"I think I am not in the best condition to analyse it. At this moment, my feeling is stronger than my reason."
Those were the words of Jorge Fossati, the coach of newly-crowned Asian Champions Al Sadd, deep in the bowels of Jeonju World Cup Stadium on Saturday evening. The Uruguayan had just watched a fantastic final in which his team overcame favourites and host Jeonbuk Motors thanks to a penalty shootout.

Bolt from the blue The coach of North Korea's women's football team says the team lost their opening World Cup match against the USA because their players were struck by lightning during training. The Koreans slipped to a 2-0 defeat, but coach Kim Kwang-min came armed with a fantastic excuse for the loss.

The USA had to wait till the second half to get on the scoreboard and it all began deep in midfield when Carli Lloyd picked out Abby Wambach on the left with a long diagonal pass. The striker cut in winger like manner before lofting a cross towards the far post as Amy Rodriguez and Lauren Cheney waited in the box.

Abby Wambach will do battle with the North Korean defense

USA vs. Korea DPR
Rudolf-Harbig Stadium, Dresden, Germany

In a few hours, Abby Wambach and company finally get to open their World Cup account after a long hard journey that took them through the playoffs.

The FIFA Under-17 World Championship got under way in Mexico yesterday with the first four games taking place. The most outstanding result on the opening day undoubtedly came in Group A where Congo sealed a fantastic 1-0 win over the Netherlands to win their first game in the finals of this tournament for 20 years.

Two Korean youngsters have today made their first tentative steps towards realizing their dream of playing for Liverpool FC.
Kim Yoon-Soo, 16, and Park Hyeon-Jim, 18, arrived in the city on Saturday ahead of a week-long trial at the club's Academy.
A meet and greet with first-team stars Dirk Kuyt and Andy Carroll was first on the agenda prior to a Monday morning training session with the reserves.

South Korea defeated Uzbekistan 3-2 to take third place in the AFC Asian Cup 2011 on Friday. The win secures an automatic place for the Koreans at the 2015 tournament in Australia. Korea went up 3-0 in the first-half on goals from Koo Ja-Cheo and Ji Dong-Won (2) before Uzbekistan fought back with goals on either [.

Australia have reached the 2011 AFC Asian Cup final in Qatar this weekend after crushing Uzbekistan by six goals to nil in yesterday's semi-final. Japan also went through but did it the hard way as Alberto Zaccherroni's men needed a penalty shoot out to get the better of arch-rivals South Korea.

There were six different scorers for the Socceroos as they put Uzbekistan to the sword in a game which was expected to be a lot closer than it was.

Japan have beaten South Korea in a dramatic penalty shoot-out to reach the Finalof the Asian Cup in Qatar.

The game ended 1-1 in normal time, before Japan looked to have snatched victory in extra-time before the Koreans scored a minute from time in extra-time, however Japan didn't have to wait long, with victory in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

These moments aren't in any order but a logo of how they enhanced the attractive game.

1. Togo's players celebrating their first aim in the world cup towards South Korea in their opening match. No one can guess that they don't seem to be being paid for playing on the planet cup.

2. Philip Lahm excellent goal against Costa Rica within the 6th minute led strategy to a high scoring World Cup.

DOHA, Qatar — Reigning champions Iraq set up a quarter-final clash with Australia after beating North Korea 1-0 Wednesday, condemning the Koreans to an early exit having failed to score in the tournament. The 2007 champions finished second in Group D behind Iran, but will be underdogs against an Australian team out for revenge after [.

In the latest round of 2011 AFC Asian Cup matches being played in Qatar there were no shocks to be had as Australia and South Korea confirmed their status as the two top teams in Group C and progressed to the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Australia finished top of the group when defeating Bahrain 1-0 in their final group match which was played today.

South Korea vs India Asian Cup- Group C- January 18, 2011 Final result and full time score:- South Korea 4-1 India (Dong-Won Ji*2, Ja-Cheol Koo, Heung-Min Son/ Sunil Chhetri ) This South Korea vs India fixture saw the Koreans run out 4-1 winners and hand India their third successive defeat of the tournament.

DOHA, Qatar — Australia and South Korea shared the spoils 1-1 in the battle of the big guns at the Asian Cup on Friday as both sides inched closer to the quarter-finals. The two Asian heavyweights are both seen as potential champions but neither could find the winner at the three-quarters full Al-Gharafa Stadium.

DOHA, Qatar — Bahrain's Ismaeel Abdulatif scored a remarkable four goals as his side thrashed India 5-2 here on Friday to stay in contention for an Asian Cup last-eight berth and consign the Indians to elimination. The 24-year-old forward scored three times in just 19 minutes in a devastating first-half spell, after Faouzi Aaish's penalty [.

Really looking forward to this mouth-watering clash as are the Koreans if you go by the numbers of Koreans posting on Aussie blogs!
Young fast and mobile with players, that's Korea, playing in big leagues in Europe against an Aussie team ageing and in decline.
Korea thumped Australia 3-1 earlier this year in Seoul and it could be a similar night tomorrow.

DOHA, Qatar — North Korea was forced to dig deep to salvage a point against a rampant United Arab Emirates as they opened their Asian Cup campaign in less than convincing fashion Tuesday. The Koreans, who made the World Cup in South Africa but lost all three games, withstood a barrage of UAE pressure throughout [.

Australia beat 142 ranked India 4-0 in the Asian Cup opener.
A rusty Asutralia relied on the old fellas, Tim Cahill (2), Harry Kewell (1), and Brett Emerton to create and score most of our goals. Brett Holman scored the other.
A comfortable win amd one which sets us up for the massive game with Korea on Friday.

DOHA, Qatar — A brace from Koo Ja-Cheol earned South Korea a somewhat nervy 2-1 victory over a plucky Bahrain in their Asian Cup Group C opening match at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Monday. Koo struck either side of half-time as Cho Kwang-Rae's side, who are bidding to end a 51-year wait for Asian [.