Asia
Howler Files: The Gods Are Cruel.
By: chris |
No Comments
We’ve seen this so often. Goalkeeper does the “smart” thing by aiming to prevent conceding a corner kick and in the process wind up conceding something so much worse. In this case, Yokohama Marinos keeper Hiroki Iikura is especially generous, ushering in Gamba Osaka’s goal with a free ball and the appropriate arm motion. Hashimoto [...]
Category: AsiaAnd We All Fall Down
By: Daryl | 5 Comments
Dirty Tackle beat us to this by about three days, but it’s too good not to post. It’s from the May 19th Asian Champions League game between China’s Tianjin Teda and Australia’s Central Coast Mariners. Very nice PDF match report here (maybe the future really is Asia?)
Tianjin are 1-0 up and CCM have a corner [...]
Category: AsiaBhaichung Bhutia Sparks Club vs Dancing Show Debate
By: Daryl | 1 Comment
Step aside club vs country. The new argument is club vs celebrity dancing show.
India’s most famous footballer Bhaichung Bhutia has fallen out with his I-League club Mohun Bagan over his appearances on celebrity dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (think Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing With the Stars).
The 32 year old Bhutia (who’s also national team captain) received [...]
Category: AsiaA Name to Remember: Lee Keun-Ho
By: Daryl | 1 Comment
Take a look at this J-League goal from Jubilo Iwata’s South Korean attacker Lee Keun-Ho. Dribbling along the touchline Lee goes around the keeper and then back inside before slotting it home to make it six goals in six games for the 24 year old since he traded K-League for J-League.
Category: AsiaAnother Day, Another Assault In Chinese Football
By: chris | 1 Comment
You know, ever since China pulled its domestic competition from terrestrial television for too cozily resembling martial arts and bringing in a strict disciplinarian to clean up the league, the only thing Chinese football makes the news for is….resembling martial arts. Though I suppose that’s typically the case with second (or third…or fourth) tier quality [...]
Category: AsiaCui Peng: China’s Bad Boy. Sort Of.
By: chris | 1 Comment
The state of the game in China is pretty poor. The athletic standards are low and most games turn into impromptu martial arts tournament, forcing the decision makers to pull Chinese football from domestic TV. So the authorities brought in Nan Yong to shape up the game and one of his first moves was to [...]
Category: AsiaChina Pulls Its Own League From Television
By: chris | 3 Comments
China has decided to remove TV coverage of their top league due to excessive pitch violence which turns football matches into impromptu martial arts competitions. So CCTV, China’s gov’t television, will be showing more games from top European competitions - the English FA is already salivating - in lieu of their domestic league.
Let’s look [...]
Category: AsiaJapan’s Attempt to Curb Arsenal-itis
By: chris | 2 Comments
Some clubs bring the full cavalry to their cup matches because it’s the only competition they have a chance at making a decent showing. Other clubs have more important things to worry about. Like fatigue, injuries, other competitions, and how the owner’s going to feel about losing a superduperstar to injury for the year up [...]
Adelaide United Need to Look Before They Pass
By: Daryl | No Comments
Adelaide United are the first Australian team to make it to the Asian Champions League Final, where they faced Gamba Osaka in the first leg today. So you can imagine the weight of expectation. Unfortunately, the A-Leaguers pretty much threw away the trophy with two criminally slack passes.
Category: AsiaAsian Champions League Final Set; Wikipedia Predicts Winner.
By: chris | 1 Comment
Defending champs Urawa Red Diamonds had the upper hand as they hosted Gamba Osaka in the semifinal of the Asian CL semifinals today, having drawn in Osaka through The Almighty Away Goal. They made it 2-1 in the first half, but 45 minutes and some shoddy corner defending later, Gamba were through to their first [...]
Category: Asia
Tags: adelaide united, Asia, Asian Champions League, FC Budyonkor, Gamba Osaka, J-League, Urawa Red Diamonds, WikipediaChinese Fan Gives Up on Football to Become a Monk
By: Daryl | 2 Comments
Have you ever been so frustrated with your team’s fortunes that you just want to give up watching football altogether? You know the feeling. One man in China certainly does.
Mei Nansheng - also known as “the iron trumpet” - was apparently a huge fan of his local team F.C. Wuhan. But Wuhan has had all [...]
Category: AsiaWhen in Goal, Attention Span Is Everything
By: Laurie | 1 Comment
Looks like this J-League goalkeeper forgot his Ritalin.
And while I was trying to figure out where that video came from (no luck so far — anybody?) I came up with this one.
Calling All Brazilians To Uzbekistan
By: chris | 5 Comments
Go ahead, name one club in the Uzbek League beside the one just below your line of sight. Can you? Doubt it. And if you can and don’t live within the country’s borders, it’s time for a hobby.
FC Bunyodkor, that club which made a big theatrical production out of Samuel Eto’o (and half of Barca, [...]
Category: AsiaJapanese Fan Attacks Players On Pitch
By: chris | 5 Comments
Add this to the list of many reasons why the J. League needs to come mainstream. Kashiwa player Alex was lining up to take a standard corner against the Kashima Antlers when a fan wielding a giant flag whacked him upside the head with it. Alex stayed down for a while but got back up [...]
Photo: Incentives Work
By: chris | 1 Comment
Win a tournament you usually get a trophy. Not in Iraq, where the Asia Cup 2007 winning team will get a stadium in their honor. Decent incentive, eh? Maybe more federations should employ this line of thinking. (Sabah Arar/AFP/ Getty Images)
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