January 12 – Sardar Azmoun (pictured) sealed Iran’s qualification for the knockout stags with two goals either side of the half in a 2-0 victory that saw them out-muscle Vietnam to and Sardar become the tournament’s top scorer.
January 12 – Australian coach Graham Arnold (pictured) expects his Socceroos to put Syria to the sword in their final group B game after Australia’s commanding 3-0 win over Palestine on Friday. In 2017 Australia eliminated Syria in a dramatic play-off 3-2 on aggregate from the World Cup finals in Russia.
January 12 – Carlos Queiroz and Iran will not take Vietnam lightly as the sky-high favourites in the Asian Cup 2019 seek three points and qualification from Group D.
China 2 Philippines 0
January 11 – Two goals superbly taken goals from sparkling Chinese starlet Wu Lei were ultimately the difference between China, who have qualified for the round of 16 with a group game to go, and a battling Philippines who have yet to win a point or score a goal in their debut Asian Cup finals.
Australia 3 Palestine 0
January 11 – Defending champions Australia bounced back from their 1-0 defeat against Jordan to breeze past Palestine 3-0 and climb to second spot in Group B on three points.
January 11 – Bernd Stange became the second national team manager to be sacked at the Asian Cup 2019 last night after his Syrian team went down 2-0 to Jordan, who are rapidly becoming the surprise package of the tournament.
India 0 UAE 2
By Samindra Kunti
January 10 – Hosts the United Arab Emirates secured a vital 2-0 win against India in clinical style to get their Asian Cup campaign back on track, but they were left to sweat until the last minute of the game by a resourceful and hard-working India.
January 10 – Alberto Zaccheroni said that the UAE were now growing in the right direction after their 2-0 win against India, but admitted that the Indians will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
January 10 – Marcello Lippi has defended his tenure at the helm of the Chinese national team, citing the emergence of young players as a long-term benefit. On Friday three points against the Philippines will ensure China’s progress to the knockout stages of the 2019 Asian Cup.
By Paul Nicholson in Abu Dhabi
January 10 – The 17th and biggest ever Asian Cup currently being hosted in the UAE completed its first round of group games yesterday. Expanded from 16 to 24 teams, this is a competition that is opening a remarkable new world of football frontiers. It has spotlighted countries too often on the periphery of global football and is generating stories, new legend and football history every day.
Thailand 1 Bahrain 0
By Paul Nicholson in Abu Dhabi
January 10 – Thailand, who sacked their Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac after losing their first game, turned their Asian Cup campaign around with 1-0 win over Bahrain at at the Al Maktoum Stadium.
January 10 – Under pressure UAE coach Alberto Zaccheroni (pictured) has described the game with India as a “make-or-break” Asian Cup encounter for the hosts. In the opposition dugout he faces a buoyant Indian coach in Stephen Constantine who has vowed that his team will play for all three points.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
January 9 – Uzbekistan’s goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov made history at the AFC Asian Cup, posting a new playing record in the Asian football showpiece.
January 9 – Japan’s coach Hajime Moriyasu part blamed the heat for his team’s underwhelming 3-2 win against Turkmenistan and acknowledged that Japan will need to improve as the tournament progresses.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
January 10 – The Iraq national team broke an unwanted record when they posted their first group game victory over counterpart Vietnam in Group D.