{"id":4123,"date":"2011-02-01T20:45:09","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T10:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=4123"},"modified":"2011-02-01T20:45:09","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T10:45:09","slug":"asian-cup-2011-final-japan-vs-australia-i-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=4123","title":{"rendered":"Asian Cup 2011 Final: Japan vs Australia: I Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For a football tournament that I went into with some pretty low expectations, I derived a surprising amount of entertainment from the 2011 Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

Firstly, both Japan and Australia totally cleaned up the rest of Asia, piling on big scores and playing entertaining games throughout the tournament.\u00a0 Japan played no less than four games where a last minute goal changed the outcome of the match.\u00a0 Australia dismantled Uzbekistan 6-0 in the semis.\u00a0 Even better, Brisbane captain Matt McKay ended up playing four full games of footy, cementing himself as a key player in the side.\u00a0 For their part, Japan played a hugely entertaining semi final against arch rivals Korea where a 2-2 draw saw the match head to a dramatic penalty shootout that went in Japan’s favour.<\/p>\n

The final between Australia and Japan was a win-win proposition for me.\u00a0 I was happy with either side winning.\u00a0 More importantly, the game was played at a high standard with positive football being played by both sides which was more than I could say for last year’s stodgy and cynical World Cup final.<\/p>\n

In the end Japan won the match after a spectacular extra time goal from substitute Tadanari Lee.\u00a0 It sets things up nicely for the Socceroos to seek their revenge at the 2015 Asian Cup…which is being played in Australia.<\/p>\n