The Football Tragic

Iraq getting past South Korea was perhaps not a huge surprise, given the quality of the Iraqi side and the Koreans' bluntness up front throughout the tournament. But few pundits could honestly claim to have predicted Japan's loss to Saudi Arabia.

The first semi-final followed a pattern that was predictable for anyone who had watched the Koreans' previous matches. They pressed well, moved the ball around commendably and rarely gave much away in defence. But they went to pieces in and around the opposition box, often shooting hastily or wasting the final pass. Lee Chun-Soo, as Paul Trimboli correctly concluded, was simply trying too hard, and the other forwards just haven't done enough at this tournament.

Little Choi Sung-Kuk, lavishly praised in many quarters, flattered to deceive, often blitzing his way to within sight of goal but faltering when it really mattered.

For their part, the Iraqis, put under genuine pressure on the ball for the very first time at the event, suddenly looked distinctly fallible. Nashat Akram was, for once, quite anonymous, and was readily eclipsed in midfield by the industrious Qusay Munir. The Iraqis, their space and time on the ball diligently limited by Pim Verbeek's charges, turned over possession with regularity in the first half.

Perhaps the Koreans deserved to win, but a side that has failed to score in nearly five hours of football should not really be in a tournament final.

Japan, calm and steady throughout the event, eventually found that steadiness and tactical discipline just weren't enough. Against the Saudis, when a change of tack was so obviously required, they refused to budge from their measured build-ups until injury time in the second half, when they finally started belting the ball into the mixer (and, it might be added, causing the uneasy Saudi defence some concern as a result).

At the other end, the Saudis' admirable technique and trickery always looked likely to pose problems, and their second and third goals were of the highest quality. After scoring the finest team goal at the event in their game against Uzbekistan, the Saudis duly provided the best individual goal of the competition last night, the irrepressible Malek Maaz ridiculing Yuki Abe on the left before cheekily toe-poking the ball home.

After the game, Andy Harper picked out the Al-Qahtani brothers and the aforementioned Maaz as the Saudis' only players of consequence, but this is unfair, in my view. The thoughtful midfielder Taisar Al-Jassam has had an excellent tournament, and Ahmed Al-Mousa has done so well as substitute in the Saudis' last two games that Helio dos Anjos will surely be tempted to start him in Sunday's final.

It is in defence that the Saudis are clearly weak - the goalkeeper, Yasar Al-Mosailem, is an obvious liability - but I wonder whether the Iraqis have the physical presence to really hit them where it hurts. Younis Mahmoud, Iraq's main man up front, has won no end of plaudits in the last couple of weeks, but he has been somewhat hit-and-miss in the last couple of games.

The final is a difficult one to pick, but I'll go with the Saudis. Although they will not press the Iraqis as much as the Koreans did, I feel they have the edge in terms of quality up front. Malek Maaz has been a revelation, Yasser Al-Qahtani remains a serious danger, and there are a couple of midfielders who know how to slip a ball through to the forward line, too.

Having said that, I'd love to see an Iraqi victory, given the unspeakable horrors that their country has endured over the last several years.