photo from newsok.com
Just when most of us were following the first kick-off of Euro 2012 where host Poland was held to a 1-1 draw by visitor, Greece, there were plenty of excitement at our own turf, Asia, too!
Last evening, Korea Republic came from behind to open their final round qualifying campaign for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Asian finals with a 4-1 win over Qatar where Ulsan Hyundai trio Lee Keun-ho, Kwak Tae-hwi and Kim Shin-wook were the heros of the night.
Oman beat the odds to hold mighty Australia to a goalless draw. And to give credit to the underdog, Oman nearly created an upset but all thanks to Australia’s custodian, Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer, who was in top form. Similar end result, a draw game at Beirut where Lebanon hosted Uzbekistan to a 1-1 scoreline.
And lastly, Samurai Blue, Japan, slaughtered Jordan 6-0 at Saitama where CSKA Moscow’s Keisuke Honda netted a hat-trick! Manchester Utd bound Shinji Kagawa also scored in the game!
From Europe to Asia, and specifically South East Asia, Singapore drew 2-2 with Malaysia in a friendly after coming back from 2-0 down. Our very own Singapore’s Qiu Li scored a fantastic goal in the injury time to bring everyone in the stand up to their feet!
As you can see, exciting futbol is not just European futbol, Asian futbol does have its own excitement. Although Euro 2012 is the most talked about competition at this point, I sincerely urge futbol fans, especially Asian futbol fans not to forget about the games in our very own backyard. Remember to support our own futbol!
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