6-4!3-1!The top 8 of the Asian Cup were born: Japan and South Korea advanced, 2 dark horses broke through, and the ranking was not as good as the national football team
The 1/8 finals of the Asian Cup have ended, and all the teams that have advanced to the quarterfinals have also been produced. Among these 8 teams, including two dark horses, they are even inferior to the Chinese men's football team in the world ranking, and they have also become the biggest surprise of this Asian Cup!
The first "dark horse" can also be called the biggest dark horse of this Asian Cup, it is the Tajikistan team that participated in the Asian Cup for the first time. Although it is the first time to participate, the Tajikistan team has no stage fright, facing Qatar, China and Lebanon in the group stage, the Tajikistan team has achieved a record of 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, and finally beat the Chinese team by 4 points, won the first place in Group A, and successfully entered the knockout round. In the subsequent 1/8 finals, they eliminated the West Asian powerhouse UAE team with a total score of 6-4 through a penalty shootout, and the team participated in the Asian Cup for the first time in history, and it was incredible to reach the top 8!
The opponent of the Tajikistan team in the quarterfinals is the Jordanian team, another "dark horse" in this Asian Cup. In the group stage, the Jordanians played a clever game in the final round, as they deliberately lost to Bahrain and broke through to finish third in the group, thus avoiding Japan and Saudi Arabia in the first round of the knockout round, and welcoming a not-so-strong Iraqi side. The Jordanian team and the Iraqi team also gave the fans the most exciting game of the entire 1/8 knockout round.
Although Jordan broke the deadlock and took the lead, Iraq scored twice in a short time in the second half to make it 2-1. However, due to excessive celebration, Iraq's number one striker Hussein was sent off for a second yellow card, and the balance of victory began to tip in Jordan's favor. First, in the 5th minute of injury time, the Jordanian team broke through the net from the Arabian goal and successfully equalized the score, and then Rashdan blasted a wonderful world wave outside the penalty area to help the Jordanian team complete the stunner at the last moment, defeating the Iraqi team 3-2 and entering the top 8!
In the latest FIFA rankings, Tajikistan is only ranked 106th, while Jordan is ranked 87th. It is worth mentioning that the Chinese men's football team, which was eliminated in the group stage, ranked 79th, much higher than Jordan and Tajikistan. It can also be seen from this that in the football world, ranking is not the same as the strength of the team, and the strength of the two teams can only be known if they have been kicked with real knives and guns!
In the other knockout matches, there were no upsets, and against the stronger teams of the two sides, they all passed smoothly and got tickets to the top 8. So far, the top 8 teams in the Asian Cup have all been produced, these 8 teams are Tajikistan, Jordan, Australia, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Qatar and Uzbekistan.
I wonder which of these 8 teams can have the last laugh and successfully lift the Asian Cup championship trophy?