2007 AFC Asian Cup
The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its history, the competition was co-hosted by four countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam; it was the first time in football history more than two countries joined host of a major continental competition and the only one to had ever taken place until the UEFA Euro 2020. Iraq won  the continental title for the first time after defeating three-time champion Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final. As the winner, Iraq represented the AFC in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. Before 2007 and every four years, Asia often held its continental tournament from 1956 until China in 2004. With the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the same year as the Asian Cup, the AFC changed their tradition. From 2007, AFC decided to hold its continental tournament a year earlier, and every four years henceforth from that date. An estimated worldwide television audience of  650 million people tuned in to watch the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Australia participated for the first time since moving to the AFC from the OFC. Australia also happened to be the tournament's first nation aside from the co-hosts to qualify for the 2007 Asian Cup. Host selection. The then-AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam proposed and presented a move to have four host nations for the 2007 Asian Cup. However, he later regretted this decision and called it his "mistake", citing the financial and logistic difficulties in organising an event across four countries. He said that "It  is proving very difficult for [the executive committee as they] have to have four organising committees, four media centres and there are also financial considerations." He also revealed that "[he would] definitely [not do] it [again]", if he had the choice. In June 2005, the AFC warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On 12 August of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup. However, in October 2006, Thailand was again warned to improve its  facilities in 90 days. Qualification. The qualification ran from 22 February 2006 to 15 November 2006. For the first time, the defending champions (in this tournament, Japan) did not get automatic qualification. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam automatically qualified as co-hosts. Twenty-four teams were split into six groups of four to compete for the 12 remaining spots in the final tournament. Seeds. For the first time, the seeds are based on the October 2006 FIFA World Rankings instead of the basis of the performance from the previous AFC Asian Cup competition. This was to ensure that the same  number of strong teams do not meet in the early stage. The four seeded teams were announced on 19 December 2006. The seeds comprised Pot 4 in the draw. Pot 1 consists of the teams from all co-hosts. The draw was held on 19 December 2006 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Match ball. The Official Match Ball for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was launched by Nike on 15 May 2007, making it the first time ever that a ball had been launched specifically for any football competition in Asia. The Nike Mercurial Veloci AC features four blue  stripes with gold trim with each host city's name inscribed, as well as the AFC Asian Cup logo. Officials. 16 referees and 24 assistant referees were officially cleared following a fitness test on 2 July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One referee and two assistant referees were also named from the CAF. Official song. The AFC selected "I Believe", a 2004 single by Thai singer Tata Young as the tournament's official song. Tournament summary. The Asian Cup saw many upsets in the early stages of the tournament, with tournament favourites Australia and South Korea performing poorly in the group  stage. In Group A, Oman held the Socceroos to a surprising draw. The Omanis took the lead and would have won, if not for for an injury time goal from Tim Cahill. Next, joint hosts and the lowest-ranked team in the competition, Vietnam, shocked the UAE with a 2–0 victory. In the same group, Qatar held Japan to a shock 1–1 draw. The result caused Japan's coach Ivica Osim to fly into a rage in which he branded his players as 'amateurs' and reduced his interpreter to tears. In Group D, Indonesia continued the undefeated streak of the  hosts by defeating Bahrain 2–1. Malaysia ended up as the only host country to lose their opening match after a crushing 5-1 defeat to China. Thailand recorded just their 2nd win in the Asian Cup finals (their other was in 1972 against Cambodia), and its first ever win in regulation, when they beat Oman 2–0 on 12 July. Meanwhile, Australia was upset by a 3–1 defeat to Iraq the following day, leaving them floundering in the tournament despite high expectations in third place. However, Australia's 4–0 demolition of Thailand at the last match day saw them into the  quarter-finals, as Oman was unable to overcome Iraq in a goalless draw. Vietnam continued to stun all predictions when they drew 1-1 with 2006 ASIAD champions Qatar, while Japan finally got their first win when they thrashed the UAE 3–1. Although Vietnam lost 1–4 to Japan, the UAE's 2–1 comeback win over Qatar witnessed Vietnam's first time ever to qualify into the next round and became the only host to progress through despite being in the group of three different champions. On the other hand, while Malaysia continued its poor form with 0–5 and 0–2 losses  to Uzbekistan and Iran, thus going out of the tournament without a point. China's shocking elimination occurred when they were hammered 0–3 by the Uzbeks, despite having drawn 2–2 with Iran and was expected to qualify from group stage with an easy win. Bahrain shocked the whole tournament by defeating South Korea 2–1 in Group D, leaving the Koreans in the verge of elimination when Indonesia was beaten 1–2 by Saudi Arabia. However, South Korea finally progressed with a 1–0 win over hosts Indonesia and with Saudi Arabia destroying Bahrain 4–0, it was enough to seal them in. In  the quarter-finals, Iraq defeated Vietnam 2–0, while South Korea needed a penalty shootout to eliminate Iran 4–2. Japan also needed a penalty shootout to defeat Australia 4–3 (this was the first time Australia's goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer had ever come out on the losing end of a penalty shoot-out), and Saudi Arabia won over Uzbekistan 2–1. Iraq upset the Koreans in the semi-finals by winning 4–3 on penalties, resulting in thousands of Iraqis celebrating in the streets of Baghdad. Over 50 Iraqis were killed by terrorist bombs targeting these crowds. In the other semi-finals, Saudi Arabia  eliminated defending champions Japan after a 3–2 win to make an all-Arab affair for the final match. Iraq went on to defeat the Saudis 1–0, taking the Asian Cup title. Iraqi forward and captain Younis Mahmoud was given the title of Most Valuable Player. South Korea took third place, narrowly beating Japan 6–5 on penalties. It was the third consecutive match in the tournament that South Korea drew 0–0 before a penalty shootout. Iraq, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, as the top three teams in the tournament, all received automatic berths to the 2011 Asian Cup along with the  next hosts Qatar. Statistics. Goalscorers. With four goals, Younis Mahmoud, Naohiro Takahara and Yasser Al-Qahtani are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 84 goals were scored by 57 different players, with two of them credited as own goals. Awards. Most Valuable Player Top scorer Best Goalkeeper Best Defender Fair Play Award Most Entertaining Team Team of the tournament The "Toshiba All-Star XI" was voted for by fans on the official Asian Cup website.