In the second round of the Group E stage of the Asian Cup, South Korea, who had previously scored three points, played against Jordan. The outcome of this game will most likely determine who will top the group between the two teams.
However, neither South Korea nor Jordan will want to beat their opponents, as topping their group means they are likely to meet Japan, who are currently ranked first in Asia, in the first knockout round.
In this game, the Jordan team adopted the tactics of defensive counterattack as soon as they came up, trying to tear apart the defense of the South Korean team through quick passes. The South Korean team, on the other hand, is looking for flaws in the opponent through the control of the midfield. In the first half, South Korea clearly dominated the field, far outpacing Jordan in possession, and Son Heung-min's penalty kick in the ninth minute of the first half established the South Korea's lead.
After conceding the goal, the Jordans began to launch a counter-attack, and in first-half stoppage time, they won a series of corners, which eventually caused South Korea's Park Yong-woo to set himself up and the score became 1-1. In the final minute of stoppage time, Jordan striker Yazan Nemath scored from distance to make it 2-1.
In the second half, Jordan continued to threaten South Korea's goal with counter-attacks, but South Korea did not play aggressively enough and did not seem willing to win. Cho Gyu-sung and Lee Gang-in both had chances to score, but neither took them. In the final stage of the game, Li Gangren's mistake in the penalty area almost allowed Jordan to score another goal.
But in the end, Son Heung-min provided an assist for Hwang In-beom to shoot and create an own goal from Jordanian defender Yazan Arabia. There were two own goals in the same match, which is very rare in the Asian Cup, and in the end South Korea drew 2-2 with Jordan.
At the end of this game, Jordan and South Korea are tied on 4 points, relying on the advantage of goal difference, Jordan won the group, while South Korea is second. In the final round of the group stage, South Korea will face the weakest team in the same group, Malaysia, and the difference in strength between the two teams is too great. South Korea are currently third in Asia, while Malaysia are only 23rd, so it will certainly not be a problem for South Korea to win, but it will depend on the result of Jordan's match against Bahrain.
This makes the final round of Group E even more interesting, with Jordan beating Bahrain to secure top of the group, followed by a knockout round against second-placed Japan in Group D. In order to avoid running into the Japanese team too early, the Jordan team will basically give up this game and draw with the Bahrain team with a high probability.
In doing so, there is a conundrum for South Korea, who will be top of Group E with seven points if they beat Malaysia, so they will face old rivals Japan in the knockout round. If you don't win against Malaysia, on the one hand, you will be a little unreasonable in terms of face, and on the other hand, you may miss the second place in the group and be eliminated.
Therefore, the final round of Group E will be a very delicate situation, with both Jordan and South Korea looking at each other's real-time scores to decide whether to win or not. Regardless, one of the two teams is sure to face Japan in the knockout rounds......