On February 4, Beijing time, the Qatar Asian Cup was in full swing, and the top four teams have all been released. However, the most surprising thing is undoubtedly the exit of the Japanese team, the favorites to win the championship. They battled with Iran for 90 minutes, only to be eliminated on penalties by Iran in the fourth minute of stoppage time. A late mistake by the Blue Knights' backline gave the Persian Knights a good chance to strike. Iran's tough physical confrontation and pressing put a lot of pressure on the Japanese team. The team can no longer play a pleasing and fluid combination like in the 1/8 finals. In the end, the Iranians rejected the possibility of dragging the game into extra time, settled the battle in regulation time, and eliminated the ceiling team of Asian football, which undoubtedly made the Iranians proud enough for a while.
In addition to Iran, which made it to the final four, the other three teams were all settled. South Korea fought hard for 120 minutes, and with the excellent performance of Asia's first brother Son Heung-min, they eliminated Australia. The big dark horse Jordan defeated Tajikistan, a newcomer to the Asian Cup, 1-0 and reached the semifinals of the Asian Cup for the first time in history. The last team to qualify for the semi-finals is hosts Qatar, and their match against Uzbekistan can be described as a hard-fought battle. The two teams played out 1-1 in 90 minutes of regulation time and then failed to score in extra-time. In the end, the two sides passed through a penalty shootout, and the Qatar team advanced 4-3.
The next four matchups are Qatar vs Iran and South Korea vs Jordan. With Japan out, South Korea is the only East Asian team left, and they will also face three West Asian teams. Although the South Korean team has had a bumpy performance in this Asian Cup, it is also an indisputable fact that they are the second team in the Asian Cup to win the Asian Cup second only to the Japanese team. Although in order to avoid the knockout stage and enter the second half of the group, they chose to play a negative game against Malaysia in the game and gave up the top position in the group, and faced criticism from the outside world. But the South Koreans' strength handicap also makes fans in other countries, including Chinese fans, envious and jealous.
After entering the knockout round, the Taiji Tigers finally began to correct their attitude, and the team gradually revealed its fierce minions under the leadership of Sun Xingmin. The hard-hitting South Koreans face strong Saudi Arabia and Australia in the knockout rounds. The match against the Saudi team was a penalty shoot-out reversal. The match against Australia was a free-kick by Son Heung-min in extra time. In the two games, the Koreans played thrillingly, but it was the stubborn Koreans who had the last laugh.
After several hard-fought knockout matches, the South Korean team's confidence has greatly increased, and winning the championship has become the team's only goal. There is no doubt that the South Korean team has shown their championship appearance.