Group A Dominate and Advance! – From The Stands Asian Cup – Semi Finals Review
Just under 60,000 people attended the Semi Finals of the Asian Cup., which both went to script to set up an intriguing final this Saturday night.
South Korea vs Iraq
Goals from Lee Jeong-hyeop and Kim Young-gwon helped the Korean Republic see off Iraq in a one sided Semi-Final at Stadium Australia in Sydney. Both teams came into the match having been forced into extra time in their respective quarter finals. Korea came into the game having beat Uzbekistan narrowly in extra time whilst Iraq got past Iran in possibly the match of the tournament on penalties. However you wouldn’t have known on the night as one team seemed a class and step above on the night.
The game started off in front of a vocal crowd with both the Korean and Iraq populations turning up in force. However it didn’t take long for the favourites to take control with the first chance coming from a Han Kyo-won header which just missed the target. In fact the Korean Republic managed to have 92% of possession in the first ten minutes. At that point it began to feel like a bombardment, with waves of attack trying to break down the Iraqi defense with just the occasional counter attack going the other way.
It was only a matter of time for them breakthrough to arrive from a set piece. Kim Jin-su floated in a beautiful free kick which Jeong-hyeop expertly placed into the bottom left corner of the net. This put the Koreans ahead and you really couldn’t see the Iraqi’s bouncing back and equalizing let alone winning the game.
Iraq’s first shot on target came in the 37th minute when Alaa Abdul Zahra had a header from a corner saved. However that was as close as Iraq were going to get in the first half of the game which fizzled out from that point on.
The second half started very much as the first half ended. The game was put to bed in the 50th minute when a high ball was chested down into the path of Young-gwon who rocketed the ball into the net to give Korea what seemed an unassailable lead, even with 40 minutes to go in the match.
Despite this Iraq didn’t lie down as they made several attacking changes and tried to push to get themselves back into the game. They came closest in the 76th minute when a cross was headed over by Ahmed with an open goal but by that point of the game it was all over.
Korea now go on to face Australia in the Final at the same venue while Iraq play in the dreaded third placed playoff against the UAE in Newcastle.
Crowd 36,053. All things taken into perspective. This attendance was really impressive. It had been raining heavily all day in Sydney and when you take into consideration that the match competes with Australia Day events as well as the cricket. This crowd definitely gets the pass mark and at points it sounded more like 50k plus.
Australia vs United Arab Emirates.
A couple of early goals ensured that the hosts progress to the Final of the Asian Cup. Overall it was an uninspiring game on an uninspiring day in Newcastle for this match.
It started off well for the Socceroos with a couple of early corners to shake off any nerves or cobwebs. The second of which resulted in a goal when a Massimo Luongo corner found a free leaping Trent Sainsbury who obliged and put it into the net. Thanks should go to Tim Cahill as well who proved he was a pest in the box dragging defenders away from the scorer.
It was by far the best start to a match which the green and gold have had, gaining ascendency by pushing the UAE well and playing to their wide strengths. However, we now know that the UAE are no pushovers as they quickly countered which resulted in Khalil hitting the base of the right post.
However any Emirates advancement was thwarted shortly after with Jason Davidson scoring his first socceroos goal by smartly placing a ball into bottom left corner of the net after some good lead up play from Luongo who managed to scramble the ball into the path of the West Bromwich Albion full back.
The game then went through what was probably its quietest stage, with the Socceroos not really having to over commit to their attacks and the Emirates struggling to get into the game. The Emirates showed promise towards the latter stages of the half with Franjic producing a quality challenge to deny them a chance and then Khalil having a go from outside the box.
The half concluded with a brief period of Socceroos possession which this time concluded in a shot from Milligan which went just wide. At half time the score was 2-0 and the Socceroos looked sloppy but unchallenged.
The second half began much like how the first began with the Emirates producing some quality football but failing at with the final ball. Their best chance however did come to close to the end when a superb Trent Sainsbury tackle denied a golden opportunity. Another notable chance however was in the 51st minute when their best player for the night Khalil launched a rocket which just missed Ryan’s left post.
At the other end the Socceroos still managed to produce good opportunities. The first coming from Spiranovic whose header was deflected wide. The best chance for the green and gold came when Luongo produced a finesse shot which was tipped wide (even if the ref thought it wasn’t, giving it as a goal kick).
The game finished with the Socceroos proving a step too far for the UAE who looked to have played their final against Japan in the quarters. The Socceroos now play the final against Korea and UAE face Iraq in the third place playoff.
There was a special guest in the crowd too!
In Newcastle.Good luck Australia and UAE in the semifinal of @afcasiancup #ADP10GlobalAmbassador @Socceroos #AUSvUAE pic.twitter.com/B9rtyUiQfs
— Alessandro Del Piero (@delpieroale) January 27, 2015
Crowd 21,079: As expected by basically everyone, the crowd was mainly dressed in green and gold. However at points they were disappointingly quiet. However the main point coming from it is the lack of tickets particularly available for the hills. It could well have drawn more people, but Newcastle was perhaps not the ideal stadium to host a massive crowd. Nonetheless, the majority of the crowd would have been happy with their night out in football-centric Newcastle.
Asian Cup 2015 Attendance Running Total: 561,178
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