The Chinese topped the group and will be joined in the quarterfinals by Uzbekistan. Saudi Arabia's leaky defence cost them dearly in the end whilst North Korea scored their first Asian Cup goal for 23 years but couldn't manage to get a point in 3 games.
Group B was definitely the most surprising of the four groups. Uzbekistan were slight favourites coming into the tournament ahead of Saudi Arabia with China ranked as outsiders and North Korea an unknown quantity. The Uzbeks only narrowly missed out on qualification to the last World Cup; they lost 9-8 on penalties to Jordan to decide who would go into the Intercontinental play-off.
The opening game was between Uzbekistan and North Korea and it followed the pre-tournament expectations with the Uzbeks dominating against the lowest ranked side in the tournament. They created numerous chances but spurned all but one, the only goal coming from Igor Sergeev. It came just after the hour mark on the break and a sublime cross from Server Djeparov allowed Sergeev to head home. Some torrential rain followed before the Koreans nearly snatched a point right at the death when Ignatiy Nesterov superbly saved Kwang-Ryong Pak’s header from a corner.
Saudi Arabia - China followed later on that day and China sprung something of surprise by claiming three valuable points from the game. It was a very even game and in the 62nd minute Naif Hazazi won a clear penalty after being brought down by Ren Hang. Before Hazazi took the penalty Chinese keeper, Wang Dalei, turned to the ball boy behind the goal asked him which way to dive. The boy pointed to the left, Dalei did just that and saved Hazazi’s weak penalty.
Hazazi was made to pay for his penalty miss as 20 minutes later, when Yu Hai took a free kick from about 25 yards out. He went for goal and it’s hard to tell where it would’ve gone before it took a huge deflection off of Nawaf Al Abid which sent it into the bottom corner leaving Waleed Abdullah with no chance.
The next round of games saw North Korea face the Saudis and China play favourites Uzbekistan. One of the best things about the group stages was the neutral support for the North Koreans. Sales of the novelty hats bearing the country’s flag surprised everyone and many Australians cheered for the North Koreans when they were playing. For the match against Saudi Arabia they were joined by 300 or so people from South Korea showing that football can be used as a tool to bridge political borders.
The support of the neutrals was rewarded in only the 11th minute of the game when Yong-Gi Ryang slotted in the rebound to get the Koreans’ first Asian Cup goal in 23 years. The romance however could not last as Hazazi made up for his penalty miss against China by grabbing the equaliser. Two goals from Mohammad Al Sahlawi would follow before a quite bizarre minute of football in the 77th minute.
First Salem Al Dawsari sent a chipped effort towards goal and Yong-Jik Ri tried to stop the ball with his hands. He couldn’t reach it but the ball came back off the crossbar and struck Ri’s arm, the referee gave the penalty and subsequently sent Ri off. Nawaf Al Abid stepped up to take it but his effort was pushed onto the post before hitting the other post. As the ball bounced off the second post Al Abid slid in and pushed the ball into the net to make it four.
Then China pulled off another shock soon after beating Uzbekistan to secure their place in the quarterfinals as group winners with the game finishing 2-1. Odil Akhmedov actually gave the Uzbeks the lead courtesy of a wicked deflection off of a Chinese defender. However the Chinese rallied and Wu Xi got the equaliser before Sun Ke scored a wonderful winner. The Chinese support was probably the biggest of any nation apart from Australia and they certainly enjoyed that goal, as did manager Alain Perrin and his staff.
This led to a mouth-watering last round of fixtures, as Uzbekistan had to play Saudi Arabia with both teams on 3 points. The Uzbeks knew they had to win whilst the Saudis knew that a draw would be enough thanks to their superior goal difference. China finished their group stage on a high by beating North Korea 2-1 earlier in the day.
Uzbekistan started on the front foot and took the lead inside 90 seconds thanks to Sardor Rashidov who ran into the box before finishing from an almost impossible angle. They held on to the lead for the next hour or so before a penalty was awarded against Vitaliy Denisov for blocking off Hazazi. Al Sahlawi stepped up and slotted home just inside the post. The Uzbeks were relentless in their response and soon put themselves back in the lead with a header from substitute Vokhid Shodiev. Rashidov got his second 8 minutes later to confirm the Uzbeks place in the quarterfinals
