I have watched both sides of New Zealand in that time though, so rest-of-oceania-aside i can say I've seen & critically thought about every decent (think: qualified for their continental cup) international team on the planet in the past 3-4 years. Cool feeling, genuinely want to do this the rest oml
That's a wrap on the 2026 Asian Cup from me. A special tournament for my Threads: I've been doing these since the Fall 2022 & this was the final continental cup, mens & womens, that i hadn't yet seen & written a bit about*
*okay, i am not counting the 8-team Oceania Nations cups. one day i will
Favorite Forwards
Bronze Sword: Kim Kyong-yong
Silver Sword: Wang Shuang
Golden Sword: Maika Hamano
Hamano blurb is above so shoutout Wang, much needed dynamo in an otherwise passive China attack. If the dumbass 2YC accumulation rule didn't sit her for the semifinal they may have upset Australia
myong
Favorite Midfielders
Bronze Scale: Alanna Kennedy
Silver Scale: Yui Hasegawa
Golden Scale: Myong Yu-jong
DPRK were the second entertainers only short of Japan, stringing together impressive multi-pass sequences & at the heart of so much of it was midfielder Myong
su sin-yun
Favorite Defenders
Bronze Shield: Ellie Carpenter
Silver Shield: Toko Koga
Golden Shield: Su Sin-yun
Koga is THE best defender on the continent imo, but Chinese Taipei punched way up (defensively) & so much credit has to go to the line leader Su who anchored them so well against floods of attacks
arnold
Favorite Keepers
Bronze Glove: Olivia McDaniel
Silver Glove: Cheng Ssu-yu
Golden Glove: Mackenzie Arnold
For the ~5 upper echelon teams in this cup, Arnold definitely had the most to deal with as the Matildas ceded possession more than any other team near their tier
My Favorite Coaches
Bronze Chalk: Shin Sang-woo
Silver Chalk: Joe Montemurro
Golden Chalk: Nils Nielsen
Sang-woo was the most flexible throughout the tournament; I actually liked Montemurro's defense-first approach; but Japan was close to perfect the entire way, can't really argue here
My Favorite Passes
Bronze Pass: Chae Un-yong 45+7' assist vs Bangladesh
Silver Pass: Nilufar Kudratova 10' assists vs Bangladesh
Golden Pass: Umida Zoirova 62' assist vs Bangladesh
Kudratova's is better technically but Zoirova's earns #1 for how unselfish it was
My Favorite Goals
Bronze Goal: Sam Kerr vs China
Silver Goal: Myong yu-jong 6' vs Uzbekistan
Golden Goal: Maika Hamano vs Australia
i do not appreciate Certified Bangers as much as everyone else, but this winning the whole damn thing makes it impossible for me to ignore. special strike
hamano
My Favorite Players
Bronze Ball: Myong Yu-jong
Silver Ball: Su Sin-yun
Golden Ball: Maika Hamano
Exhilarating on either wing, someone who Tries Shit™️ & almost always gets a positive outcome from it. Holds a continental winning goal. A Japanese hero who catapulted up my list of favorite players itw
japan trophy lift
My Favorite Teams
Bronze Crest: Australia
Silver Crest: DPR Korea
Golden Crest: Japan
Rare-ish case where the champion of an international tournament is both the best team & the most fun by conventional soccer standards. Entertained & dominated the continent, doesn't get better than that
2026 Asian Cup Awards starting with my Dream Team
think i said this about Australia earlier but the lack of dangerous attack with lots of possession was seen all tournament, so getting shut out wasn't a complete surprise. i do feel for them conceding a banger, because they defended very well in this game too. a 0-0 on most other days
🇦🇺1-0🇯🇵
in a true Away final, Japan reclaim the Asian Cup with their backline having little to do all tournament getting to shine in the final 45' stand. one early moment of magic from Hamano was all they needed to hand Australia a tough game state for the Matildas: needing a goal
also may have noticed i don't have the quarterfinal "losers" world cup playoffs here; to me those are not really part of the Asian Cup if all teams involved are eliminated from *the Asian Cup* so that is just WCQ to me, which this thread isn't for. So didn't watch, not diving into
and this is why i wish i was better at staying up to date on these threads because i watched the entire 90 minutes of the final & those thoughts are no longer fresh in my head
🇰🇷1-4🇯🇵
just from the semifinals you can see how clear japan are above Australia & anyone else on this continent. thrilling performance, controlling the entire game & having it feel put away for most of it. the midfield 3 is unreal & my goodness maika hamano has become one of my favorite players itw
2x yellow accumulation rules need to big kicked to the curb, i say this because it usually kills at least one team every international cup, here China missed their star in Wang Shuang - having her threat against Australia would have made this game a lot more fun
i don't mind the approach because this team are not consistently dangerous against organized defenses, with most of their best sequences coming when ellie carpenter was unleashed forward as a much needed extra player in attack - big creator of Goal 1
🇨🇳1-2🇦🇺
simplistic way to describe Australia in big games is "keep numbers behind the ball to not concede, win the few big moments that decide a game" & it worked here with Foord the decider on a key part in both goals, Sam Kerr scoring the actual winner from a difficult angle
🇯🇵7-0🇵🇭
Japan spent 44 minutes struggling to score against the nasiest of buses when they broke the dam with the latest fad of lumping corner kicks into an overcrowded 6 yard box, twice right before half. 2H proved how much deadlier they are when the game is open
🇰🇷6-0🇺🇿
uzbekistan sold this game, dropping 8 starters to mitigate rest & suspension risk in order to have their best chance at world cup qualification in the playoff of quarterfinal losers. gained a bit more appreciation for Korea Republic holding midfielder Kim Shin-ji, but learned little else
For China, Wang Shuang shines in transition but even against a bus like this game she is head & shoulders the most talented player on this team, still kind of taking up whatever spaces she wants to provide their best service or best chance at getting onto something in the box
only 2 conceded to Japan & 0 conceded to China is strong. unreal tournament from Sin-yun who i will happily make a case for Defender of the Tournament. The in possession play needs much improvement for them to leap into contending for anything, but they could spoil a tournament for others
🇨🇳2-0🇹🇼 (aet)
Chalky game from what i expected from the teams; China doesn't create good chances, Chinese Taipei defense is outstanding. Draw through 90', dam finally broke with a wise assist from Shuang to not shoot a ball into a defender but tee-up a teammate instead
game showed australia's physical dominance & pretty good defensive organization, but i will cede that when they did attack it was rarely dangerous - the struggles they ended up having in the final were not unprecedented
🇦🇺2-1🇰🇵
complete against-the-ball performance from australia whose only 2 shots came on turnover transitions. i disagree with the idea that DPR "outplayed" them just because the matildas ceded possession mostly while already winning, australia held them to like 3 half-chances in 90'
🇮🇳1-3🇹🇼
Sin-yun cements herself into team of the tournament for me leading another great backline performance. deeper line from india was forgiving to chinese taipei's ball progression which is still their weakness. 18yo winger Chen Yu-chin looks like a real talent to build around going forward
🇯🇵4-0🇻🇳
interesting that japan seemed intent on wide service into riko ueki in 1H - i saw more attempts at that cross & finish in these short highlights than i remember from entire watches of their earlier games
🇰🇵1-2🇨🇳
took 3 games for DPRK to get their REAL welcome back to a senior tournament, in that you can play solid technically all day but still get beat if you can't defend set pieces