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Miércoles 23 de marzo de 2005
WORLD CUP 2006: East meets West in Asia
/noticias.info/ Stage 3 of the Asian Zone qualifying competition
for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals continues on March 25 with three
West Asian teams facing home ties against opponents from East and
Central Asia, while Bahrain travel to Pyongyang to face Korea DPR –
the potential surprise package after they impressed in a narrow 2-1
loss in Japan last month.
In Group 1, Gabriel Calderón~Rs Saudi Arabia, who nicked a point
against Uzbekistan in their opening match, will welcome to Dammam
Jo Bonfrere~Rs Korea Republic, the section’s early leaders after a
2-0 victory over Kuwait. On the same day, the Peace and Friendship
Stadium in Kuwait City will play host to visiting Uzbekistan. Group 2,
meanwhile, provides a mouthwatering duel in Tehran between Iran and
Asian champions Japan. In the other match, Bahrain ~V under their new
temporary coach Wolfgang Sidka – will take to the artificial turf of
the Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang to face Korea DPR.
For Japan and Korea Republic, these look awkward assignments away to
Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both sides have home matches five days later
and coaches Zico and Bonfrere will hope fatigue does not affect their
players following these trips.
Saudi Arabia v Korea Republic
The 2002 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists, Korea Republic, may have
claimed one more win than their rivals in seven previous meetings, but
it was the Middle Eastern side who were victorious in their most recent
encounter ~V a 2-1 success in the semi-final of the 2000 Asian Cup
in Lebanon. Two second-half goals from Talal Al Meshal won the match
Saudi Arabia, with Lee Dong-gook’s last-gasp effort only a consolation.
There have been a lot of changes to both sides since then. Saudi
Arabia are in a transitional period with their old guard gone and
a new generation coming through, and they were held last month by
Uzbekistan, a team who they had overwhelmed 5-0 in Lebanon three years
ago. Recent friendly results do not bode well either as they suffered
morale-denting defeats against Egypt (1-0) and Finland (4-1). That
latter loss was the Saudis’ heaviest since they were thrashed 8-0 by
Germany at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
As for the South Koreans, they did not look their old selves against
Kuwait last month but still won 2-0. Bonfrere’s side spent a week
at a training camp in the United Arab Emirates before travelling to
Dammam and there the coach is expected to pin his hopes on striker
Lee Dong-gook, whose army service officially ends on the day of the
game. The 25-year-old, who has a reputation for scoring vital goals,
said: “I scored against Saudi Arabia in the last match so I can do
it again this time. This will be my last match as a soldier and the
best way to celebrate is to score a goal.”
Yoo Sang-chul has been recalled to organise the backline but Eintracht
Frankfurt striker Cha Doo-ri is again absent as he continues to serve
his four-match suspension for an elbowing incident in Vietnam during
the first round of World Cup qualifiers last year.
Kuwait v Uzbekistan
These sides have only met once before, in the Asian Games in 1998 when
they played out a 3-3 draw. But their stunning performances in the
second phase ~V Kuwait eliminated China PR and Uzbekistan finished
ahead of Iraq – will not have escaped each other’s attention. The
Uzbekistan coach, Hans Jurgen Gede, can call on the forward power of
Maksim Shatskikh of Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev and Ilyas Zeytullayev
of Italy’s Reggina. To bolster his defensive line, meanwhile, he has
called up the naturalised Vladimir Radkevich to play alongside the
experienced Nikolay Shirshov.
Kuwait coach Slobodan Pavkovic has no big-name players but he can take
confidence from his side’s impressive home form. They scored eleven
times in three qualifying victories last year, which proved vital to
them edging past group favourites China on goal difference. They will
have drawn further confidence from a recent 3-1 friendly victory over
Armenia, when Ali Abdulreda, Badr Al Mutawa and Ahmed Al Subaih were
all on target.
Iran v Japan
Much will be expected when these two star-studded sides, the
continent’s leading pair in the FIFA world rankings, meet for the first
time since their goalless draw in the Asian Cup last July. For Iran
coach Branko Ivankovic, the home match presents an opportunity to climb
a point clear of leaders Japan with victory and with this in mind he
has already revealed his intention of employing an attacking formation
in Saturday’s match. He will hope his trio of Bundesliga-based stars
– Vahid Hashemian, Moharram Navidkia and Mehdi Mahdavikia ~V are not
too rusty, however, having had limited first-team opportunities lately.
Japan coach Zico has included six overseas-based players in his squad,
including Fiorentina midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, back after almost a
year’s absence. Zico will certainly have been relieved to see Shinji
Ono join up with the squad at their training camp in Frankfurt
following a change of heart by his club side, Feyenoord, who had
initially refused to release Ono, who has only just recovered from
an ankle injury. Japan’s domestic-based players arrived in Germany
on 17 March for several days’ training in Frankfurt before departing
for Tehran.
“We’ll go out to win both these two matches (with Iran and Bahrain) and
will play them as if they were finals,” Zico told the JFA website. But
with key defenders Makoto Tanaka and Alex suspended for this match
and goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi sidelined by a broken finger,
concerns remain over how their weakened rearguard will cope in Tehran.
Korea DPR v Bahrain
Bahrain’s prospects are not helped by coach Sckreco Juricic~Rs stunning
recent resignation. The former national coach Wolfgang Sidka, now
in charge at club league side Al Arabi, has been persuaded to take
temporary charge for this month’s matches against Korea DPR and Japan,
but question marks linger about the effect on team morale, particularly
with key striker Ala~Ra Hubail absent. Hubail, the leading scorer
in the 2004 Asian Cup, was injured during last month’s 0-0 draw with
Iran and faces a cartilage operation.
As for Korea DPR, they very nearly surprised Japan in their last
qualifier and have underlined their threat since by overrunning Guam,
Chinese Taipei, Mongolia and Hong Kong in the recent qualifiers for
July~Rs EAFF (East Asian Football Federation) Championship. They
scored 31 times without reply in four matches. Bahrain will have to
find their feet quickly on the artificial turn in Pyongyang.
–Boundary_(ID_e+oYmNdZkcZViP2P732paw)–