From the round of 16 of the Asian Cup to the top 4, the South Korean team that picks the opponent is to find a good half
As long as it's a big tournament, there will be teams who will do their best to get into a relatively easy knockout semi-zone. When South Korea were beaten by Malaysia, Klinsmann had only a smile on his face.
However, when the South Korean team finally enters the death half of Saudi Arabia and Australia, I wonder if the German coach will be red-faced or red-eyed?
01. Japan's loss brings chaos: they are still the top favourites to win the championship
a. Although they lose, the Japanese team will come out stronger
According to the original draw order, if all goes well, Japan and Qatar will enter the upper and lower two semi-zones respectively, and will not face strong opponents before entering the top four.
At the same time, South Korea and Iran are in the top 8 semi-zone, and Saudi Arabia and Australia are competing for a place in the top 4. The problem was that Japan's defeat to Iraq resulted in them falling to second place in the group, and South Korea preferred to give up the top spot in this group in order to avoid strong opponents, resulting in a dead quarter-finals for Saudi Arabia, Australia and South Korea.
In fact, in the match between Japan and Iraq, they had 72% possession and almost doubled the number of shots on goal (15-8).
It's just that the Iraqi team suddenly picked up speed several times and broke through the Japanese team's defense. It should be said that the Japanese team did not pay enough attention to the opponent, and this time when the wing Sugawara Yuki stepped forward, there was too much space behind him.
Hussein's brace in the first half gave the Iraqis a 2-0 lead.
However, from the second half of that game, Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu returned, and Japan's defense also strengthened, and Iraq had 0 shots on target in the second half.
b. Japan after returning from injury: Can Iran stop it?
Not only is Kenhiro Tomiyasu returning from injury, but Kaoru Mikasa will also return in the knockout stage. Even if it can't catch up with the battle with Bahrain, after passing this hurdle, if it meets the Iranian team in the round of 8, I believe that Kaoru Mikasa will be a key back-hand pawn.
The frontcourt players of the Japanese team are still in good form in this Asian Cup, and Ueda Kiyo and Takumi Minamino have both had good performances.
Once the team's offense finds its rhythm, they have a strong ability to find the sandwich space between the opposing team's two sets of defenses. If the striker shoots with a feeling, Japan has a good chance of winning.
Although the Iranian team had a smooth ride before, they lost 3-0 to Japan in the semi-finals in the last Asian Cup.
It will not be easy to get revenge this time, after all, there is a big gap between the two teams in terms of ball control, and the Iranian team, which wants to seize the opportunity to counterattack, will be less likely to succeed after Tomiyasu's return.
02. The South Korean team: Met the unreasonable Saudis
a. How bad is South Korea's defense?
After Japan's surprise defeat to Iraq, South Korea drew with Jordan in the second round. In the final round, seeing that the Jordanians with "better mathematics" lost 0-1 to Bahrain, making the latter the first place in the group, South Korea and Malaysia staged a goal battle.
3 goals were scored by the weak team, and the explanation of the South Korean media was that Klinsmann's team did too poorly defensively.
The problem is that the South Korean team, which led 1-0 to end the first half, inexplicably conceded 2 goals in the second half, which was somewhat "careless".
What's even more interesting is that the penalty they won in stoppage time was controversial in slow motion. It was supposed to be a clearance by the Malaysian defender, but the referee gave a penalty to give South Korea a 3-2 lead, seemingly pushing for a Japan-South Korea battle in the round of 16.
Unexpectedly, in the matter of "improvisation", the Korean, who has profound skills, arranged for central defender Kim Yingquan to rush up in the 105th minute of the game, but let the opponent turn around easily.
Evoke plenty of space for Morales to shoot and score a goalless goal as they finished second in the group.
b. Saudi Arabia brave the death zone: they are confident of breaking through
Because the South Korean team played first, perhaps in Klinsmann's plan, seeing the South Korean team finish second in the group, the Saudi team would choose to lose to Thailand and also advance as the second in the group.
In this way, the South Korean team's top 16 opponent will be the Thai team, which lost to the national football team in the world preliminaries.
However, the Saudis did not seem afraid to meet South Korea, and even after missing a penalty, they still managed to top the group and move into the semi-zone where South Korea and Australia are located.
Judging from the historical head-to-head record, the two teams have met 9 times, with 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, which is also evenly divided. Although in the previous warm-up match, the South Korean team had beaten Mancini 1-0, who had just taken over the Saudi team.
However, it can be seen from the performance at the World Cup that the Saudi team has skills at their feet and the physical confrontation of the players is also good. Against opponents like South Korea and Australia, they won't be afraid.
Especially in the last World Preliminary Round of 12, the Saudi Arabian team was in the same group as Australia, and it locked the top spot with a 1-0 victory and sent the opponent to the play-offs.
From this point of view, the Saudi team chose to enter this semi-zone, not because of sportsmanship, but out of confidence in their own strength.
03. Qatar locks in the top 4, and there will be big dark horses in the other half
a. Qatar warmed up in the group stage: It shouldn't be difficult to get into the top four
As the champion of the last Asian Cup, the Qatar team playing at home this time, although they have no confidence to say that they will definitely be able to defend the title, but reaching the top 4 will also be the goal they must want to accomplish.
After all, the Palestinian team, the Thai team and the Uzbekistan team may not be able to stop the progress of the hosts.
In particular, the team's main players Afif and Ali are in good form, especially the attacking core Afif, who not only dominated all five goals of the team, but also showed strong individual ability.
Afif has good technique on his feet and is also very explosive physically. This goal was completely completed by crushing the Lebanese defenders.
In the match with the national football team, it was also after he came out that we fell into a disadvantage in an instant. Relying on his personal ability, Afif made a corner kick and assisted Haydos to score, so that the national football team did not qualify for the round of 16.
b. Another place in the Final Four: Will it be Iraq, or will it be the national team's opponents?
Because of the victory over Japan, Iraq is widely favored to reach the last four of this Asian Cup. However, in this semi-zone, there is one more team worth noting, and that is Tajikistan.
They are in the same group as the national football team and have played at a very high level. In the life-and-death battle with the Lebanese team, Tajikistan once scored two goals and was whistled for offside, but they still completed a 2-1 reversal.
The first two goals that were blown away were spectacular, and they put a lot of emphasis on lateral passes, which can be a huge headache for many opponents.
Once they are smoothed, it is not impossible to really reach the top 4 and become a big dark horse.
Conclusion:
This is the highest level of football in Asia, although the national football team is out, there are still many highlights worthy of our attention.
Will the South Korean team that picks an opponent be punished? Will the confident Saudis be able to fight their way out of the encirclement? Will the champion still belong to the Japanese team? There are too many answers waiting to be revealed.