Don't smile too early: Velapan warns China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 16, 2004

Don't smile too early: Velapan warns China

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Don't smile too early, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Secretary General Peter Velapan poured cold water on hosts China who were widely considered being drawn into the easiest group of the 13th Asian Cup finals on Thursday.

In tonight's draw here, China, the seed of the group A, luckily kept away from unseeded but really tough Iran and saw Qatar, Indonesia and Bahrain as their rivals in the group stage.

While most of the Chinese at the scene were applauding the satisfying results, Velapan said with smile, "Don't smile too early."

After the draw, Velapan told the Chinese reporters that it is hard to say who were the lucky dogs in the draw and which team is easy to deal with.

"For the result of a match, every possibility is open. The most important thing is how hard you have worked." he said.

"Frankly speaking, every group could be seen as Group of Death. If a team wants to win the trophy, it must deal with every match as the final." he added.

Reluctant to predict the forthcoming champions, Velapan said, "Every edition of the Asian Cup finals was fantastic, and it will be more fantastic this time as it is the first time that 16 instead of eight teams will compete. The final glory belongs to Asian football."

The 13th Asian Cup finals will run on July 17-August 7 in China.

Following are the results of the draw:

Group A: China, Qatar, Indonesia, Bahrain

Group B: South Korea, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan

Group C: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

Group D: Japan, Iran, Thailand, Oman

Note: China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan are seeds. Top two teams of each group will qualify for the quarterfinals.

Teams in the group A will play each other in Beijing, the capital of China, while the group B in Jinan, the group C in Chengdu and the group D in Chongqing.

In quarterfinals, the top team of the group A will face the second-placed side of the group C, while the runner-up of the group A against the winner of the group C, thus B1 vs D2, and B2 vs D1.

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