Hiroshima Big Arch Stadium opened in 1992 as the venue for the 199s Asian Cup. Japan won the
title that year, defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the Final at the Big Arch.
For today's profile, we welcome back Michael Hudson, a long standing friend of the blog and the
mastermind behind The Accidental Groundhopper website. Here, Michael, who can be followed on
Twitter at @DolphinHotel, turns his attention to a player on the brink of signing for Southampton,
drawing as he does on his immense experience following the game in Asia.
"We're building a platform," Michael Brown says. "We want to leave a legacy – we
often talk about how good it's going to be – but what is it? How do we define it?
"We'll see other legacies in the fact that we need to upgrade some stadia and venues,
and they will be local football facilities.
SINGAPORE - Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium is one of Asia's most inhospitable venues for
visiting teams, but even the vitriol spat from 100,000 partisan fans did not faze Nazmi Faiz when
Malaysia upset hosts Indonesia to defend their men's under-23 football gold medal at last
November's SEA Games final.
Malaysia are currently going through their most successful time in a bloody long time. ASEAN Cup
winners, two time SEA Games winners, got further than any other regional side in the Olympic
Qualifiers, Malaysia at the moment are too big for ASEAN yet too small for the wider Asia.
With its weak domestic infrastructure, constant doubts about the fairness of the games and strong
state Football Associations Malaysia is nowhere near ready to take on Asia on a level playing
field, no matter how good the players and the coach are.
National coach Raddy Avramovic (pictured right) has been pretty quiet of late since he was named as
an advisor to the Lions XII team months back.
With the media attention being shifted to focus on other issues such as the "come-and-go of Johan
Gouttefangeas", the ongoing fixation on the tournament as the result of the joint-MOU signed last
year, everyone seems to have forgotten about the concluding match of the faltering World Cup
qualifiers against Iraq in Qatar.
The Malaysian football league may not have many teams. Just 14 in the top flight Super League and
12 in the Super League. But when you add the FA Cup and the Malaysia Cup what you have is a
domestic season that begins in January and finishes at the end of October. Then the best players
get to prepare for the SEA Games or the AFF Cup depending which year we are in.
Football Federation Australia is "ramping up" preparations for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 with the
appointment of new members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC). The tournament is the pinnacle
event of the 46 nation Asian Football Confederation, the largest affiliated continental constituent
of the world football body, FIFA.
Football is supposed to be a glamourous career. Scoring goals in front of adoring fans and all that
crap. Not if you're name is Khairul Amri it ain't though.
The poor bastard spends most of his time injured. He's 27 in March, should be at the peak of his
powers but guess what? He's gonna be out for the next 12 weeks with another injury.
We are one week into the SEA Games football competition and the games have been marked by
pitifully low attendances so far. While Timor Leste attracted plenty of supporters for their games
at Lebak Bulus Cambodia have been followed by a few embassy staff and teams like Thailand and
Singapore have seen their support swallowed up by the cavernous Bung Karno Stadium.
The China national soccer team (simplified Chinese: 中国国家足球队; traditional Chinese:
中國國家足球隊) remains an Asian power despite failing to qualify for the FIFA 2010 World
Cup in South Africa and not advancing beyond the group stage of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. The team is
currently ranked 70th in the world by FIFA and is made [.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the one all
draw against Wolves on Tuesday.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the one bill
win against Leeds on Monday.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the one all
draw against Wolves on Tuesday.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the one all
draw against Wolves on Tuesday.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the 125th
Birthday win over Everton on Sturday.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the 125th
Birthday win over Everton on Sturday.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the defeat to
Olympiakos Tuesday evening.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the defeat to
Olympiakos Tuesday evening.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the win over
Wigan at the weekend.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the win over
Wigan at the weekend.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the Carling
Cup match against Man City.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the win over
Norwich on Saturday.
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the draw with
Marseille on Tuesday.
Bio on Jules Wheeler:
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
Welcome to the video blog by Jules for Arsenalinsider.com. Jules takes us through the draw with
Marseille on Tuesday.
Bio on Jules Wheeler:
Stunning beauty Jules Wheeler discovered a love of performing at an early age. Her talent for
acting and dance quickly stood out and Jules was offered a place at the prestigious child actors
school London's 'Anna Scher'.
In many ways they were the team that propelled Thai football into the national consciousness.
Chonburi maybe were the first to develop a local identity, to build a team that people could
recognize as being their very own after an era when club sides like BEC Tero Sasana and Thai
Farmers; Bank may have won kudos overseas for their Asian Cup exploits but struggled locally to
make much of an impact.
Since we're in the midst of another international break, this week's edition of the WCR Top 25
Clubs in the World goes back in time to 1998.
1998 marked the fourth year in a row that Juventus ended up either on top of the Annual Rankings or
with the European Champions Cup. Once again, Juventus finished atop the rankings despite being
runner-up in the UEFA Champions League, losing 0-1 to Real Madrid in the final, since Real Madrid
could manage no better than a fourth-place finish in La Liga's Primera División.
Flashback July 2007I am kind of busy with my day job commitments that I am not able to devote much
of my time on local football of late.
Which is why I thought it is not a bad idea to have those "BlastFromThePast" archival postings via
the blog's Facebook page to allow readers to reminisce some interesting entries from the past.
On Wednesday, Revolution midfielder Ryan Guy announced his intentions of joining the Guam
National Team. (Photo: Kari Heistad)
Ryan Guy may not be on Jurgen Klinsmann's radar, but that won't stop the Revolution midfielder
from earning his first international cap before the close of the calendar year.
1. Shinji Kagawa 香川真司 means "true ruler" in Japanese.
2. He was born in Kobe on March 17th and turns 24-years-old this season.
3. He will be the 11th smallest player in the Premier League, two inches taller than Shaun
Wright-Phillips, one inch taller than Jermaine Defoe and the same height as Juan Mata.
Back in 2003 when the NSL died and we had to wait an eternity for football to be played
professionally again in Australia it all seemed so grim.
And yet we true believers have been on a roller-coaster of emotion, more so, much more than any
other code.
Most codes rumble on with their home and away season, great crowds in AFL land, less so in League,
and Union is a nice part-time sport tacked on at the edges, domestically at least.
Tuesday's dueling news conferences offered viewers a microcosm of the twisting tale that is
Indonesian football.
Amid the hubbub over the sensational arrival of former national team coach Alfred Riedl, the
Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) suddenly shifted course and said it would once again allow
players from the breakaway Indonesian Super League to turn out for the Merah Putih.
The Japan Football Association and adidas have launched the Japan adidas 2012/13 home kit. It will
be used by the Blue Samurai in their quest for a fifth successive qualification for the FIFA World
Cup. Currently ranked 19th in the world by FIFA, Japan is the defending Asian Cup champion and has
moved on to [.
Following an assessment by a specialist consultant on Tuesday evening, the Club can confirm that
he has sustained a compression injury to his thoracic spine and that he will be unavailable for 4
to 6 weeks, and is expected to return to play towards the end of January.
The Club has exercised a clause in the loan contract of David Stockdale, and he has been
recalled from Ipswich Town to join the squad.
