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Paul Williams is an Adelaide-based football writer. Specialising in Asian football, he writes about the beautiful game for a host of publications including Arab News and Football Today, and also co-hosts The Asian Game podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @PaulWilliams_85.
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When it comes to expanding the FIFA World Cup to 48 teams, people fall into two clearly defined groups – those who are for it and those who are against it. There’s very little in the middle.
“There is still a lot of cynicism, and misinformation, when it comes to Qatar, but this side of mostly home-grown talent can go a long way to silencing the critics in the UAE.”
Having been based in Al Ain for the last few days, it’s fair to say it’s been a quieter build up to the commencement of the quarterfinals than that I would have experienced in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, especially the latter which hosts two of the four matches.
As I sit in the back of a car en-route to Abu Dhabi from Dubai, where I’ve spent the first ten days of this Asian Cup, it’s one of the first moments to sit back and take stock of the events that have unfolded over the first ten days of this tournament.
Ask five different people who will the Asian Cup, which got underway late last night, and you’ll likely get five different answers.
Who could forget Iraq’s improbable triumph in the 2007 Asian Cup when, against all the odds, they defeated Saudi Arabia in the final to win their first continental trophy?
Every team goes into any major tournament with aspirations of winning, but there are those teams for which that isn’t a realistic possibility.
It seems ridiculous to say that an event 1436 days in the making has crept up on us, but that’s exactly what the 2019 AFC Asian Cup has done.
Melbourne Victory’s Japanese superstar Keisuke Honda experienced the highs and lows of football this week as he was on each side of a 4-1 scoreline.
The final ball hadn’t even been kicked in Russia before some – mostly European media – started to get themselves into a lather over the fact Qatar will be the next host of the FIFA World Cup.
Asia’s run at the 2018 FIFA World Cup may have ended with Japan’s crushing loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 last week, but its influence is still being felt as we get towards the business end of the competition.
Before the World Cup, Hyundai, in their infinite wisdom, invited Australians to “have a fling with football”. A “fling” – no emotion, just four weeks of fun and frivolity.
As far as opening games go, it may not have been as bad (at least where the score is concerned) as their 8-0 loss to Germany in 2002, but Saudi Arabia’s listless opening day performance against an average Russia was about as bad as it got.
When FFA appointed Dutchman Bert van Marwijk as coach back in January we all knew what we were getting.
The long-anticipated delegation from FIFA and AFC arrives in town this week, as they look the mediate a resolution between the FFA and the club owners regarding the make-up of the FFA Congress – and, ultimately, the future of the game in Australia.
Jumpei Kusukami’s recent departure from Western Sydney Wanderers would’ve barely registered on the radar of most A-League fans.
Whether we like it or not, football runs fourth in Australia when it comes to professional sports – behind AFL, rugby league and cricket. The battle for relevancy is real.
Some people, including myself, would say too much football is never enough. But in the Australian sporting landscape, when most major media outlets are still digesting the AFL and NRL grand finals, is too much football too much?
