As we enter the second round of group fixtures in Australia, football writer Babak Golriz looks back on what we can take from the opening games of the Asian Cup.
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Arab goalkeepers could be Achilles' Heel
Seven of the eight participants at the recent 22nd Gulf Cup are at the Asian Cup, but they've largely had poor starts. Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain all lost their opening games, only the UAE and Iraq coming out as winners.
A worrying pattern to emerge from those games was a series of experienced goalkeepers making costly errors.
For instance, undisputed first-choice Qatari stopper, Qasem Burham, has to shoulder blame for at least 3 of the 4 goals his side conceded against the Emiratis.
Likewise, Bahrain ‘keeper Sayyed Jafer's poorly punched clearance landed at Ehsan Hajsafi's feet before half time and he could have arguably done better to tip the lob over the bar but pulled his fingertips away at the last moment.
Waleed Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, dived in slow-motion in an attempt to reach a deflected Chinese free-kick that creeped into the net and Kuwait’s Hameed Yousef conceded 4 against the hosts.
Add to that question marks over Majed Nasser’s position in the UAE goal and each and every goalkeeper from the Gulf needs to improve if the West is to overthrow the East.
Iran support breathes life into tournament
Carlos Queiroz led his team to a hard-fought, but comfortable, 2-0 win over Bahrain in their first match, but what was interesting, was that the game arguably provided the tournament's best atmosphere yet.
Approximately 70,000 Iranians live in Australia and it was clear that most of the 17,712 attendees of the match were made up of them. Singing and cheering on their side from before the kick-off until the last kick of the game, the Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne resembled a mini Azadi Stadium.
It will be interesting to see how the stadium fills up if Iran faces actual hosts Australia later at the tournament. But what is sure is that the Asian Cup will be well served by having the Iranians go far as more of the atmosphere at their games will be seen rather than the empty seats witnessed during North Korea’s game against Uzbekistan.
Were the UAE impressive or Qatar just very poor?
Mahdi Ali's UAE side ripped through Djamel Belmadi's Qatar, the game dominated by Omar Abdulrahman's brilliant creativity.
Two braces from Ahmed Khalil and Ali Mabkhout meant that the UAE scored 4 unanswered goals after trailing to an early Khalfan Ibrahim goal.
The result was a little surprising, but the manner of the convincing victory even more so.
It means that the UAE may clinch a spot in the quarter-finals before playing their final game against Iran. The dominance of the Whites was something that Ali's side had not produced in a while.
Similarly, Qatar had only lost once during their past 16 matches and won the Gulf Cup in November. At the same tournament an abject UAE side fell at the semis.
Going forward, Belmadi must find the right balance over the side's abundance of attackers after looking lopsided in defensive transitions against the UAE, leaving lots of space for Omar to exploit.
Asia’s top teams can win in second gear
During Australia’s convincing 4-1 victory over Kuwait, the Kuwaitis started brightly and took the lead within the first 10 minutes and could have been 2-0 up before half-time. Eventually, Australia’s superiority was telling as they piled on the pressure throughout the second half.
Similarly, South Korea stumbled through Oman in their opening game and Bahrain gave the much-fancied Iran a run for their money
While Japan looked dominant, any side looking to upset Asia’s elite must be far more clinical if they are to take points off the big boys.
Is expansion wise?
The Asian Cup is supposed to bring together the best of the continent’s football nations. It may well be doing so, but there are clear gaps in quality between a number of sides at the current tournament.
Already teams like North Korea and Palestine have benefitted from a side-entry into the major tournament.
A more worrying trend is that the stadiums have been largely empty during a number of less fancied clashes. Other than games that include the likes of Australia, Iran, China and Japan, empty stands have already become the norm. Would Vietnam and Thailand improve those figures at the next tournament? Probably not.
If authorities are interested in developing football in the continent then they should investigate other avenues and not expand the tournament just yet.