The brand new millennium noticed over 40 international locations enter the Asian Cup hoping to dethrone holders Saudi Arabia, with the match being held in Lebanon for the primary time.
Asian Cup 2000
Winner: Japan
Runner-up: Saudi Arabia
Host: Lebanon
As with 1996, the finals match was a 12-team competitors, divided into three teams, so with Lebanon and Saudi Arabia already confirmed as qualifiers, this left 10 teams of qualification video games, with the group winners making it to the finals.
The 1996 qualification match had seen some mismatches and blow-out scores as newer nations confronted established forces and this proved to be the case with the 2000 qualification video games as two world document scores had been set inside a month of one another.
First, Guam entered the Group 9 qualification match in Vietnam and, after an 11-0 beating by the hosts, suffered a humiliating 19-0 defeat to China PR.
Then, a month later in Kuwait, the hosts took on Bhutan. In a sport made well-known within the documentary ‘The Different Ultimate’, Kuwait slaughtered the outmatched Bhutanese 20-0, with Bashar Abdullah racking up eight objectives and Jasem Al-Huwaidi six.
In each instances, the successful groups certified for the finals after successful all group video games, Kuwait after scoring 33 objectives and China PR 29.
The hole between established nations with the precise sources and people both new to the sport or with out that useful resource was proven throughout this qualification match to have grown massively, with groups like Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Maldives and Nepal all struggling massive defeats as they struggled via the competitors.
With just one group from every group to qualify, it result in some shut battles and a few massive names lacking out on the finals, with Uzbekistan beating 1996 finalists UAE to the highest spot in Group 3, whereas North Korea completed behind Thailand in Group 8
Elsewhere, Arab and East Asian nation dominated qualifying as Iraq gained all three video games to prime Group 1, whereas Iran simply edged out Syria on purpose distinction to win Group 2.
Qatar stayed undefeated to prime Group 4 forward of Kazakhstan, South Korea scored 19 objectives in three video games to dominate Group 6, whereas Japan gained three from three in Group 10 in Macau to simply qualify.
Indonesia had been the ultimate qualifiers from Group 7, sealing qualification forward of Hong Kong after placing 9 previous the beleaguered Cambodians.
Lebanese finals
With Beirut, Sidon and Tripoli the venues for the video games, the groups arrived in Lebanon and ready for the problem forward.
Lebanon, of their first match, confronted the unenviable process of match veterans in Iran and Iraq, plus an underdog in Thailand. A 4-0 defeat by Iran within the first sport introduced up fears of the hosts being closely overwhelmed in every sport, however they carried out bravely within the different two group video games, getting back from 2-0 down to attract with Iraq, then serving to to eradicate Thailand from the match with a late equaliser.
Thailand had misplaced 2-0 to Iraq within the match’s first sport, however a draw with Iran gave them hope of progress via one of many two Third-place spots if they may beat the hosts. Because it was, the 1-1 draw noticed them end third with simply two factors and on the way in which house.
Iran gained the group after remaining undefeated, beating Iraq within the last group sport, with the Iraqis grateful for the win over the Thais that noticed them qualify in second.
Group B was a tighter affair for the highest three, with China PR topping the group forward of Kuwait on purpose distinction after beating Indonesia 4-0 of their second sport, having drawn 2-2 with the South Koreans and ending the group stage with a 0-0 draw towards Kuwait.
The Kuwaitis, after scoring so many objectives in qualification, appeared to lose their scoring contact in Lebanon, with Jasem Al-Huwaidi’s purpose in a 1-0 win over South Korea their solely purpose within the group stage, as they drew 0-0 towards Indonesia and China PR.
South Korea managed third place within the group, however solely after a Lee Dong-Gook hat-trick put away the Indonesians in a 3-0 win, leaving Indonesia winless, goalless and exiting the match.
Group C noticed the most important rating of the match as Japan beat the hapless Uzbeks 8-1 in Sidon. Uzbekistan had began the match with a creditable draw towards Qatar, however the subsequent thrashing by Japan was adopted by a five-goal thumping by Saudi Arabia.
This 5-0 win helped Saudi Arabia end second within the group, which they had been relieved to do after Japan had beat them 4-1 within the opening sport of the group, then a scoreless draw with Qatar put them liable to an early exit.
Qatar had been the one group to carry the Japanese to a draw, a 1-1 draw securing qualification in third place after three attracts from three video games, whereas Japan gained the group undefeated with an imposing purpose distinction of +10.
They might face Iraq within the quarter-finals and though Abbas Jassim scored after 4 minutes for Iraq, Japan confirmed why they had been the group to beat when Nanami and Takahara turned a one-gaol deficit right into a lead simply seven minutes later, earlier than an extra Nanami purpose on the half-hour gave Japan a decisive lead, with Myojin ending the sport as a contest with the fourth after an hour, placing Japan into the Semi-finals with a 4-1 win
Within the different quarter-finals, South Korea exacted revenge on Iran for the 1996 Quarter-final 6-2 thrashing with a golden purpose triumph. It had appeared like one other Iran win when Karin Bagheri put them forward with 20 minutes to go, however Kim Sang-Sik grabbed an equaliser within the final minute when Iran couldn’t clear away from a nook then, in additional time, Lee Dong-Gook broke Iranian hearts with a faucet in from shut vary.
China PR made it to one more Semi-final with a dominating 3-1 win over Qatar, Yang Chen’s purpose on 54 minutes ending it as a contest at 3-0, whereas Saudi Arabia edged out the Kuwaitis in a back-and-forth contest, with the winner solely coming in golden purpose additional from Al-Temyat to safe a 3-2 win.
This took the Saudis to a semi-final towards South Korea and China PR confronted off with Japan in a repeat of the 1992 Semi-final.
Whereas the 1996 Semi-finals had been cagey and low-scoring affairs, the 2 2000 Semi-finals noticed two thrilling video games, with the winners having to battle onerous to make the Ultimate.
First, two objectives in 4 minutes from Talal Al-Meshal proved sufficient to place Saudi Arabia into their fifth successive Asian Cup last, however solely after surviving a late barrage from South Korea that noticed Lee Dong-Gook rating his fifth purpose of the match within the 90th minute and are available shut once more.
Then Japan and China PR performed out a five-goal thriller that swayed forwards and backwards, with each groups taking the lead, then pegging the opposite again. It took a Myojin purpose after 61 minutes to win the sport for Japan, however they needed to maintain on till the tip because the Chinese language threatened time after time till the ultimate whistle blew on their Asian Cup goals, with a 3rd Semi-final defeat in 4 tournaments.
Lee Dong-Gook obtained purpose quantity six for the match as South Korea gained the Third-place playoff towards China PR, earlier than the highest two nations in Asian Soccer set out in a repeat of the 1992 last to see who would turn out to be the Asian Champions in 2000.
In the long run, Japan would repeat the win of eight years earlier when Shigeyoshi Mochizuki stole in behind the Saudi defence to fireplace house a close-range volley from Shunsuke Nakamura’s free-kick, taking the trophy again to East Asia after Japan held on for a 1-0 win.