 The final was held in theStadium Australia | |||||||
| Event | 2015 AFC Asian Cup | ||||||
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| Afterextra time | |||||||
| Date | 31 January 2015 | ||||||
| Venue | Stadium Australia,Sydney | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Trent Sainsbury (Australia) | ||||||
| Referee | Alireza Faghani (Iran) | ||||||
| Attendance | 76,385 | ||||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy 22 °C (72 °F) 63%humidity[1][2] | ||||||
←2011 2019 → | |||||||
The2015 AFC Asian Cup final was afootball match which took place on 31 January 2015 at theStadium Australia inSydney,Australia, to determine the winner of2015 AFC Asian Cup. It was played betweenSouth Korea and hostsAustralia. Australia won the match 2–1 in extra time and qualified for the2017 FIFA Confederations Cup inRussia.
Before the match, South Korea had reached theAFC Asian Cup final three times (1972,1980 and1988), finishing runners-up in all attempts since aknockout system was introduced. However, prior to such a system, South Korea had won the tournament twice (1956 and1960). Australia had reached one final (2011) since moving to theAsian Football Confederation from theOceania Football Confederation in 2006.
Prior to the tournament, the two finalists had previously met each other 26 times, with South Korea winning nine games and Australia ten.[3] The two sides first met on 14 November 1967 in the final of the1967 Quoc Khanh Cup inSouth Vietnam. Australia won the match 3–2 and secured the nation's first honour in international football.[4] The last meeting between the two teams, a 0–0 draw, took place on 20 July 2013, at the2013 EAFF East Asian Cup in South Korea. Australia, who began the 2015 Asian Cup as one of the favourites,[5] was ranked 100 in theFIFA World Rankings and tenth among AFC teams, while South Korea was ranked 69 overall, and third among AFC teams.
South Korea entered the 2015 Asian Cup as two-time Asian champions, having won the first two instalments of the tournament. However, the 2015 final was South Korea's first appearance in the final in 26 years and only their third appearance in the final since aknockout system was introduced. South Korea was first crowned champions of Asia in theinaugural 1956 edition of the Asian Cup, held in Hong Kong. There, the competition was formatted as around-robin tournament between four teams with nofinal, and South Korea won the tournament after just three matches. South Korea successfully defended their title in1960 on home soil. It was not until1972 that South Korea would get the chance to contest the Asian title again, in the tournament's first ever final after the change to a knockout format. South Korea lost the match againstIran 2–1 inextra time. South Korea again failed to win the final match in1980, when they lost 3–0 against host nationKuwait. In1988, South Korea contested the final againstSaudi Arabia in Qatar. After remaining scoreless at the end of extra time, the match was decided in apenalty shoot-out, with the Saudis taking home the title through a 4–3 win.
The 2015 final was Australia's second consecutive time contesting an Asian Cup final out of only three appearances since moving to theAsian Football Confederation from theOceania Football Confederation in 2006. In2011, Australia lost toJapan 1–0 in extra time.
Stadium Australia was announced as the venue of the 2015 final on 27 March 2013, along with the announcement of the five stadiums used in the tournament.[6] The venue was chosen in preference toMelbourne Rectangular Stadium, which was instead selected to host theopening match of the tournament between Australia and Kuwait. The stadium chosen for the final had the largest capacity of those used in the tournament, with a capacity crowd of 84,000. It was first opened in 1999, and was built to host the2000 Sydney Olympics. The venue has played host to a number of Sydney's major sporting events, and it was used for seven matches in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, including four group matches, a quarter-final and semi-final match, as well as the final.[7]
BothSouth Korea andAustralia were drawn intoGroup A of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, along with lower ranked sidesOman andKuwait. After winning all three group matches, South Korea finished first in the group. Host nation Australia finished second in the group to progress to theknockout stage of the tournament.
South Korea's first match against Oman was played atCanberra Stadium. A single goal byCho Young-cheol in the 46th minute duringinjury time was enough for the South Korean's to take all three points.[8] South Korea played their second match against Kuwait in Canberra. A goal byNam Tae-hee saw the game end 1–0.[9] In their final group match South Korea played Australia at a sold outBrisbane Stadium. The match would decide the final standings of the group, with South Korea needing a win to finish top in the group. A goal from strikerLee Jung-hyup in the 33rd minute gave South Korea their third 0–1 win in the tournament.[10] South Korea progressed to the quarter-final stage to faceGroup B runner-upUzbekistan. After a goalless 90 minutes, the match was taken intoextra time, whereSon Heung-min found the net twice to end the game 2–0.[11] In the semi-finals, South Korea took onIraq inStadium Australia. Goals byLee Jung-hyup andKim Young-gwon ended the match 2–0, with South Korea progressing to the 2015 final.[12]
Australia's Asian Cup run started in the opening match of the tournament against Kuwait.Hussain Fadhel's eighth-minute header had briefly dampened spirits at a sold outMelbourne Rectangular Stadium only forMassimo Luongo to set upTim Cahill on the 33rd minute to equalise with his 37th international goal. After Luongo headed home his first for Australia at the end of the first half, a penalty from captainMile Jedinak in the 62nd minute and a late strike fromJames Troisi secured the three points for Australia.[13] In their second match, Australia played Oman in Sydney. Goals fromMatt McKay,Robbie Kruse,Tomi Jurić and a penalty scored byMark Milligan gave Australia a 0–4 win.[14] After failing to secure any points from their final group match against South Korea, Australia next faced Group B winnersChina PR in the quarter-finals in Brisbane Stadium. Cahill opened the scoring shortly after the half-time break before doubling the lead midway through the second-half, ensuring Australia reached the last four.[15] In the semi-finals, Australia facedUnited Arab Emirates inNewcastle Stadium. A 2–0 result with goals fromTrent Sainsbury andJason Davidson sent Australia into their second consecutive Asian Cup final.[16]
| South Korea | Round | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opponent | Result | Group stage | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Oman | 1–0 | Match 1 |  Kuwait | 4–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kuwait | 1–0 | Match 2 | Oman | 4–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Australia | 1–0 | Match 3 |  South Korea | 0–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group A winner
| Final standings | Group A runner-up
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| Opponent | Result | Knockout stage | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Uzbekistan | 2–0 (a.e.t.) | Quarter-finals |  China | 2–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Iraq | 2–0 | Semi-finals |  United Arab Emirates | 2–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Individual match tickets for the final were sold directly by the AFC via its website from 3 June 2014.[17] The final also included the Sydney "Venue Pack", which gave access to every match of the tournament played in Sydney. 76,000 seats were made available for the final clash, with roughly 7,000 seats kept by the AFC to accommodate media and other parties.[18] Prices varied from $39 to $150.[19] 66,000 tickets had been sold for the final prior to Australia's semi-final match in 2.7 minutes, with more than 10,000 additional tickets sold within 1.4 minutes of the win for Australia.[18]
IranianAlireza Faghani was named as the referee of the final, together with fellow countrymen Reza Sokhandan and Mohammad Reza Abolfazli as his assistants. The trio had officiated in four 2015 Asian Cup matches, including group matches betweenSaudi Arabia and China PR,Kuwait and South Korea andIraq and Japan, as well as the quarter-final match betweenJapan and the United Arab Emirates. Faghani had previously taken charge of a number of international matches, with the most notable being the2009 AFC President's Cup Final,2010 AFC Challenge Cup Final and the first leg of the2014 AFC Champions League Final.
The closing ceremony of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup took place before the final. As with the opening ceremony of the tournament, the closing ceremony featured a performance by Australian DJ, singer and dancerHavana Brown.[20]
Stielike made one change to the line-up that saw off Iraq in the semi-finals, calling upJang Hyun-soo to partnerKi Sung-yueng in the middle to allowPark Joo-ho to sit in front ofKim Jin-su on the left, whileIvan Franjić was passed fit for an unchanged Australian side. The game opened at a frantic pace and, by the end of the half, Australia had taken the lead against the run of play after South Korea had spurned several opportunities to put themselves on the scoreboard. It wasSon Heung-min who caused the greatest threat to the Australian goal, volleying just wide in the 37th minute after impressive work down the left from Park Joo-ho and Kim Jin-su while, less than a minute later, the South Korean was denied what looked a certain goal by Luongo's outstretched foot.Tim Cahill had earlier forcedKim Jin-hyeon into action in the South Korean goal, the keeper diving to his left to push the Australian's effort around the post after holding off the challenge ofKwak Tae-hwi, who had sent his own header just wide mere seconds later at the other end.[21]
But with barely a minute left in the half, Luongo struck to put Australia in front.Trent Sainsbury's ball into the feet of Luongo allowed him to turn and beat Ki Sung-yueng before hitting a low, unstoppable right-foot effort beyond Kim Jin-hyeon, conceding South Korea its first goal in the tournament. The South Koreans were forced to push for the equaliser as the second half wore on and a disciplined Australian defence kept them at bay until, a minute into stoppage time, Son Heung-min latched on to Ki Sung-yueng's pass to fire beyondMathew Ryan and send the game into extra time. ButJames Troisi put the Socceroos back in front in the 105th minute when he was first to react after Kim Jin-hyeon pushedTomi Jurić's shot towards Troisi back into play. The midfielder fired the ball high into the net to seal the win and see Australia become champions of Asia.[22]
| South Korea | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | Australia |
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        South Korea |    Australia |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: | Match rules:[24]
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The win meant that Australia has become the first-ever nation to win in two continental competitions, having won fourOFC Nations Cup before moving to the AFC in 2006, and also gave Australia the first-ever Asian title.[25] For this achievement, Australia went on to represent Asia in the2017 FIFA Confederations Cup held in Russia, its fourth participation but the first, and final participation in the tournament as an AFC member after new FIFA PresidentGianni Infantino decided to abolish it in 2018.[26]
For the South Koreans, this disheartening loss to Australia extended the country's Asian Cup drought. Since winning it at home in 1960, South Korea has made appearances in three other Asian Cup Finals before this one, and all ended up South Korea losing.[27] It was also the last game for veteranCha Du-ri, who retired from international football following the end of the match.[27]
Nonetheless,Son Heung-min's bright performance throughout the competition made him attractive to major giants in Europe, which led him to transfer fromBayer 04 Leverkusen toTottenham. With £22 million, he became the most expensive player in Asian football history.[28]
Australian Prime MinisterTony Abbott was invited to attend but did not due to vote counting for the2015 Queensland state election taking place at the same time.[29] Abbott had already attended the opening match of the tournament between Australia and Kuwait in Melbourne.[30] Other invited guests present for the final includeFIFA PresidentSepp Blatter,AFC PresidentSalman Al-Khalifa and Chairman ofFootball Federation AustraliaFrank Lowy. Blatter and Al-Khalifa delivered the trophy to the champions in the awards ceremony, amidst boos from the crowd.[31]
The match was broadcast live in Australia by theABC andFox Sports. The ABC's coverage of the match averaged 1.8 million viewers nationally for the entire match, with a total reach of 5.3 million Australians overall. The ABC' peak audience was 3 million viewers watching at 22:27 AEDT, in the final minute of extra time. The game also averaged 416,000 for Fox Sports' coverage.[32]
