The semifinals of the Asian Cup are out, and the mysterious Jordanian team once again shows its true colors as a dark horse

Jimu News reporter Xu Ping

In the early morning of February 4th, Beijing time, with the determination of the last seat, the semi-finals of the Qatar men's Asian Cup were released! They are the Qatar team, the Iranian team, the South Korean team and the Jordan team, among which the mysterious Jordan team is the lowest-ranked team in the top four, and they have created the best record in the Asian Cup for the fifth time.

It is comparable to the national football ranking

Before this Asian Cup, the Jordanian team was ranked 87th in the world and 13th in Asia, while the Chinese team was ranked 79th in the world and 11th in Asia.

In terms of value, the two teams are also evenly matched, with the Chinese team ranking 12th among the teams participating in the Asian Cup at 11.33 million euros, and the Jordanian team ranking 10th with about 13.13 million euros. Compared with the Jordan team, the Chinese team's report card is simply miserable, they have three games, two draws and one loss in the group stage, only 2 points missed the group qualification, and finally ranked 18th. The Chinese team is hard to find a win and has not scored a goal, both of which have set a new low in the history of the national football team's participation in the Asian Cup.

Reaching the semi-finals for the first time

This is the fifth time that Jordan has played in the Asian Cup and the first time that it has reached the semi-finals of the Asian Cup. In their first four attempts, their best ranking was in the quarter-finals, in 2004 and 2011, and they reached the quarter-finals twice. Their last two Asian Cup competitions have been poor, and in 2015, they were knocked out of the group at the Asian Cup in Australia. In 2019, at the Asian Cup held in the United Arab Emirates, the team failed to go further after advancing to the round of 16.

In this Asian Cup, the Jordanian team can be described as "good luck", and they first defeated the Iraqi team 3:2 in the 1/8 finals with the third place in the group. In the 76th minute, Iraq's top scorer Hussein was shown a second yellow card by the referee on duty for a celebration and had to leave the game early, which also became the turning point of the game, and Jordan scored two goals in stoppage time to stage a magical comeback. In the quarter-finals, they faced another dark horse team, Tajikistan, who came out of Group A. The first half was evenly matched, and it was difficult to tell the winner. In the second half, the Jordanian team launched a fierce attack. In the 66th minute, the Jordanian team took a corner kick from the right side, and Nasib's header hit the Tajikistan player and bounced into the goal, and finally with this own goal, the Jordanian team broke into the semi-finals of this Asian Cup.

It's not just luck

Of course, Jordan's reach to the last four wasn't just a matter of luck. In fact, as early as 2004, the team drew 1:1 with eventual champions Japan in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup in China in 120 minutes, and finally they were eliminated from the tournament due to a controversial penalty shoot-out, missing the opportunity to make history.

Since the 60s of the last century, the Jordanian team has been hiring foreign coaches, who keep up with the world trend and allow the Jordanian team to maintain a more advanced technical and tactical style of play. The Jordanian team, led by Moroccan Armonta, continued the team's traditional characteristics with a tenacious style, defensive tenacity, and a focus on ball control and crossing. While most of the squad plays in their home leagues, they do have a team of high-calibre players, notably Tamari, who play for Montpellier in Ligue 1, who have made 14 appearances for the team in Ligue 1 this season, contributing three goals and three assists. In addition to core players such as Tamari, the Jordanian team also has a lot of potential new stars in the squad, and they also make this Jordanian team have more vitality and impact.

(Photo source: Xinhua News Agency)

(Source: Jimu News)