Three penalties were awarded in the Asian Cup final, and Chinese referee Ma Ning's law enforcement performance was affirmed

On the evening of February 10, local time, the host Qatar defeated Jordan 3-1 in the Asian Cup final, successfully defending the title after winning the first championship in 2019, becoming the fifth team in history to complete the Asian Cup defense.

It is worth mentioning that the referee, assistant referee and video assistant referee of this game are all from China, among which the referee Ma Ning awarded penalties to the Qatar team three times in the game, which has also become an unavoidable topic.

Manin

Qatar opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, when Afif struck the penalty area from the left and was brought down from behind by Jordanian defenders.

In the second half, Jordan, who were behind the score, played a period of high-quality attack and equalized in the 67th minute. However, this balance of power did not last long, and soon Qatar were awarded another penalty in the 73rd minute.

Qatar took advantage of penalties to take the lead.

At that time, Jordan's Maldi stretched out his leg to hook Qatari player Ismail, Manin did not make a penalty at the first time, but then awarded a penalty after being reminded by the video assistant referee, and Afif hit the penalty again to help Qatar overtake the score 2-1. 

In the 88th minute, Jordanian player Yazan knocked down the opponent without the ball, Manin showed a yellow card, and the video assistant referee reminded that the foul could be redcarded, and Manin went to the sidelines to watch the video review and maintain the yellow card.

Qatar won another penalty.

In the 91st minute of the game, Afif successfully won a single knife again against offside and was brought down by the Jordanian goalkeeper in the penalty area. Ma Ning went to the sidelines again to check the replay and finally awarded the third penalty of the game. Afif scored a hat-trick from the penalty spot to help Qatar beat Jordan 3-1.

Ma Ning's award of three penalties to the host seems somewhat exaggerated, but because these three penalties are relatively accurate, overall, Ma Ning's penalty is still relatively recognized on social media.

The comments of "Nanfang Daily" are more representative - although the host won 3 penalties in a game sounds somewhat biased, but judging from the video replay, Ma Ning's penalty is basically accurate, reflecting his ability and value as a "golden whistle".

Manin awarded three penalties to Qatar.

After all, it takes a certain amount of courage to blow three penalties for the same team in a game. For Chinese football in the trough, the performance of the referee team who officiated the Asian Cup final for the first time can be regarded as a highlight.

In the post-match award ceremony, the Chinese referee team took the stage as the referee representative to receive the award, and the audience gave applause to the Chinese referee in the award ceremony.

Ma Ning himself also thanked the outside world for the affirmation on social media, "Thanks to everyone, the efforts of several generations have made it possible for us to be honored to achieve this small goal on behalf of Chinese football referees!

Of course, there will also be some doubts about Ma Ning's punishment. Wei Shihao, an international player who was sent off by Ma Ning in the 2023 Chinese Super League season, commented on Weibo with some connotation Ma Ning, he posted a picture of the Qatar team winning the third penalty, and wrote, "Congratulations to Qatar. ”

Manin communicates with Jordanian players.

Manin's three penalties allowed Afif to complete a hat-trick of penalties and help the team win the championship trophy while becoming a Golden Boot winner with eight goals.

Statistics show that Afif is the first player in the history of the Asian Cup to wear a hat in the final. In addition, Afif is the third player in history to score at least eight goals in a single Asian Cup, the others being Ali Daei (Iran) in 1996 and Almoiz Ali (Qatar) in 2019.

Qatar has won two consecutive Asian Cups, equaling South Korea in the number of Asian Cup titles, Iran and Saudi Arabia have both won the Asian Cup three times, while Japan has won the championship four times.