2004 AFC Asian Cup


The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. The defending champions Japan defeated China in the final in Beijing.
The tournament was marked by Saudi Arabia's unexpected failure to even make it out of the first round; a surprisingly good performance by Bahrain, which finished in fourth place; Jordan, which reached the quarterfinals in its first appearance and Indonesia, which gained their historical first Asian Cup win against Qatar. The final match between China and Japan was marked by post-match rioting by Chinese fans near the north gate of Beijing Workers' Stadium, in part due to controversial officiating and anti-Japanese sentiment resulting from historical tensions.

Host cities and venues

Qualification

The lowest-ranked 20 teams were placed in 6 preliminary qualifying groups of 3 and one group of [|2], with the group winners joining the remaining 21 teams in 7 groups of 4. The top two of each of these groups qualified for the finals in China.
CountryQualified asDate qualification was securedPrevious appearances in tournament[|1], 2
2000
2000 AFC Asian Cup winners26 October 2000
Qualifying round Group B winners5 October 2003
Qualifying round Group C winners15 October 2003
Qualifying round Group C runners-up15 October 2003
Qualifying round Group E winners21 October 2003
Qualifying round Group F winners22 October 2003
Qualifying round Group F runners-up22 October 2003
Qualifying round Group D runners-up24 October 2003
Qualifying round Group D runners-up18 November 2003
Qualifying round Group G runners-up18 November 2003
Qualifying round Group A winners19 November 2003
Qualifying round Group B runners-up19 November 2003
Qualifying round Group D winners19 November 2003
Qualifying round Group A runners-up21 November 2003
Qualifying round Group G winners28 November 2003

Notes:

Seeds

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 2004 AFC Asian Cup squads.

Officials

;Referees
;Assistant Referees
All times are China standard time

Group A


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Group B


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Group C


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Group D


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Knockout stage

All times are China standard time

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Third place playoff

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

With five goals, A'ala Hubail and Ali Karimi are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 96 goals were scored by 58 different players, with two of them credited as own goals.
;5 goals
;4 goals
;3 goals
;2 goals
;1 goal
;Own goals
Most Valuable Player
Top scorer
Fair Play Award
Team of the Tournament
GoalkeepersDefendersMidfieldersForwards

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto

Yuji Nakazawa

Zheng Zhi

Mehdi Mahdavikia
Shunsuke Nakamura

Shao Jiayi

Zhao Junzhe

Talal Yousef
A'ala Hubail

Ali Karimi

Final standings

Views

Like other sports events, the Asian Cup 2004 was publicised as evidence of China's economic and athletic progress, being referred to by some as a prelude to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Many Chinese see the tournament as a success and take great pride in having showcased such an important sporting event in advance of the Olympic Games. However, the Japanese media and many other international observers have pointed out bad manners on the part of Chinese fans, and sparse attendance at the tournament, raising questions on China's ability to hold such sporting events.
Throughout the tournament, most Chinese fans in the stadia expressed anti-Japanese sentiments by drowning out the Japanese national anthem, displaying political banners and booing whenever Japan got the ball, regardless of the score or opponent. This was reported by the international media, and was aggravated when Koji Nakata apparently knocked in the ball with his right hand in the final against China. The PRC government responded by calling for restraint and increasing police numbers to maintain order. The Japanese government also called on the PRC to ensure the safety of Japanese fans, while specifically asking Japanese nationals or people of Japanese origin to not display any form of excessive pride, especially wearing Japan national football team uniforms. Despite the Chinese government's campaign, a riot started by Chinese fans broke out near the north gate of the Workers' Stadium, though reports differ as to the extent of the riot. As a result, some media groups have said that displays of "excessive Chinese nationalism during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics have become a cause for concern for Chinese officials".