Silent Lonesome Man

I read from an article of The Michigan Daily , where a columnist published an interesting fact that always appears in my mind for a long time, yet finally revealed after too long. It is frequently neglected by Western media, something I can't stand for it. Brandon Cowit, who has made an attempt to search about Russia, has come to a clear conclusion that the Americans totally "ignore" the grief Russians endured. During the 1990s, Russia was led by Boris Yeltsin, considered the friendliest President for the West. Despite Yeltsin's reputation as a drunk, inept and incompetent, with a disastrous neoliberal reform, the West did nothing to solve the problem. Furthermore, the United States openly helped Yeltsin to be re-elected in 1996. As Yeltsin was running like a drunk in Dublin, London, Washington and Paris, Russia's reputation was tarnished globally, including the shock defeat in the First Chechen War to the Chechen separatists. That nurtured Soviet nostalgia that e

If you're surely used to hear about Brexit from the European Union, then yes, there are several varieties, notably Hunexit (Hungary's exit from the EU) and Polexit (Poland's exit from the EU). Yet there is a looming threat, hidden one but is growing more relevant from time, that the UEFA may have not seen within: the exit of a potential member. This member doesn't gain so much attraction, but it is speculated that at least for the next 10 years, will be crucial to see if this country can make it greater, or just staying the same, or could be worse. This member is Kazakhstan, which joined UEFA in 2002. Kazakhstan has a long history of an ambitious project to join the UEFA. It sought to participate in the UEFA in 1996, citing that the Soviet-era helped bring Kazakh players to experience European football. Well, it was partially true, but the development of football in the USSR wasn't equal at all. The two biggest football factories the Soviets built were Ukraine and R

When the Ukrainian President, the former film actor Volodymyr Zelenskyi, headed to Turkey for a visit, he appeared to be smiling - he believed gaining support from Ankara was enough for Ukraine to make the process by joining NATO and furthermore, the European Union. However, this is far from a reality check. Despite NATO has organised exercises with Ukrainian Armed Forces frequently since 2014, Ukraine, somehow, fails to materialise their plans. Its economy has been dumped severely and it is one of the ten most corrupt countries within the European continent, a bit comparable to the rate of Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus and Romania. But while the economy can be fixed, it is the foreign relations of Ukraine that deliver most wary for the other observers. So why it is necessary to question Ukraine's capability? It is not easy, but Ukraine's foreign relations post-Euromaidan is deeply entrenched to the West. It has sought to become a member of the European Union and to develop the asp

South Korea has been an Asian football superpower for quite a long time, began in 1956 when the AFC Asian Cup was first organised. Yes, the world's second-oldest continental football competition, older than the more popular UEFA European Championship. The two first editions, 1956 and 1960, were won by the Koreans, and it stood as the country's only major international honours. Still now. The same issue happens to the FIFA World Cup. South Korea has qualified ten times, the most among all Asian nations, the first in 1954, and from 1986 onward. In spite of this richness, South Korea only progressed from the group stage twice, first in 2002 held at home soil (with a lot of controversies surrounding) and second in 2010. Well, the 2002 World Cup fourth-place of South Korea, though remains scandalous, appears to be also the best of South Korea on the international football stage. South Korea, in words and by some respect, a formidable football power somehow slides into the wrong path

The tournament had ended. Yes, the tournament's name didn't coincide with the year but created so many dramas. I still have a lot of strange feelings about it. Here is my personal thought, and only from my viewpoint. The ghost of 2007 AFC Asian Cup The European tournament held in 2021, a year late due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had offered some looks for us, but in the end, it was perceived poorly by the President of UEFA, Aleksander Čeferin. Little to know, the Europeans borrowed this from Asia - back in 2003, the President of the AFC, Mohammed Bin Hammam, proposed an idea of more than two nations to join hosts of the UEFA European Championship's equivalent - the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. It was endorsed and finally, in 2004, four Southeast Asian nations were approved as hosts (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia). In the aftermath of the 2007 Asian Cup, Bin Hammam strangely changed his note, citing his disappointment and promised to never do it again. Bin Hammam would have

When talking about Saudi Arabia, we imagine a very hot, sand-filled country but full of oil and gas reserves as well as the rich Sheikhs riding on camels. Well, this applies to every country from the Arabian peninsula, Saudi Arabia included. And being rich also give power, to order the others. Saudi Arabia has it all. With the vast oil wealth, the country began a rapid modernisation in the mid-20th century, and by the 1990s, it is one of the 20 biggest economies, a position it still stands today and is also part of the G20. Football in the country also enjoys the advantage of being rich: it established a national football league in 1975, paved the way to become fully professional in 2007. As for the result, Saudi Arabia's fortune increased over time. Saudi Arabia has won two first Asian Cup titles in 1984 and 1988, which were also the country's debuts. The development accelerated when Saudi Arabia qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States - where the Saudis imp

On 28 October 1989, the people of the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, would go to remember that day as the day marking the UAE's historic achievement. At the time, the UAE was forced to either gain at least a draw or win against a powerful South Korea, with both the final round's fixtures played in Singapore. It was almost dashed when Hwangbo Kwan gave the Koreans a 1-0 lead. But no, eight minutes later, Adnan Al Talyani, widely regarded as the country's greatest footballer, scored from a wonderful header to equalise 1-1. If the UAE held a stalemate for the entire game, it would qualify regardless of the Qatar-China result. And it did - after 90 minutes, the UAE held 1-1 over South Korea, ultimately joined the Koreans to Italy. The Emirati commentator Adnan Hamad was famous for calling Adnan Al Talyani "The Lights of Rome", seeing him as the hero who guided the UAE, first calling Al Talyani when he equalised against China in the same qualifier. By the time the UAE q

When the final whistle of the match between Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan blew in Mrsool Park, the entire Uzbek players collapsed to the field, coach Vadim Abramov quietly entered the conference room disillusioned. Uzbekistan suffered a heavy 0-3 loss to Saudi Arabia and finished second with 15 points. But North Korea's withdrawal ruined the campaign - FIFA and AFC both agreed that points against fifth-placed teams of the remaining groups would not be counted. All six points Uzbekistan gathered from Yemen vanished to the air, and it could only obtain 9 points. A win or a draw only with more than one goal could guarantee them to progress, instead, Uzbekistan missed out on the final phase for the first time ever. Not far away, in a country deepened by the economic crisis and political sectarian turmoils, the fans jumped into the street after hearing Uzbekistan defeated by Saudi Arabia. Yes, we talk about Lebanon, the smallest country in mainland Asia with a population of no more than f

When the world's most populous nation beat Syria 3-1 in Sharjah, it ensured one thing: China will not be eliminated from the contention. Yes, for Syria, this defeat was a meh word - Syria has already qualified to the same phase, and changed some players. But China, this win was worth paying, at least, for a short period. Yet we talk about China, we have to admit this: their qualification was not as easy as they thought. China was drawn in a fairly easy group, maybe even easier than Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran's, when FIFA President Infantino issued for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. At least on paper only. The Chinese Dragons were also led by the experienced World Cup winner, Marcello Lippi. By the time the draw was made, 17 July 2019, the situation was changing rapidly. Syria was already under crisis after its humiliating group stage ousting in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The three others weren't China's opponents either; the Philippines did qualify for the sam

Iraq is a very passionate nation. Home to some of the oldest and most important civilisations in the world, the Mesopotamian basin was the land where various ancient empires, from Persia, Akkadia, Assyria, Greece and Rome. The Arabs brought Islam and the Arabic language, the Ottomans reinforced the Islamic rule, but none of them outclasses the other, and Iraq became a multicultural state where the Arabic language is the state language. With such a proud past, Iraq should have striven as an Asian football superpower, but they have underachieved so far. There is something the Iraqis lack, well, a question not easy to answer. Iraq is one of the World Cup participants from Asia, but its debut happened 35 years ago. A long, long drought. This was the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Despite the war with Iran at the time, being banned from hosting fixtures at home, Iraq was able to field a competitive national team and beat the UAE and Syria to qualify for their only World Cup to date. In that edition i