Yesterday was the final match of the 2011 Asian Cup soccer games that were being held in the country of カタール国 (Qatar).
The Asian Cup is a soccer competition of countries in the Asian region (including Japan, North and South Korea, China, Vietnam, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Australia and others) and is held every four years.
I’m not really a big soccer fan. I think the Japanese comedian “Beat Takeshi” had an excellent idea to improve the game of soccer.
But I did watch the final match last night. It was Japan’s “Blue Samurai” vs Australia’s “Socceroos“ (maybe it’s a cultural difference…but don’t Australian people think the name “Socceroos” is embarrassing?)
As is “par for the course” for the game of soccer, the score of the Japan v. Australia game remained 0-0 for almost the entire match…until Japan’s Tadanari Lee (who is actually a naturalized Japanese of Korean descent) scored the only goal of the entire game.
Tadanari Lee of Japan's "Samurai Blue" national soccer team.
So now Japan are the 2011 Asian Cup soccer champions.
The Japan team was crowned the soccer "Kings of Asia".
So now out of the fifteen “Asian Cup” soccer competitions that have been held since these games started in 1956, Japan has been the champion team the most often.
Japan has held the title four times: in 1992, 2000, 2004 and now in 2011.
Here is a four-and-a half minute video of the highlights of the Japan vs. Australia champion game that was played last night (2011 January 29).
The video shows the failed goal attempts (which are a regular event in a soccer game) and the winning goal (which was actually quite excellent teamwork between aforementioned Tadanari Lee and Yuto Nagatomo):
(The photos in this post are from the Official Asian Cup Games website.)
Tokyo Five 
Korean Zainichi Power!!!
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Yes, MVP Tadanari Lee is a Korean resident in Japan.
Well, actually he’s Japanese now—he naturalized to join the national soccer team.
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Stone just loves beer. My favorite beer right now is nothing really fancy at all: Michelob Ultra. Man, it’s one of the tastiest beers I’ve ever enjoyed. Plus the low carbs don’t hurt either! 🙂
Gee Metal whiz… that sounded like a commercial for this beer. Honestly, Michelob did not put me up to this! 😉
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I love beer too. ( https://tokyo5.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/beers-ive-drunk/ )
I haven’t had an American brand beer in years (it’s an imported beer where I live…and therefore more expensive), but I have never tried Michelob.
But since you recommend it so highly, if I see it I’ll try a bottle.
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Excellent! Then, after your first few sips of that smooth and cold Michelob Ultra… you can go: “ahh, thank you for the beer referral Stone”. Then, have a second one for me! 🙂
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>Then, have a second one for me!
Or you should come visit Tokyo and I’ll introduce you to Japanese beer (and sake)!
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Stout is very popular here in Ireland. Guinness, Murphy’s and Beamish are the most widely drunk varieties as they are brewed domestically.
I haven’t had much luck in finding Kitachino over here but on the two occasions that I have been able to buy it bottled it has been about €4.50/5 a bottle so more than a little pricey.
I used to be able to get it easily back home along with quite a few other Japanese beers and they were far more reasonable.
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>Stout is very popular here in Ireland. Guinness, Murphy’s and Beamish are the most widely drunk varieties
I’ve tried Guinness. It’s well-known and many people like it…but I didn’t enjoy it much.
I haven’t heard of the other two brands before.
>Kitachino…has been about €4.50/5 a bottle (in Ireland)
(By the way, although it kinda looks like a “K” on the label…it’s an “H”. The beer’s name is “Hitachino“.)
I just checked on Google…at today’s exchange rate, €4.50 – €5 = ¥505 – ¥561. That is expensive.
>quite a few other Japanese beers
Have you ever tried any of Japan’s lagers…Kirin Beer is my favorite (and the most popular in Japan).
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I have always enjoyed Kitachino Sweet Stout which seems to be a milk stout, it’s a really good beer.
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Do you drink Japanese beer in Ireland? Is it pricey over there?
I don’t really like dark beers and “stouts” much. I prefer lager.
But stouts are popular in Ireland, aren’t they?
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With all due respect for Australia: Japanese beer is very good I think. And the soccer title is well merited. Japan played well in the latest World Cup.
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>Japanese beer is very good
I think so too. I drink Japanese beer every day…mainly because it’s domestic and therefore least expensive—but also because it’s excellent beer.
>Japan played well in the latest World Cup.
Yes, they were quite good.
I wrote this post last summer during the World Cup:
Also the Japanese Nat’l baseball team are great:
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“Socceroos” may sound & look funny… only Australia does import one fine beer that isn’t funny at all… it just tastes soooo gooood… “Fosters”. Their commercial here in the U.S. states: “Fosters, is Australian for beer”. 🙂
I guess I might as well “root” for a team here. GO JAPAN! 😉
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>Australia does import one fine beer that isn’t funny at all…“Fosters”.
Yeah, it is a good beer.
>Their commercial here in the U.S. states: “Fosters, is Australian for beer”.
I’ve never seen a commercial for Foster’s Beer in Japan.
>GO JAPAN!
Do you like soccer?
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Honestly, I never played soccer or follow the sport. I do however, appreciate it’s existence. Plus, the fans of this sport have loyalty to their teams that is extremely admirable. 🙂
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>I never played soccer or follow the sport.
Yeah, American’s dislike of soccer is pretty well-known.
When Japan co-hosted the 2002 Soccer World Cup, I tried to get interested in watching soccer (or “football”, as it’s known in many countries)…but it’s not an interesting sport, in my opinion.
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I played before never got beat but i stop an move on to football
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>I played before
Soccer?
>never got beat
You’ve never lost? How long did you play?
>move on to football
“Soccer” is known as “football” in many countries. Do you mean “American football”?
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