mean how many Asian players will dare to meg Carlos when he was just 16. And look out for Mizuno. I secretly hoped he will be given chance in his competition, but believe me, once he matures as a player, you want find a better playmaker in Asia than Mizuno. With his looks, he got potential to take up the mantle left by Nakata as a heart throb.
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