High Intensity – From The Stands Asian Cup – Day 3 Review
Over 22,000 people witnessed another two high-octane entertaining fixtures of the 2015 Asian Cup. The two fixtures of Group C took place in Canberra and Melbourne and involved 4 teams from West Asia in United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran and Bahrain.
Game 1 Final Result:
United Arab Emirates 4 (Ahmed Khalil 37’, 52’. Ali Mabkhout 56’, 89’) defeated Qatar 1 (Khalfan Ibrahim 22’).
The first blow out of the tournament occurred when a class U.A.E side swept aside their close rivals. Like most games so far in the tournament, the game started openly with opportunities falling to both sides and both as well displaying defensive vulnerabilities. It became clear rather early though that the Emirates were going to trouble Qatar more.
Despite this, it was Qatar who opened the scoring in the 22’ minute when a saved shot fell to the feet of Khalfan Ibrahim who was well positioned outside the box. He then rather cleverly chipped the ball over the keeper precisely and hit the back of the net. This seemed to give Qatar a bit more belief as they threatened for the next few minutes highlighted by a shot hitting the side netting shortly after.
However, it seemed only a matter of time before the United Arab Emirates hit back and this came when a goalmouth scramble ended with Ahmed Khalil rather inadvertently putting the ball in the net.
The dominance of the U.A.E continued after the break and it didn’t take long for them to find the back of the net. Ahmed Khalil again found the back of the net, this time through a free kick which maybe left the goalkeeper unsighted and the ball crept in.
At this point, the result wasn’t in question and another piece of questionable goalkeeping resulted in Ali Mabkhout pouncing on the rebound of a free kick and calmly slotting it home and he wasn’t done yet either. Mabkhout then rounded out the result when a counter attack caught Qatar short on the counter and finished the game appropriately.
Crowd: 5,513
It may have been the smallest crowd of the competition but it didn’t sound like it. As we have grown accustomed to in the fixtures before this there was plenty of colour and noise amongst the gathered. So overall, this crowd will be seen as a good one particularly given the less than welcome conditions of the past 24 hours.
FTS Man Of the match: Ahmead Khalil. The striker proved a nuisance for the Qatar defense and made use of his limited opportunities pouncing first in the box and then placing a solid free kick in the bottom corner to send them on their way.
Game 2 Final Result:
Iran 2 (Hajsafi 45+2’, Shojaei 71’) defeated Bahrain 0.
It was very much a case of a team both outclassing an opponent as well as riding the atmosphere provided by the fans as Iran defeated Bahrain. However in defeat Bahrain provided some glimpses which may suggest they can make an effect on the tournament yet.
In fact it was the unfancied team in red who looked the most dangerous in the first twenty or so minutes. In a start of few chances the best came in the form of a penalty shout when Ismail Abdullatif went down in the box and then shot wide in frustration shortly after.
However Iran slowly clawed their way back into the match and their first chance was denied in the 20th minute when Bahrain goalkeeper Jaafar saved a one on one opportunity Ashkan Delaware who was through on goal.
The breakthrough came in first half injury time with a corner being punched clear by Bahrain goalkeeper Jaafar. Unfortunately it landed at the feet of Ehsan Hajsafi, who was clever enough to lob the ball into the right corner of the net beating Jaafar.
The second half was completely different from the first half. The pace slowed down and one team was very much in control. It took 12 minutes for a meaningful effort to be hit on goal and it was a rather surprising one. The Iran goalkeeper was able to tip a Jaycee Okwunwanne shot over the bar.
The game was soon put beyond doubt when Masoud Shojaei volleyed a corner with his weaker left foot into the bottom left corner of the net. This sent the Iranian faithful into party mode and both sides hardly threatened the opponent’s goals from that point on.
Crowd: 17,712
Probably the noisiest crowd of the tournament so far greeted the teams and it wasn’t only a home match for Iran on the team sheet, as a healthy amount of expats turned out to cheer on their former country. When we look back on the event which is the Asian Cup, this may be viewed as one of the most memorable events off the pitch.
FTS Man Of the match: Can we call this a tie? Two players really impressed me in this fixture, they were Ashkan Dejagah who seemed to run Bahrain to the ground or Masoud Shojaei who had a good game and finished the game off in the 72nd minute
| UAE | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Iran | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Bahrain | 1 | 0 | -2 |
| Qatar | 1 | 0 | -3 |
Asian Cup 2015 Attendance Running Total : 85,643
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