Tiger Cup
From Free net encyclopedia
The Tiger Cup is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asean Football Federation, contested by the national soccer teams of nations in Southeast Asia. The competition is sponsored by Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries, makers of Tiger Beer. Since it was inaugurated in 1996, the cup has been won three times by Thailand, and twice by Singapore. Indonesia have been runners-up three times, but have never won the cup. Malaysia and Vietnam have also been runners-up once each. The Tiger Cup will be renamed as Asean Football Championship for its next edition in 2006.
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Past tournaments
1996
The 1996 event was held in Singapore, and was won by the favourites, Thailand, who defeated Malaysia 1-0 in the final.
1998
The 1998 tournament, held in Vietnam, was marred by an unsportsmanlike match between Thailand and Indonesia during the group stage of the competition. Both teams were alreday assured of qualification for the semi-finals, but both teams knew that the winners of the game would face hosts Vietnam in the semi-finals, while the losing team would face Singapore who were perceived to be easier opposition. The first half saw little action, with both teams barely making an attempt to score. During the second half both teams managed to score, partly thanks to half-hearted defending, resulting in a 2-2 scoreline after 90 minutes. Then, during injury time, Indonesian defender Mursyid Effendi deliberately kicked the ball into his own goal handing a 3-2 victory to Thailand. Both teams were fined for "violating the spirit of the game" and Mursyid Effendi was banned from football for life. In the semi-finals, Thailand lost to Vietnam, and Indonesia also lost to Singapore. In the final, the title was to elude the hosts as they went down 1-0 to unfancied Singapore in one of the competition's biggest shocks to date.
2000
Thailand hosted the Tiger Cup in 2000, and won the tournament as it powered through the competition, ending with a hat-trick by Thai player Worrawoot Srimaka to clinch a decisive 4-1 win over Indonesia.
2002
In the final match between Thailand and Indonesia, Thailand took a 2-0 lead against hosts Indonesia by the end of the first half. However, the Indonesians battled back to level the score and force the game into a penalty shootout, which was won 4-2 by the Thais.
Therdsak Chaiman was named the Most Valuable Player of this tournament.
2004
The 2004 event was held from 7 December 2004 through 16 January 2005. Matches for Preliminary Group A were held in Vietnam while Preliminary Group B was staged in Malaysia.
Despite an unimpressive group stage campaign where Singapore notched draws against Vietnam and Indonesia, the team made it to the final where it clinched a 5-2 win aggregate against Indonesia in the 2-legged match (home and away). In the first leg held in Jakarta, Singapore surprised punters with a 3-1 victory. Singapore won 2-1 on home ground in the return leg 8 days later to claim the country's first international trophy on home soil.
In the 3rd-4th place playoff, Malaysia beat Myanmar for the third place.
Lionel Lewis was named the Most Valuable Player of this tournament.