0-0!3-3!The Asian Cup became a "match-fixing cup", 4 teams did not want to win, but the national football team was praised when they were out
The group stage of the 2024 Asian Cup has all ended, but the last round of the group stage has completely turned this Asian Cup into a "match-fixing cup", with 4 teams in the third round of the group stage, none of them want to win the game, and their negative attitude has also attracted countless fans!
The first to put on a show were the four teams in Group E: Jordan, South Korea, Bahrain and Malaysia. Since Japan in Group D has already been confirmed to finish second in the group, whoever wins Group E will face the top favourites Japan in the knockout round. Previously, the Jordan team from West Asia had been leading the group, but in the final round against the Bahrain team, the Jordan team directly sent a number of substitutes, and their goal was also the first to lose in the 34th minute, and the score of 0-1 fell behind as desired. In the final moments of the game, in order to ensure that the team lost 0-1, the Jordan team, which was behind the score, even recklessly fell in the backfield to kill the game time, and in the boos of the fans, the Jordanian team reaped a defeat as if it were a victory, avoiding the Japanese team as expected.
Compared with the Jordan team, the South Korean team's "performance" is undoubtedly much more difficult, because their opponent in the final round is the Southeast Asian underdog Malaysia team. In the latest FIFA rankings, South Korea is ranked 23rd, while Malaysia is only 130th, and no matter how you look at it, it is unlikely that South Korea will overturn Malaysia. However, once they defeat their opponents, the Korean team will win the first place in this group, and the battle between Japan and South Korea, which everyone thought would only appear in the final, will be staged in the first round of the knockout round!
Therefore, in this game, South Korean football completely abandoned its own bottom line, seeing that the Malaysian team could not score a goal for a long time, the Korean player first deliberately made a mistake in the backfield to send a single knife, and then fouled in the penalty area to give the opponent a penalty. With such protection, the Malaysian team took an incredible 2-1 lead. But the careful thinking of the Korean players couldn't hide the tens of thousands of fans who came to watch the game, and their boos made the Korean players finally find a little shame. So with a little effort, the South Korean team scored two goals in a row and reversed the score again!
However, this result was undoubtedly undesirable for South Korea, and before the end of the game, Malaysia scored their third goal of the game in an undefended 3-3 draw with South Korea. South Korea coach Jurgen Klinsmann finally smiled after his team failed to win, but this humiliating draw made South Korean football lose confidence in winning, and they are destined not to go far in this Asian Cup.
The knock-on effect of South Korea's draw is that they are the top team in Group F and must face South Korea in the first round of the knockout round. So the match between the Saudi team and the Thai team became another duel where neither side wanted to win. In order to let the opponent score 3 points, both teams rotated most of the main players in this game, and finally the two teams with their own ghosts drew 0-0, the Thai team won the second place in the group as desired, avoiding the South Korean team, and the Saudi Arabian team, which won the first place in the group, could only be forced to go to the top half of the region and usher in a tough battle!
The series of "good shows" in the final round also completely ignited the anger of the fans, and everyone left messages one after another, bombarding these teams who did not want to win. Some fans commented: "Don't call it the Asian Cup, let's call it the 'Match-fixing Cup', if I were the AFC, I would ban them all!" Another fan wrote: "This is playing football or acting, I wish these teams all eliminated!" Some fans said: "Praise to the national football team, although our group is out, but at least the dish is very real, it is recommended to send a fair play award!"