Asian Cup: A fiery race between Saudi Arabia and South Korea… and Jordan to the “eight”
All eyes will be on the strong confrontation between Saudi Arabia and South Korea on Tuesday, at Education City Stadium, at the summit of the Asian Football Cup quarter-final matches currently being held in Qatar.
If South Korea avoided facing Japan in this round, after Malaysia snatched a 3-3 draw from them in the last breath, then in return it will face a team of no less importance, which is Saudi Arabia, which has held the title three times, most recently in 1996.
The Jordanian national team defeated its Iraqi counterpart 3-2 yesterday (Monday), in the 16-final of the Asian Football Cup, in a crazy match at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, reaching the quarter-finals for the third time in its history.
Jordan took the lead through Yazan Al-Naimat (45 + 1), but Iraq responded with two goals through Saad Natiq (68) and Ayman Hussein (76), but the tournament’s top scorer (6) was expelled for celebrating the second yellow card, so it was a turning point for which Iraq, champion, paid the price. 2007, in substitute time, which witnessed Jordan scoring two fatal goals through Yazan Al-Arab (90 + 5) and Nizar Al-Rashdan (90 + 7).
This is the third time that Jordan has reached the quarter-finals after 2004. When he lost to Japan on penalties, and in 2011 when he lost to Uzbekistan 1-2, he will meet Tajikistan in the next round.
The two teams returned to participate with their starting lineups, after resting a large number of first-row players in the last round after securing qualification.
He included the Iraqi coach; Spaniard Jesus Casas, top scorer Ayman Hussein, who came on as a substitute in the last match, in addition to Ali Jassim and Osama Al-Rashid.
Klinsmann during South Korea training (EBA)
On the other hand, he returned to the Jordan Al-Taamari battalion, and midfielder Mahmoud Mardi, both of whom scored two goals in the group stage.
It was the second meeting between them in the continental championship after Iraq’s 1-0 victory in Australia in 2015.
After a period of testing the pulse that lasted about a quarter of an hour, the Jordanian team was the best and most dangerous thanks to the movements of the front three; Al-Taamari, Al-Naimat and Ali Alwan, who tired the Iraqi defense thanks to their dribbling.
Returning to today’s match (Tuesday), South Korea’s German coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who faces great criticism, commented on this by saying: “The knockout rounds are completely different from the group stage. “Every team will be strong and therefore facing it will be difficult.”
He continued: “Therefore, regardless of the identity of the team you face in the playoffs, you must overcome it if you want to win the title. This is the truth.”
He continued: “Our goal is to reach the final of the current edition of the Asian Cup, and we respect all participating teams.”
Klinsmann noted the development of the Asian teams in recent years, saying: “The Asian teams have developed greatly; The Saudi team defeated the Argentinian team, and the Japanese team defeated its German counterpart.”
The South Korean team is eager to end a 64-year drought in which it did not win the title.
Jordanian players celebrate with the fans after the valuable victory over Iraq (Reuters)
History stands with “Al-Akhdar” in the continental championship, as it previously faced the “Taeguk Warriors” 4 times, winning twice between them, once in the 1988 final, when Saudi Arabia won the continental title on penalties, and in the semi-finals of 2000, and they also tied twice.
On the other hand, the South Korean national team prevailed in the confrontations between the two teams in general, as it won 7 times compared to 6 for the “Green Falcons”, while 6 matches were decided in draws.
The Saudi team topped its group with 7 points, beating Oman in the last breath 2-1, and Kyrgyzstan 2-0, then tied 0-0 against Thailand, scoring 4 goals, while conceding only one goal in the first round.
But the Italian coach Roberto Mancini’s squad did not provide good performances and the team suffered from effectiveness, especially in the attacking line, where they were satisfied with four goals out of 57 shots towards goal.
Mancini, who led Italy to win the European Cup in the summer of 2021, said: “We created a lot of opportunities, but we did not exploit them properly.” But the most important thing to me is the presentation. We always raise the slogan of winning and playing well in order to achieve victory.”
He added: “I hope we can hide these goals for the upcoming matches.”
He continued: “If we want to win the title, we must win against all the strong teams, and we are now focusing on the first confrontation against South Korea. It is an excellent team and most of the players play professionally in the biggest leagues in the world.”
Mancini confirmed that his goal is “to reach the final of the Asian Cup,” noting that his previous statements regarding Al-Akhdar not running for the title were “misunderstood.”
He revealed: “We are here to reach the final. All our matches are difficult and there is no easy match. I did not say that the Saudi team is not a candidate and has no chance of winning. Rather, I said that there are higher-ranked teams, and what I said was incorrectly reported.
Al-Akhdar hopes to overcome the hurdle of the round of 16 after failing to reach the quarter-finals, as it lost to the Japanese national team with a clean goal in the previous edition in the Emirates in 2019.
The Saudi audience is still waiting for the brilliance of Salem Al-Dosari, who did not score or assist any goal in the first round.
Abdul Rahman Ghareeb, the Saudi national team player, participated in the team’s training in preparation for facing South Korea, after his absence from training in recent days.
Defender Hassan Timbukti will also return to participate after recovering from the injury that kept him out of facing Thailand.
On the other hand, the South Korean national team scored 5 points in second place, with two draws against Jordan 2-2 and Malaysia 3-1, and a single victory over Bahrain 3-1, scoring 8 goals and conceding 6 goals.
Saudi Arabia met South Korea in a friendly match last September, and won by a single goal. The Saudi national team’s last victory over its South Korean counterpart was 1-0 in 2005 during the World Cup qualifiers.
In another match at Al Janoub Stadium, Uzbekistan will meet Thailand in their first confrontation in the continental championship.
The last two confrontations between the two teams ended in favor of Uzbekistan with one score of 2-0. The Thai team was one of two teams that did not concede any goals in the group stage, along with Qatar, the defending champion.
2024-01-30 16:38:55
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