The EAFF East Asian Cup could not be more finely balanced with three of the four teams going into the final round on Sunday August 9 capable of winning the championship. You can watch the matches live on Insideworldfootball at http://www.insideworldfootball.com/watch-live-football
After two rounds South Korea lead the table with 4 points, China and North Korea are level on 3 points with Japan having 1 point.
South Korea face North Korea in their final match. North Korea pulled off the surprise result of the tournament so far with a 1-0 win over japan in the first match. South Korea only managed a 1-1 draw with the Japanese in round 2, meaning they need a win to secure the championship.
China is returning to international form after a period in the wilderness that saw poor results and a lot of criticism of their team. They were unlucky to lose to South Korea but rebounded well to beat North Korea who last appeared in the final rounds in 2008.
Japan, who have disappointed so far with a number of their key players at their European clubs preparing for the new season, will want to build on a hard-earned draw against South Korea.
But China are very much a resurgent force in East Asian football. Though China PR won the championship in 2010 and were runners up spot in the last 2013 competition, they are still playing ‘catch up’ with the continually maturing Japan and South Korean teams. teams.
Since their appearance in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, China has yet to break out of the FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers. However, in January this year the team put on an impressive performance in the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015, showing signs of a national team revival to match the growing reputation of their domestic Super League.
Watch the matches live on Insideworldfootball at http://www.insideworldfootball.com/watch-live-football
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August 9 – men
10.10 BST – South Korea vs North Korea
14.10 BST – China vs Japan