Asian football cup reunion for old European teammates

Qatar team coach Dzemaludin Musovic (L) gives instructions to players during a training session in Hanoi 07 July 2007.

The Asian Cup is proving to be an exotic place for reunions among ageing former teammates at European football clubs, with the expatriate coaches leading Group B sides all old colleagues.

"It's strange," said Dzemaludin Musovic, a 60-year-old Bosnian who led oil-rich Qatar to a 2004 Gulf Cup triumph and the Asian Games title last December.

"Three coaches here played in the same club. (Alfred) Riedl and I also played in the same club. All of us are coming into the same group. That's strange."

Musovic and Riedl, a 57-year-old Austrian who is in his third stint as Vietnam coach since 1998, briefly played together as strikers at Standard Liege in Belgium's first division in the early 1970s.

The Bosnian then moved to the French first division and joined elder compatriot Ivica Osim and Frenchman Bruno Metsu at Valenciennes.

Osim, 66, well remembered as a striker for Strasbourg, is now guiding Japan's bid here for a third straight continental cup of nations.

Metsu, a shaggy-haird 53-year-old who led Senegal to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals, is tasked with driving the United Arab Emirates on from their first ever Gulf Cup title in January.

Like Metsu, Osim also has World Cup credentials after piloting the former Yugoslavia to the last eight in the 1990 edition -- with Musovic as his assistant.

The two Bosnians shook hands and chatted on the ground at the My Dinh National Stadium here late Saturday during official training ahead of their opening showdown on Monday.

Vietnamese team coach Alfred Riedle answers questions during a press conference, 07 July 2007 in Hanoi.

"We said hello and 'how's everything?' Nothing special. Just normal. We talked about simple things such as our families and our children," said Musovic.

"We haven't seen each other for a long time," he added.

They last met during the Gulf Cup tournament in Abu Dhabi in January when the Japan coach spied on emerging Mideast football nations.

Osim said earlier about the on-field battle with his old buddy: "We are professional managers and friends. But it is a different story. Anyway, I think we will remain friends after the match.