At each of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions in the future, the AFC will appoint a Technical Study Group comprising AFC instructors and licensed coaches. The main task of the group is to analyse all matches in the competitions, states AFC News. By analysing them it means not only collecting various statistics but trying to evaluate the systems of play and the reactions of players to different match situations.

The group will also conduct interview with teams head coaches concerning team preparation and meeting perceived challenges in the tournament.

"At the end of it all, we produce a report which summarizes the current trends of the Asian game based on our observations as well as the statistics collected. We are also tying to produce CDs for this purpose. In Asian many of coaches do not have the opportunity to watch and analyse teams. At least with our help they will be aware of what is going on at the highest level. More importantly, if they can translate the evaluation and statistics into the training field, this would surely elevate the Asian football standard," commented Hassan Al Sabah, AFC Development Officer for Coach Education.

Those who witnessed the standard of play at the 2004 Asian Cup finals were overawed by how fast the continents’ game had improved over the last year or so.

Much had been made over the improved form of Bahrain, Jordan and Oman, but besides this trick such teams as Uzbekistan and Kuwait have also shown they have made vast strides both in the competitive pitch as well as in preparation for it.

Organisation of the tournament was immaculate China FA along with the local organising committees, had gone out of their way to make sure the tournament was worthy of Asia’s premier competition.

If the group stage games were extraordinary illustrations of what Asian football is all about, the knock-out stages, given the quality of the field on show, had further fired up the stature of Asian football.

The 62,000 crowd were full of expectations against fierce rivals Japan, but once Takashi Fukunishi broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute, the Beijing Workers’ Stadium was left in disbelief.

Li Ming’s 31st minute equaliser gave the hosts (China) plenty of hope and China began to press forward. The exuberance was short-lived as Japan showed heaps of self confidence to score two more goals to win the Asian Cup title.

"I think in the past, Arab teams paid more attention to offence and scoring goals. These days, they are also thinking about defence. That’s why Arab teams are improving fast. Before, Saudi Arabia was the only positive team from the Middle East, but now many Arab team are on par with it was what the Japanese, Brazilian coach Zico said.

Arie Haan - coach of China PR: "The level of Asian football is relatively high I think the level of Asian football is moving forward. High is not the word to describe the play. It has been extremely high. To tell you the truth, before I came to Asia, I didn’t think Asian football was so god. This Asian Cup has let met see the vast improvement in Asian Football."

Sri Lanka’s ace rivals, Maldives sent a 5-member team to Kuala Lumpur for the AFC Youth Championship Under 20 with the objectives of gathering first hand technical information on the participating teams. This will enable them to assess the level of play, strength and weakness of team as well as compile statistics.

The initiative undertaken by their Technical Department is laudable as it provides valuable exposure and experience for the local coaches. This will also translate to better planning for their youth development as well as National youth teams preparations. The 5 member team comprised an Administrative Manager, U-17 National Coach, U-9 Head Coach, Youth Officer and Referee Inspector.