JAPAN vs AUSTRALIA
Asian Cup Final, Doha, 29 January 2011, 18:00 local, 15:00 UK

New to the UFWC? Check out the beginner’s guide.

Tomorrow will see Unofficial Football World Champions Japan face title challengers Australia in the Asian Cup Final. This is the first time the UFWC title has been contested at the Asian Cup, and whoever wins will be the first nation to unify the UFWC and Asian titles. This match comes just six months after the UFWC was contested at the World Cup Final. Spain unified the unofficial and official titles in that match, but subsequently lost the UFWC title to Argentina, who went on to lose out to Japan.

The Blue Samurai took the UFWC title into the Asian Cup, and have remained unbeaten throughout. But that fact shouldn’t necessarily make them favourites. The Netherlands took the UFWC title into the World Cup, and retained it all the way to the final, but then lost out to the Spanish. Can Australia stage a similar title coup in this final?

For the record, this is how the UFWC title reached the final: It’s a common misconception that whenever the title goes into a major tournament it will end up being held by the tournament winner, but in fact, as has happened many times, it’s quite possible for a title holder to fail to reach the knock-out stages. So the fact that the UFWC has reached the World Cup and Asian Cup Finals within such a short period of time is something special.

Japan have remained unbeaten throughout the Asian Cup, despite some very close calls. An injury time leveller was required to snatch a 1-1 draw with Jordan, and a late penalty secured a 2-1 win over Syria. A last minute goal beat hosts Qatar 3-2, and Japan eventually reached the final by beating South Korea on penalties. Only the 5-0 group stage win over a shattered Saudi Arabia was comfortable.

09/01/11 JAPAN 1-1 JORDAN AC Doha
13/01/11 SYRIA 1-2 JAPAN AC Doha
17/01/11 SAUDI ARABIA 0-5 JAPAN AC Al Rayyan
21/01/11 JAPAN 3-2 QATAR AC Doha
25/01/11 JAPAN 2-2 SOUTH KOREA (3-0 PENS) AC Doha

Australia’s Asian Cup began with a 4-0 win over India. A 1-1 draw with South Korea and 1-0 win over Bahrain saw them reach the quarter finals, where they needed extra time to beat Iraq 1-0. The semi-final saw an impressive 6-0 win over Uzbekistan.

As far as team news goes, Japan will welcome back Maya Yoshida from suspension, but will miss the excellent Shinji Kagawa, who has a broken foot. Many viewers will focus on influential midfielder Keisuke Honda, who took one of the worst penalties you will ever see in the match against South Korea, but was brave enough to step up to take another – and score – in the shoot-out.

Australia have worries over the fitness of Tim Cahill, who hasn’t been at his best during this tournament. He’s likely to play, but it will be interesting to see whether Australia coach Holger Osieck finds room for Robbie Kruse, who came off the bench to make two and score one in the win over Uzbekistan, in his starting eleven. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer will become his country’s most capped player in the final, notching up 88 international appearances.

The Socceroos have been Unofficial Football World Champions once previously, beating the USA 1-0 in 1992 courtesy of a Warren Spink goal to take the title at the first time of asking. Australia lost their next match, and the UFWC title, to Argentina. Their last UFWC attempt ended in a goalless draw against then-champions the Netherlands in October 2009.

Japan’s recent run as UFWC champions has seen them accrue five title match wins and rise to 27th in the overall UFWC rankings table. They still have some way to go to catch top-ranked Scotland’s 86 title match wins, but a win tomorrow would give them the opportunity to go on a longer run as champions.

By comparison, FIFA rank Australia slightly higher than Japan – the Socceroos are ranked 26th compared to the Blue Samurai’s 29th. And Japan have Asian Cup form, of course, having already won the tournament three times.

Looking beyond tomorrow, if Japan win, the next UFWC title match will see them defend the title at home against Montenegro. If Australia win, their first title defence would be a daunting trip to Germany.

You can watch a free and legal live stream of the match via Bet365. Kick off in Doha is 18:00 local time, 15:00 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.

So all eyes are on Japan vs Australia. Who will come out of the match as Asian Cup winners AND Unofficial Football World Champions? Feel free to make a prediction below and add your comments. We’ll be back with a match report shortly after the final whistle. For updates before and during the match follow us on Twitter @UFWC_Football and @realpaulbrown. Enjoy the game.

Get the Unofficial Football World Champions book
Visit the UFWC T-shirt shop
Follow @UFWC_Football on Twitter
Join the UFWC Facebook group

Japan 2-2 South Korea (After Extra Time; Japan won 3-0 on penalties)
Doha, Qatar – 25/01/11
Scorers: Maeda 36, Hosogai 98 (Japan); Sung-Yeung 23 (pen), Jae-Won 120 (S. Korea)

UFWC champions Japan were given a major scare by challengers South Korea, and needed extra time and a penalty shootout to emerge victorious, and advance to the Asian Cup Final.

Japan started the game much better, constantly splitting the South Korean defence open with beautiful, flowing football. But it was South Korea who drew first blood. The referee awarded a soft penalty to South Korea, as Yasuyuki Konno and Park Ji-Sung collided in the box, the South Korean going down under the challenge. Most referees would not have awarded a penalty but Khalil Al Ghamdi did, and Ki Sung-Yeung didn’t let the chance go to waste. Goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima guessed the right direction but couldn’t reach it, as the South Koreans took the lead. Koo Ja-Cheol could have made it 2-0 shortly after, but the Japanese defence recovered just in time to prevent the chance.

South Korea’s lead would only last 13 minutes, as Japan once again opened them up with slick passing, this time culminating in a goal. Yuto Nagatomo received the ball on the right of the box and placed an inch-perfect pass into the path of Ryoichi Maeda who, despite being surrounded by defenders, managed to reach the ball first and direct it into the net for the equaliser.

In the next few minutes both sides could easily have taken the lead. First South Korea, who had a free kick to the right of the box. The excellent shot was directed towards the top corner, forcing Kawashima to pull of a world-class save. The ball deflected straight to a South Korean head, whose effort was knocked off the line, Japan barely escaping. Then Japan had their own chance, as Keisuke Honda’s low piledriver forced Jung Sung-Ryong to dive to his left, producing a good save. Another close shave for South Korea shortly followed, as the teams went into half-time level, with an entertaining second-half seemingly guaranteed.

Unfortunately for neutrals that never materialised, as it seemed both teams were playing for extra-time since the restart. Chances were few and far between, with decent chances even rarer. So to save you all the misery of reading what happened in the second-half, we’ll skip straight into extra-time.

It still looked like the teams were just going to play out the game, but another penalty, this time for Japan, changed the tempo of the match. Al Ghamdi awarded a penalty for a foul on Shinji Okazaki, however even with the help of replays it is still hard to tell whether the offence happened inside or outside the box. Nevertheless, Keisuke Honda stepped up to take the penalty, but with a poor kick was saved by Sung-Ryong. Unluckily for him, he spilled it straight into the path of the oncoming Hajima Hosogai, who hit it onto the net go give Japan the lead, and seemingly the win.

However this game still had a few surprises up its sleeve, as South Korea drew level in the final minute of extra-time. A long free-kick was lobbed into the box where chaos ensued, neither side able to get a clear contact on it to clear it or shoot it. That was until it fell to Hwang Jae-Won, who struck the ball through defenders and teammates, out of the reach of Kawashima and into the bottom corner. South Korea, who were on the brink of elimination, had come up with a last-ditch effort, and would now go into the penalty shoot-out (the first shootout in the UFWC since 2006) with the momentum firmly behind them.

But it seemed nobody told Kawashima. While Japan scored their first two penalties, their goalkeeper saved both strikes from South Korea, as they were once again left on the brink of elimination. Japan missed their third penalty, firing the ball wide and over, but Hong Jeong-Ho couldn’t take advantage as he did the exact same thing, on the other side of the goal. Yasuyuki Konno stepped up, knowing a goal would be enough for victory. And it was, as the keeper guessed the wrong way, and Japan emerged from a tough encounter victorious.

Japan defended the UFWC title, and will bring it with them to the Asian Cup Final, where they will face either Australia or Uzbekistan to decide who will emerge as Asian Cup and UFWC champions. You don’t want to miss what will surely be a match to remember, and will go down in UFWC history.

UPDATE: Australia beat Uzbekistan 6-0 to reach the Asian Cup final and play Japan in the next UFWC title match on Saturday.

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.