On the evening of February 7, Beijing time, the semifinals of the Asian Cup continued, and Qatar, ranked 58th in the world, reversed Iran, ranked 21st in the world, 3-2 to advance to the final. Before the game, who would have thought that Qatar would advance to the final? Although Qatar has the bonus of the double halo of host + defending champion, Qatar has not beaten Iran for 15 years. However, in this game, Qatar, as the younger brother, staged an incredible reversal, which made the second Asian brother fall down. I have to sigh that in addition to the national football team, the progress of Asian football is really fast. Let's take a look at a great roundup of the game.
Qatar vs Iran
Just three minutes into the game, Iran's powerful toss tactics worked, and Azmoun opened the scoring with an upside-down golden hook. Iran then continued to press, and Taremi's one-on-one was disrupted by his opponent's next tackle. Qatar, on the other hand, gradually began to exert its strength while doing a good job in defense, patiently organizing the attack, and quickly equalized. Afif crosses back in the box and Garber volleys from the top of the arc to deflect the goal.
The two sides were evenly matched and continued to attack, and the scene was quite exciting. Iran made a mistake in the front court, and Afif received the gift and broke into the Longtan penalty area with two consecutive strikes. Towards the end of the half, Qatar made a steal in front, and Afif made a series of feints in the penalty area to flash an angle and shoot into the far corner to help Qatar turn the tide.
In the second half, Iran scored a blitzkrieg, Torasi created a defender handball in the penalty area, and Iran's top penalty taker Jahanbakhsh scored from the spot, and the two sides returned to the same running line. The Iranian duo of Azmoun and Taremi then threatened the goal, but luck was not on Iran's side and neither was converted into a goal.
At the end of the game, Hatem's unthreatening volley from outside the box turned into a divine assist, Ali received the ball with his back and turned to push the corner to score, and the Iranian players signaled Ali for offside. VAR then intervened, with the farthest Iranian player trailing in at the back and Ali scoring a valid goal. The golden goal undoubtedly changed the course of the game, and Iran had no choice but to give it a go. In stoppage time, Jahanbakhsh's far-corner shot from the right side of the penalty area hit the inside of the post and Iran almost equalized it.
Throughout the match, the tough physical confrontation between the two sides, the high-intensity pace of the game, and the top-level offensive and defensive transitions were impressive. I have to say that this is really the most exciting game of this Asian Cup. Whether Qatar defends its title and successfully equals the number of Asian Cup championships won by South Korea, or Jordan wins the first Asian Cup championship in the end, let us witness the birth of the new king of the Asian Cup at 23 o'clock on the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year on February 10!!