The brand new Unofficial Football World Champions book has received more good reviews, the latest of which is from FourFourTwo magazine. Awarding the book a maximum five stars, FFT calls it “a fascinating history of football”.

The book traces the history of the UFWC from the very first international match in 1872 right up to date, focussing more than 100 title matches, and uncovering some amazing stories, many of which are ignored in official football histories.

Officially released this month, Unofficial Football World Champions is now available in paperback from all good bookshops, including Amazon:

UK: Amazon.co.uk
US: Amazon.com
Germany: Amazon.de
France: Amazon.fr
Japan: Amazon.co.jp
Canada: Amazon.ca

The book is also available on Kindle, which means it can be downloaded to Kindles, iPhones, iPads, PCs and Android devices, and you can download a free sample before you buy.

You can read more about the book and see more reviews here.

Doha, Qatar – 25/01/11

Three months ago, Japan and South Korea faced each other in a ‘friendly’ match with the UFWC title at stake. Now, they will face each other again, with the UFWC title and a place in the Asian Cup Final hanging in the balance.

South Korea’s passage to the Semi-Final was not the easiest of challenges. After winning their first group game 2-1 against Bahrain, they could only draw 1-1 against Australia, leaving them with work to do on the final day to qualify. Fortunately for them they emulated Japan with an impressive victory, 4-1 against India in this case, to advance to the Quarter-Finals.

Things didn’t get any easier for them however, as they came up against Iran earlier today. Iran were the only team to win all three of their group games, proving that they were a serious force to be reckoned with. But South Korea were more than capable of matching them on the pitch, and they eventually advanced 1-0 after extra time, a goal from Yoon Bit-Garam in the 105th minute being the decider. South Korea will be relying on their big-hitters to help them through to the Final for the first time since 1988 (having won the inagural Asian Cups in 1956 and 1960 they have never won it again, despite appearing in 3 out of 5 finals between 1972 and 1988), but evidence suggests they may struggle to find goals.

Koo Ja-Cheol, despite only having 10 caps and 2 international goals before the tournament, is currently the tournament’s joint-top goalscorer with 4 goals (he was a transfer target for Blackburn Rovers a year ago, but bad weather at the time prevented the transfer from going through; looks like they were onto something special). However besides the young striker, South Korea don’t have many goalscorers: their current forwards have only 10 caps and 3 goals between them, while Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung, with only 13 goals in 98 appearances, is the highest-scoring player the South Koreans have at the tournament. That could be a worrying omen for the UFWC challengers.

Japan have no such problems up front, having scores 11 goals in the tournament so far, however it is their defensive record which will be of bigger concern to their manager, Alberto Zaccheroni. They have conceded 4 goals in 4 games, the joint-highest number of goals conceded amonst the Semi-Finalists, along with Uzbekistan (South Korea have conceded 3, while Australia have only conceded 2). So we have a team with a weak defence and strong attack against a team with a strong defence but a weak attack. What does that mean we are expected to see?

Well in their 9 previous meetings in the past decade, only one match has yielded more than two goals, and 6 have had one goal or less, so a goal-fest is unlikely.

What we can expect however, is for this Rematch of the Battle of the 2002 World Cup Co-Hosts (well it’s a better name than the Die Hard sequels) to be a fascinating encounter between two giants of Asian football, and for that reason alone you should not miss this match.

The winner will bring the UFWC title into the Asian Cup Final to defend it against the winner of Uzbekistan vs Australia where, let’s not forget, we will have the first-ever unification of the AFC Asian Cup and the CW Alcock Cup.

Which of these teams will have the opportunity to achieve this? Stay tuned to find out.

Japan 3-2 Qatar
Doha, 21/01/11
Scorers: Sebastian 12, Fabio Cesar 63 (Qatar); Kagawa 28, 70, Inoha 90 (Japan)

Japan’s title credentials were given a major challenge by hosts Qatar, as they managed to scramble over the finish line and book a place in the Semi-Finals.

Qatar started brightly as Japan seemed to be having a bad day at the office. Qatar’s Mesaad Al-Hamad had the best chances of the opening exchanges, firing a decent effort from close and long-range to put the returning goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima to the test. But it was Qatar’s star striker Sebastian Soria who was first to find the back of the net. A defence-splitting pass from midfield looked offside, as it set Sebastian one-on-one with Kawashima. The forward, with time to control the ball and even allow some defenders to catch up, eventually struck the ball underneath the ‘keeper to give the hosts the lead. Replays showed Soria was in fact onside, and Qatar deserved no less. It was slightly tainted however by the forced substitution of Ibrahim Majid, who was injured shortly before the goal, with what looked like a pulled hamstring.

Japan struggled to get into the game, their first decent effort coming in the 25th minute as Yuto Nagatomo’s shot flew wide of the post. Shortly after, however, Japan scored a goal worthy of champions. Keisuke Honda chipped the ball into the box to find Shinji Okazaki, who then lobbed the ball over Qatar’s goalkeeper Qasem Burhan, and Shinji Kagawa was ready to head the ball into the net before any defenders could reach it.

Both teams huffed and puffed for the remainder of the half, but any meaningful chances were few and far between, Makoto Hasebe’s long-range effort for Japan requiring a decent save being the best on offer. Half-time came with the score at 1-1, and the game finely balanced.

The second-half didn’t start well for Japan, as Maya Yoshida was booked for a foul within the first minute of the restart. Again, chances were scarce, as Okazaki’s header fizzed wide in the 57th minute to remind the fans they were in fact watching a football game. But things were about to get interesting.

In the 61st minute, Yoshida was judged to have pulled down his opposition to the left of his box, and the referee brandished a very harsh second yellow, leaving Japan to fight on with 10 men. To add insult to injury, Qatar managed to score an impossible goal from the resulting free kick.

Fabio Cesar Montezine stepped up to take the free-kick, curled the ball around the wall and into the bottom corner, to the dismay of the goalkeeper. Fabio Cesar’s Brazilian heritage was clearly shining through, as it seemed as though Qatar were destined to defeat Japan and claim the UFWC title, and a place in the Semi-Final of the tournament they were hosting.

Sadly those hopes of an incredible result were put on hold only seven minutes later. A rare defensive blunder for Qatar somehow found Kagawa one-on-one with the goalkeeper inside the box, and he didn’t let the pressure get to him as he gave his team an equaliser for the second time in the match.

As the clock ticked on, it seemed as though the match was going to extra time. Japan created very few chances, while Qatar struggled to break through also. A clever one-two corner by Qatar could have led to a goal as the shot flew over the mass of bodies, however Kawashima was alert to the danger.

Despite being far from their best, Japan persevered, and were rewarded in the last minute of normal time. A low ball was fired into the box which found Kagawa, who was in search of a hat-trick. However a lunging tackle brought him crashing to the ground, something that would surely have resulted in a penalty, if the ball had not fallen to Masahiko Inoha who was simply able to fire the ball into an open net to give Japan the lead.

Despite the clearly broken hearts on Qatar’s bench, the players on the pitch persevered, firing in a string of corners but none bringing that elusive equaliser. Eventually the referee called an end to proceedings, to the delight of the Japanese, defending the UFWC title by the skin of their teeth, and advancing to the Semi-Final of the Asian Cup.

Their next defence will be against the winner of Iran vs South Korea (being played tomorrow) on January 25th, and we can only hope that match is as entertaining as this one was.

Today sees UFWC champions Japan take on Qatar in the quarter finals of the Asian Cup. You can watch a FREE and LEGAL live stream of the match via Bet365. Kick off in Doha is 16:25 local time, 13:25 in the UK. Just click on the link below.

You’ll need to create an account if you don’t already have one, but you don’t need to make a bet. If you do open an account and decide to make a deposit of £10 or more, you’ll be entitled to up to £200 in free bets.

You can read our big match preview and make your result predictions here.