Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam Friday hailed the Asian Cup as ushuring in a new era in regional soccer.
He called the tournament played across four countries a turning point for Southeast Asia in particular, with three of the four host country teams -- Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam -- exceeding expectations.
Only Malaysia flopped.
Before the July 7-29 championships bin Hammam admitted that holding the tournament in four different countries had created all sorts of logistical problems, but he said he was happy with the way it turned out.
"After long and hard preparation we have enjoyed three weeks of really entertaining football that has achieved the largest media platform in AFC's history," he was quoted by AFP as telling a meeting of the organisers here.
"I am impressed with how the Local Organising Committees overcame the challenges, and I am sure that we have established a new era in terms of organising our competitions, which will impact on future Asian Cups."
One of the biggest problems has been teams having to uproot to different countries for knockout round matches, with finalists Saudi Arabia facing a mammouth trip from Indonesia to Vietnam then back to Indonesia again.
Fellow finalist Iraq have moved from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta.
Coaches moaned that it gave them little recovery time, but outside of that there have been few complaints aired in public.
Bin Hammam said one of the biggest plus points had been the way the host countries had coped.
"This event will hopefully be a turning point for football in the four venues and Southeast Asia in general in terms of performance of their national teams, organisation of football competitions, and fan support," he said.
While crowds turned out in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand for the home teams, many stadiums have been glaringly empty for other matches. (*)
Copyright © 2007 ANTARA
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