Asian Cup 2004

The Asian Football Confederation's Asian Cup 2004 finals were held in China between July 17 and August 7. The defending champions Japan defeated China in the final in Beijing.

The tournament was marked by Saudi Arabia's unexpected failure to even make it out of the first round; a surprisingly good performance by Bahrain, which finished in fourth place; Jordan, which reached the quarterfinals in its first appearance; and Iraq, which reached the quarterfinals. The final match between China and Japan was marked by rioting Chinese fans near the north gate of Beijing Worker's Stadium afterwards, partly provoked by controversial officiating and anti-Japanese sentiment resulting from historical tensions. ^*

Host Cities & Venues

Cities	Venues	Capacity
Beijing	Workers Stadium	66,161
Chongqing	Chongqing Olympic Sports Center	58,680
Jinan	Shandong Sports Center	43,700
Chengdu	Sichuan Longquanyi Stadium	27,333

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see Asian Cup 2004 (squads)

Qualification

For qualification results, see Asian Cup 2004 (qualification)

Participating Teams

(qualified as hosts)
(qualified as holders)

Finals

Group Stages

Teams in Bold progress to the Quarter Finals, teams in italics are eliminated from the tournament.

Group A

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
7	3	2	1		8	2	+6
5	3	1	2		6	4	+2
3	3	1		2	3	9	-6
1	3		1	2	2	4	-2

Group B

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
7	3	2	1		6		+6
5	3	1	2		2		+2
3	3	1		2	3	7	-4
1	3		1	2	1	5	-4

Group C

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
9	3	3			3		+3
6	3	2		1	5	4	+1
1	3		1	2	4	6	-2
1	3		1	2	3	5	-2

Group D

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
7	3	2	1		5	1	+4
5	3	1	2		5	2	+3
4	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1
0	3			3	1	9	-8

Knockout Stages

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Third place playoff

Final

JAPAN

Individual scorers

5 goals A'ala Hubail Ali Karimi

4 goals Lee Dong-Gook

3 goals Shao Jiayi Zheng Zhi Ali Daei Yuji Nakazawa Keiji Tamada Imad Ali

2 goals Husain Ali Mohamed Hubail Talal Yusuf Hao Haidong Li Ming Javad Nekounam Takashi Fukunishi Shunsuke Nakamura Koji Nakata Ahn Jung-Hwan Bader Al-Mutwa Yasser Al-Qahtani Nazar Bayramov Begenchmuhammed Kuliyev Aleksandr Geynrikh Mirdjalal Kasimov

1 goal Saleh Farhan Duaij Naser Li Jinyu Li Yi Xu Yunlong Cha Doo-Ri Seol Ki-Hyeon Kim Nam-Il Elie Aiboy Ponaryo Astaman Budi Sudarsono Mohammad Alavi Reza Enayati Mohammad Nosrati Nashat Akram Razzaq Farhan Younis Mahmoud Hawar Mohammed Qusay Munir Takayuki Suzuki Anas Al-Zboun Khaled Sa'ed Mahmoud Shelbaieh Bashar Abdullah Magid Mohamed Wesam Rizik Hamad Al-Montashari Sutee Suksomkit Mohamed Rashid Vladimir Shishelov

Own goals Park Jin-Sub (1) Rangsan Vivatchaichok (1)

Asian All Star First XI side

Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi

Defenders Tsuneyasu Miyamoto Yuji Nakazawa Zheng Zhi

Midfielders Shunsuke Nakamura (named Most Valuable Player) Shao Jiayi Zhao Junzhe Talal Yusuf

Forwards A'ala Hubail Ali Karimi Mehdi Mahdavikia

Views

Like other sports events, the Asian Cup 2004 was publicised as evidence of China's economic and athletic progress, being referred to by some as a prelude to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Many Chinese see the tournament as a success and take great pride in having showcased such an important sporting event in advance of the Olympics Games. However, the Japanese media and many other foreign observers have pointed out what they have perceived as bad manners on the part of Chinese fans, and some sparse attendances so far at the tournament, raising questions on China's ability to hold such sporting events.

Through out the tournament, most Chinese fans in the stadia expressed anti-Japanese sentiments by drowning out the Japanese national anthem, displaying political banners and booing whenever Japan got the ball, regardless of the scorer. This was reported by the foreign media. The PRC government responded by calling for restraint and increasing police numbers to maintain order. The Japanese government also called on the PRC to ensure the safety of Japanese fans, while specifically asking Japanese nationals or people of Japanese origin to not display any form of excessive pride, especially wearing Japan national football team uniforms. Despite the Chinese government's campaign, a riot started by Chinese fans broke out near the north gate of the Beijing Worker's Stadium, though reports differ as to the extent of the riot. As a result, some media groups have said that displays of excessive Chinese nationalism during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics have become a cause for concern for Chinese officials.

In addition, it was probably the first time that anti-Japanese demonstrations by the Chinese were extensively broadcast by the Japanese media. Consequently, Chinese anti-Japanese sentiment was spotlighted and discussed in Japan.

External links

Asian Cup | 2004 in football (soccer) | Sport in China

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