Iraq and Vietnam meet in soccer match

[MisterE]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=221886&cc=5901

Mahmoud double sends Iraq into Asian Cup semis

BANGKOK, July 21 (Reuters) - Striker Younis Mahmoud scored twice to give Iraq a convincing 2-0 victory over Vietnam in an entertaining Asian Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

The Iraqi captain popped up unmarked inside the area to head Nashat Akram's lofted free kick into the net after two minutes and set the tone for the rest of the match.

Iraq were always on the attack and doubled their lead in the 65th minute when Mahmoud fired an inch-perfect free kick over the Vietnam wall and into the corner.

The victory was marred, however, by news that two people had been killed and 15 others wounded when Iraqis fired weapons into the air during celebrations in Baghdad on Saturday.

It was fourth-time lucky for Iraq, who have been knocked out at the quarter-final stage in the last three Asian Cups.

Their Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira, however, said he was not satisfied with the performance.

'I hope we can play much better in the next game, it was good, but I'm not satisfied,' he told a news conference.

'We were not so positive, we relaxed after the goal, and this is dangerous.

Vieira said it was too early to talk about the possibility of Iraq winning the competition.

'We have a right to dream but we have to keep our feet on the floor,' he said.

Vietnam rarely threatened but could have equalised on the stroke of halftime when Chau Phong Hoa darted down the left and cut the ball back to the unmarked Nguyen Minh Phuong, whose powerful low shot was blocked by the Iraqi defence.

A vibrant atmosphere made up for the vast number of empty seats at the Rajamangala stadium, where flag-waving Vietnamese and Iraqi fans dressed in national colours blew horns and pounded on drums.

Mahmoud almost made it a hat-trick two minutes after his second goal when he side-footed the ball over the bar, and was agonisingly close in the dying seconds when he was put clean through on goal and shot wide of the target.

Vietnam coach Alfred Rieldl admitted his side were totally outplayed, but commended them for their performance in the competition.

'We had 90 minutes and we didn't even have one chance to win the game,' he said.

'We caused a sensation in Vietnam to reach the quarter-finals. No one expected us to get this far.'

Iraq will meet the winners of Sunday's match between South Korea and Iran in the semi-finals in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

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I was looking forward to this match after seeing the potential meeting of this two in the quarters last week. I can just see The Onion and Jon Stewart doing stories on this next week. The Vietnamese players should be giving tips to the Iraqi players after the game on how to get rid of that pesky American problem both seem to have had. The tournament just keeps getting more interesting for Americans when next week Iraq will face either Iran or South Korea where we have fought another conflict in the latter and have a looming conflict on the former. Enjoy your 2007 Asian Cup.

[DEAD!]

I was thinking about the Iraq-Vietnam matchup just because of the wars the Americans have been in, but it would have been far more interesting had it been North Korea playing rather than South Korea.

Now let's consider the semi-finalists:

Iraq v Korea Republic

Japan v Saudi Arabia

It would be interesting to see Iraq v Saudi Arabia or Japan v South Korea in the final.

[MisterE]

I was thinking about the Iraq-Vietnam matchup just because of the wars the Americans have been in, but it would have been far more interesting had it been North Korea playing rather than South Korea.

Now let's consider the semi-finalists:

Iraq v Korea Republic

Japan v Saudi Arabia

It would be interesting to see Iraq v Saudi Arabia or Japan v South Korea in the final.

If you count the terrorist organizations in Saudi Arabia; we've fought all of them!

[rams80]

I was thinking about the Iraq-Vietnam matchup just because of the wars the Americans have been in, but it would have been far more interesting had it been North Korea playing rather than South Korea.

Now let's consider the semi-finalists:

Iraq v Korea Republic

Japan v Saudi Arabia

It would be interesting to see Iraq v Saudi Arabia or Japan v South Korea in the final.

Interesting like the '68 Water Polo match between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was?

[DEAD!]

I was thinking about the Iraq-Vietnam matchup just because of the wars the Americans have been in, but it would have been far more interesting had it been North Korea playing rather than South Korea.

Now let's consider the semi-finalists:

Iraq v Korea Republic

Japan v Saudi Arabia

It would be interesting to see Iraq v Saudi Arabia or Japan v South Korea in the final.

Interesting like the '68 Water Polo match between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was?

no... interesting like the '56 Water Polo match between the Soviet Union and Hungary

[rams80]

I was thinking about the Iraq-Vietnam matchup just because of the wars the Americans have been in, but it would have been far more interesting had it been North Korea playing rather than South Korea.

Now let's consider the semi-finalists:

Iraq v Korea Republic

Japan v Saudi Arabia

It would be interesting to see Iraq v Saudi Arabia or Japan v South Korea in the final.

Interesting like the '68 Water Polo match between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was?

no... interesting like the '56 Water Polo match between the Soviet Union and Hungary

*smacks head*

As soon as I posted that, I thought, "You know what, I bet it was Hungary, not the Czechs".

[Fred T. Jane]

Interesting like the '68 Water Polo match between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was?

That would be ice hockey at the World Championships in 1969. I think there was about 150 PIMs in that game.

[BB61]

Interesting like the '68 Water Polo match between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was?

That would be ice hockey at the World Championships in 1969. I think there was about 150 PIMs in that game.

It's still not the Punch-Up in Piestany!

[Fred T. Jane]

It's still not the Punch-Up in Piestany!

That may be true, but there was quite an amusing exchange between two players when a Czech player was being given a game misconduct, a Soviet player remarked to him "When you get to Siberia, tell my brother I said hi!"

[Alphabet Man]

The first four teams into the quarters were interesting

Australia

Iraq

Japan

Korea

all countries that were enemies in war.

I don't think the Socceroos cared too much for the Asian Cup really.

[HedleyLamarr]

So that's their excuse, eh?

[Alphabet Man]

That's the easiest way of putting.

Other excuses.....

Graham Arnold is a coach, playing players based on reputation not on ability and form

Lucas Neill being undisciplined v Iraq and playing his worst games in an Australian jersey

Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill unable to convert from the penalty spot

Vinnie Grella being sent off, rather controversially

The team being well underdone leading in, playing the one warm up match, not sure what the cancelled Argentina match would have done

John Kosmina being the worst assistant coach in the world

Mark Viduka not quitting

Graham Arnold holding back on playing the A-League players (Archie Thompson, Mark Milligan, David Carney, Nicky Carle) who are in form and play a higher tempo style of football

Graham Arnold's whole 'Green Football' idea to combat the hot and humid conditions

The stadiums being empty, the Socceroos always have played better in front of bigger crowds

I could rant on further about Arnold's inability to coach but I wont

[DEAD!]

Welcome to the Asian confederation Alphabet Man. Playing Iraq isn't like playing the Solomon Islands. Yeah, empty stadiums as an excuse. Good one

[Alphabet Man]

Hang on, i didn't make that up, that's what the players were complaining about amongst many other things

[jr79]

The Socceroos problems nearly all disappeared once we switched to a 3-5-2 formation that suited the players better, and replaced the hopelessly out of form Patrick Kisnorbo in defence. Japan was always going to be a tough game that could go either way, and it went to penalties after the referee killed us all game.

[Alphabet Man]

Well Jon, I went to the footy instead, at least my team won in that lol.

[DEAD!]

Hang on, i didn't make that up, that's what the players were complaining about amongst many other things

I didn't think you would make it up. Soccer players do make the lamest excuses for losing. It's not them, it's something else.... I'm surprised they didn't complain about the pitch.

[Alphabet Man]

Oh they have, about the conditions being hot and humid.

The grassrolling by opposisition to stop momentum we had, was frustrating to watch.

How do we stop grassrolling?

Like Oman did, if they keep doing it, just play on, they'll learn that we won't stop the game for them. But then it will be like the boy who cried wolf when someone is actually injured.

If a player goes off on a stretcher, at the moment they can just get off the pitch and run straight back on, they should be forced to stay off for 5mins.

[Breakwood]

The Asian final is set after today saw two upsets. With Japan and South Korea both in seperate semi-finals, it was expected that they would meet in the finals. However Japan lost 3-2 against Saudi Arabia, and South Korea lost on penalties to Iraq to set-up an improbable all-middle eastern showdown on Sunday between Iraq and Saudia Arabia.

[Alphabet Man]

I'd like to see Iraq win it.