First, the good news. Iraq’s extraordinary victory in this Asian Cup captured worldwide attention. The story of a soccer team achieving so much against the backdrop of tragedy, chaos and despair in its home is a captivating one.

The headlines created publicity that no marketing budget could generate, the inspiring Iraqis giving the Asian Cup unprecedented exposure outside the continent.

Now for the bad news. For all the increased professional organization of the Asian Cup, the region’s soccer officials did not need to look far to see where it can improve.

Concurrent preseason friendlies involving European clubs across east Asia brought crowds and levels of public interest that sometimes outweighed Asia’s principal national team tournament.

And while not yet at the level of the European or South American championships, some of the soccer played by finalists Saudi Arabia, 2004 champion Japan, a revived Iran and unlucky Uzbekistan was worthy of any continental tournament.

That was cause for self-congratulation for the Asian Football Confederation, which also deserved praise for being bold enough to spread this tournament across four nations.

"There were difficulties in the beginning but by the time the competition started, most of these difficulties had disappeared," AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam said. "There is a lot to be learned if ever again we were to try to organize the competition in more than one country."

The major embarrassment was a 25-minute power failure that caused the lights to go out late in the group match between Saudi Arabia and South Korea in Jakarta.

The blame was put upon a general power failure in the area rather than any organizational error, but the sight of players making conversation while officials scratched their heads was not something the AFC will put in its highlights package.

There was a further mishap in Malaysia when the Iraq team arrived ahead of its semifinal only to find the hotel overbooked. Players and coaches milled around the lobby for several hours until they finally were accommodated. Again, nothing major, but it’s hard to imagine this happening in the World Cup.

Still less would you expect World Cup players to schedule their marriages on match days, but that was one of the quirks of this Asian Cup. Thailand’s Datsakorn Thonglao and Vietnam’s Phan Van Tai Em, both important players, missed vital games that clashed with their weddings, demonstrating a lack of faith that their teams would be in contention at that point.

Malaysia’s role in the hotel mix-up added to the poor performance of its team, which was clearly the worst in the competition. Prior to the Cup, there was concern raised about how competitive the host nations would be, given they have low FIFA rankings and had next to no pedigree in the competition.

Vietnam was the best performed of the hosts, making it through to the quarterfinals, but Thailand and Indonesia both managed a win apiece and only narrowly missed out on the knockout stages.

Vietnam and Indonesia attracted huge, atmospheric crowds to their home-team matches, although attendance for neutral games across the tournament was poor.

Home-team support was not as strong in Thailand and Malaysia. Thailand predictably paid the price for hosting matches at a stadium in the outer suburbs of Bangkok rather than an alternative national stadium in the center of town. Malaysian support suffered for the poor performances on the pitch.

Television support of the event was strong, and this may have also played a factor in the diminished crowds in more prosperous Thailand and Malaysia, where fans could watch cable coverage in air-conditioned homes rather than brave the oppressive tropical heat or monsoonal downpours.

That heat was another significant factor in the tournament. Given the ever-narrowing offseason in Europe, organizers of the Asian Cup have little option but to stage tournaments in June-July if they want to attract the big-name players. Unfortunately it clashes with the most humid and wettest time of year in Asia.

As it was, the only team with a good number of European-based stars in its squad was Australia. Playing in the brutal late afternoon heat for its first two group games, Australia’s highly paid players were made to look ordinary. When they moved to later starts for the final group game against Thailand and the quarterfinal against Japan, the Australians looked a far more able outfit. This was Australia’s first Asian Cup, since switching from the Oceania confederation, and it entered as pre-post favorites but exited as underachievers.

Australia coach Graham Arnold, who boldly claimed pre-tournament that anything short of a place in the final would be a failure, will likely pay for the team’s shortcomings with his job. It is the same fate that was to meet China’s coach Zhu Guanghu.

Bin Hammam said he expected more from Australia and China. So did the fans.

China, the 2004 finalist, started well by beating Malaysia 5-1 and taking a 2-0 lead in the second group game against Iran. But the Iranians rallied to force a draw, and China lost 3-0 to Uzbekistan to miss the knock out stage.

Saudi Arabia’s defeat in the final was scant reward for a side that played expansive soccer, and prior to the final they were the only side in the competition to have won more than two matches in regulation and or extra time.

Rather than teams, the strong performances came from individual players.

Saudi Arabia’s attacking midfielder Yasser Al Qahtani is one such player, allying fine individual skills with a sharp soccer brain. Likewise Iraqi striker Younis Mahmoud -- who was equal top-scorer -- and Uzbekistan forward Maxim Shatskikh, while Japan’s Shunsuke Nakamura and Iraq’s Nashat Akram caught the eye as the most inventive players.

Source: AP