The Asian Cup completed its first orbit around the continent in early June when the third edition of the tournament was staged in Tokyo, Japan, following the path of Melbourne, Australia in 2015 and then Singapore in 2016.
Singapore’s Tan Kok Wee claimed the 2017 trophy, beating Australia’s Raffaele Lombard 2-1 in a tense and close match.
Kok Wee had stormed through from his group, beating seeded player Hideaki Wada (JPN) 4-0.
It was one of a number of upsets where the top seeds failed to take their group, with Antonio Carabillo (HKG) as the tournament’s third seed being the biggest casualty, being dumped out by Ashley Tan (SGP) and Steve Dettre (AUS).
Raffaele, ostensibly being in the toughest four person group, beat tournament #2 seed Kenzo Koi 2-1 to top his group.
Ashley Tan followed up his 3-0 win over Dettre to then beat Carabillo 2-0, who needed a win against Dettre in his last match, but could not break the determined goalkeeping of the Aussie to lose 2-1.
Rob Green (AUS) won his group comfortably, after beating #4 seed Bernard Lim 2-0, while John Ho (SGP), Cedric Garnier (FRA) and Gareth Thomas (WAL) won their groups.
Aussie Hugh Best had to face off with Katsuhiko Fukuoka in a shoot-out before making the Round of 16, where the surprises continued.
Kok Wee eliminated Kenzo Koi, while Steve Dettre knocked John Ho out on sudden death shots. Ashley Tan continued his surprise run with a 7-1 romp over Taichi Kato (JPN) while Lim needed a golden goal to beat Suguro Fujino (JPN) in extra time. Gareth Thomas beat Hugh Best 3-1, while Raffaele was continuing his impressive run with a 6-0 win over Hideaki Wada (JPN), and Greenie beat Makoto Miyake (JPN) 4-1.
It meant that three Aussies had made the quarterfinals; the same number as Singapore, with Garnier and Thomas making up the 8.
Probably the biggest shock of the tournament was Kok Wee’s 3-1 thumping of tournament top seed Garnier, with Cedric later saying he had no answers to the skills and shooting of the Singaporean.
Green edged out Dettre 1-0, escaping a last minute equaliser when his keeper tipped Dettre’s shot onto the bar and out.
Lim upped the tempo to beat Ashley Tan 3-1, while Raffaele beat Gareth 2-1.
Both semi finals saw some incredibly tense table football, with defence dominating, before Kok Wee and Raffaele progressed to meet in the final.
Green won the Veterans event, beating Lim 1-0, while Eiko Yoneda (JPN) won the women’s event, and Singapore’s Tan Yi De won the U12.
In the teams, Singapore Lions were triumphant against Yokohama OSC.
In the national team event, Singapore beat Australia 2-1, then beat Japan 4-0, before Australia beat Japan 3-1, with Singapore claiming their thir successive title.
Plenty of praise needs to be heaped on tournament organiser Kenzo Koi and his magnificent organising team. Truly a testament to the growth of the game in Asia, following on from well organised and attended events in Australia and Singapore.
Results
Asian Cup results
