World Cup play-offs: Embarrassing

World Cup play-offs: Embarrassing

They have been labelled the rising force in Asian football.

Having beaten the likes of Japan in World Cup qualifying, Jordan went on to oust Uzbekistan over two legs in the play-off round.

But when it came down to the crunch, the Jordanians crumbled.

Asia's No. 5 team (based on qualifying) were crushed 5-0 at home by Uruguay - South America's No. 5 - on Wednesday in the first leg of the World Cup play-off tie for next year's Finals in Brazil.

Even with the likes of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani in the Uruguay side, few would have predicted the large margin of victory in Amman; which begs the question: Is there a staggering gulf in standard between Asia and the rest of the world?

Yes, said two coaches and a football expert The New Paper spoke to.

All three agreed that outside of Asia's top four - Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran - the rest of the continent lags far behind.

"It's a shocking result. You would expect Uruguay to win, but not by that margin, especially in Jordan," said former Singapore coach P N Sivaji.

True for the top teams

"I thought that the gap (between Asia and the rest) had closed a few years ago, but clearly that's true only for the top teams. I'm sure Japan would not have lost heavily to Uruguay at home.

"The problem with the other mid-level Asian teams is there aren't enough players from there playing in Europe.

"Japan and Korea have so many playing in the top leagues. Even for those who don't, they still play in very strong domestic leagues."

Another former Singapore coach, Barry Whitbread, who has also coached in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), agreed that not playing in the top European leagues hinders progress.

Said Whitbread: "When you look at the amount of money invested in football in England, Spain and Italy, Asia just can't compare.

"Some Middle Eastern teams have invested considerably but, perhaps, not in the most effective way. For one, there isn't a lot of youth development in those countries.

"Priority tends to go to the senior level but, a the end of the day, what you get at the top is what you invest in your youth.

"When I was in Dubai, I saw the UAE Under-17 side and thought they were the best generation players in a long time.

"But, at the Fifa U-17 World Cup which they hosted recently, they couldn't even make it out of their group.

So, maybe the mentality of the players isn't as strong as it should be."

Former England international Paul Parker also cited mental strength as a key difference between Asian and European teams. Parker, who works as a football pundit here and commentates on the Asian World Cup qualifying matches, said that Asian teams lose out in three categories.

"If you can't compete physically, mentally, and in terms of discipline, you don't survive. Individual quality only gets you so far," he said.

"The Middle Eastern teams like Jordan are a match physically, but aren't of the same level with Europe in terms of organisation and technique.

"That's where having players ply their trade in football experts explain why there is an alarming gap between most of asia and the rest of the world Europe helps. They go there and learn about professional football diets, for example. That's what I mean by discipline.

"The gap gets even bigger when we talk about South-east Asia teams, because those countries tend to lose out on all three categories.

"Football has gone forward in Japan and Korea because there's a blueprint for development over there. They've brought in the right foreign coaches to help things and learnt from them.

"The rest of Asia have to do that if they want to catch up."


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