After defeating Iraq with a score of 3-2, Jordan advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup, becoming another dark horse team after Tajikistan, and in the quarterfinals, the two dark horses will face each other.
In the group stage, there were constant upsets, with Iraq beating Japan 2-1 in the second round of the group stage, which even disrupted the trend of this Asian Cup. In Group E, South Korea drew with Jordan and were held to a draw by Malaysia in the final round. In Group F, Thailand also drew with Saudi Arabia in the final round.
The knockout rounds of the Asian Cup continued that pattern, with Tajikistan, playing in the Asian Cup for the first time, facing the United Arab Emirates, who had reached the semi-finals of the previous two editions, and were tied in stoppage time after leading for a long time.
However, with a clear lack of fitness, Tajikistan withstood the onslaught of their opponents in extra-time and won the penalty shoot-out to become the first team to win the knockout round of the Asian Cup for the first time since Japan in 1992.
Jordan, who have only four points from their three group games, qualified as the best four third-place teams in the group, and faced Iraq, who won all three games in the group stage and beat Japan to top the group, Jordan continued to create a threat with sharp counter-attacks, and Yazan seized the opportunity to open the scoring for Jordan.
After being overtaken by the opponent, Jordan did not give up, but scored two goals in three minutes of stoppage time to overtake the score and win the first knockout game in team history.
Jordan has not only broken the curse of never winning the first knockout game of the Asian Cup, but also the curse of not beating Iraq since September 2, 2011. Of the first three teams to advance to the quarter-finals, two have never won in the knockout rounds before.
After both reaching the quarter-finals, Tajikistan will face Jordan in the quarter-finals, which means that both teams have already secured a place in the semi-finals, and whether Jordan or Tajikistan will advance to the semi-finals, it will be the best result in team history. Who is the biggest dark horse in this Asian Cup, the quarterfinals will give the answer.