Asian Cup ‘starts now’

WITH the big powers all having negotiated the expanded Asian Cup group stage safely enough, the tournament gets going in earnest in the UAE today with the first of the sudden-death round of 16 ties.

First of the former champions out of the blocks are Iran, who take on Oman for the right to play China or Thailand in the last eight.

Team Melli cruised through their group unbeaten and should make light work of Pim Verbeek’s Oman, who progressed as one of the best third-placed teams by virtue of a sole win over Turkmenistan.

“The real Asian Cup starts now,” coach Carlos Queiroz said. “It is everything for the winner, nothing for the losers. There is no room for mistakes, no room for regrets, there is no room for sorry, no room for tomorrow. It is just here and now.

“Ninety minutes trying to play the best football you can, and with good inspiration and great character trying to be the best team on the pitch.”

Jordan battle it out with Vietnam in Dubai for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Jordan’s victory over Australia in their first match was the biggest shock of the tournament so far and they went through ahead of the reigning champions as the winners of Group B.

That has given coach Vital Borkelmans huge belief that they can reach a quarterfinal against either four-time champions Japan or three-time winners Saudi Arabia.

Vietnam squeaked into the knockout stages by virtue of a better disciplinary record than Lebanon but coach Park Hang-seo has developed something of a Midas touch and another night of celebration in Hanoi is not out of the question. Football-inspired celebrations in China have been few and far between since they lost the 2004 Asian Cup final to Japan in Beijing and Marcello Lippi’s team stumbled into the last 16 after a 2-0 loss to South Korea. The Italian World

Cup winner confirmed that he was wary of the Thais. “They changed the coach after the first match they played and they changed the tactics and basic formation,” he said. “But what is important is they have changed their attitude. They are very aggressive. They play at a high intensity and we have to be smart and ready.”

Thailand’s caretaker coach Sirisak Yodyadthai always suspected that Wu would play and said his side would be more focused on their own game.

“We’re ready and we’ll give it a go against China,” he said. “We don’t feel like we are the underdog and we hope to play (to) our full potential tomorrow.”

Jordan v Vietnam (1pm SA time); Thailand v China PR (4pm); Iran v Oman (7pm)