Asian Cup opener

Thailand and Iraq played a scrappy 1-all draw in Bangkok last night. I really thought Iraq were the better side in the first half, and were surprised they didn’t finish it off in the second half. They sort of fell away a bit, and Thailand were actually decent on the counter. Judging by this I think Iraq could test us if they play well on the day. I don’t see Thailand causing us many problems, although you never know with the home crowd behind them.

This is the first time that an Asian Cup has introduced a new ball. The ‘Mercurial Veloci’ will be used throughout the tournament. It looks like a nice design:

So to our opening game tonight. I don’t know much about Oman, but they’ve come out firing saying they won’t lay down just defend, and counter. They said they would be looking to attack as well. This could play into our hands, because our attacking strength doesn’t need a reason to even go on the counter. This could also pose a problem for our defence which struggled against Singapore. Either way we should win it, we might let in a goal, as it is early in the tournament, but our attack will just be too strong. I’m sayin 2-1 or 3-1.