Is Qatar Winning the Asian Cup Again! Is Ma Ning's "Three Penalty Kicks" controversial?
The "2023 AFC Asian Cup", which lasted for almost a month, came to an end, and Qatar successfully defended its title by defeating Jordan 3-1 in the final.
Qatari player Akram Afif, who scored 8 goals and completed 3 assists, became the top scorer + best player in this tournament.
The Chinese referee team composed of Ma Ning, Zhou Fei, Zhang Cheng and Fu Ming successfully completed the law enforcement task of the final.
After the race, they also received their commemorative medals at the medal ceremony.
Final recap: Are the three penalties controversial?
When Chinese fans watch this final, in addition to paying attention to the performance of the players on both sides, they will also pay attention to the performance of the Chinese referee team.
Manin awarded three penalties, all three of which were awarded to Qatar, and all three were scored by Afif.
In addition to this, Manin also showed 6 yellow cards in this game.
These penalty data are very much in line with Ma Ning's law enforcement style. If you haven't watched the process of the game, some fans may feel that Ma Ning has stolen the show again.
But is that really the case? Let's take a look ⬇
The first penalty was awarded in the 20th minute.
Afif was tripped after dribbling into the Jordanian box from the left, and Manin decisively awarded a penalty.
The picture of the two touching their right legs was very clear, and there was nothing wrong with this penalty.
Afif kicked the penalty into the bottom left corner of the goal, which seemed easy but extremely fast, and the goalkeeper could not do anything to guess the right direction.
The second penalty was awarded in the 71st minute.
When Qatari player Ismail fell to the ground in the Jordanian penalty area, Manin did not say anything.
But then the video assistant referee intervened, and Ma Ning personally ran to the sidelines to watch the slow-motion replay and gave Qatar a penalty.
Afif came to the penalty spot for the second time and once again kicked the ball into the bottom left corner of the net and hit it again.
The third penalty was awarded in second-half stoppage time.
Afif had a one-on-one chance as he dribbled to the goal and collided with the opposition goalkeeper before falling to the ground.
Manin came to the sidelines again to watch the replay and then gave Qatar a third penalty.
This time Afif kicked the ball into the bottom right corner to complete a hat-trick from the penalty spot.
It seems strange that there were three penalties in the Asian Cup final, all awarded to the same team.
But if you take these three penalties out of their pockets, there is nothing wrong with each one.
As netizens said - although three penalties were awarded, it is true that all three were penalties!
Although the Jordanian team failed to win the championship, they also left their own wonderful moments in the final.
Yazan Nimmat's goal in the 67th minute was the only open goal of the game.
Nemat stops, turns, and shoots, all in one go, hearty!
Qatar's road to winning the championship -
Qatar won two consecutive titles, Jordan reached the final for the first time, and both teams made history at this Asian Cup.
Although Qatar is the defending champion, it is also the host. But before the start of the Asian Cup, they were not the favourites.
The real favourites to win the championship –
It is the Japanese team with many players in Europe, who defeated Germany and Spain in the World Cup and reached the round of 16.
It is the South Korean team that has the "first brother in Asia" Son Heung-min, who defeated Portugal in the World Cup and also reached the round of 16.
In addition, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Australia also have their own advantages, and their pre-match odds are lower than Qatar's.
However, Qatar, which has always liked to do things in a high-profile manner, has a feeling of making a fortune this time.
In the group stage, when Japan unexpectedly lost, South Korea, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other teams were busy "controlling points", Qatar had already locked the first place in the group in advance with two consecutive wins.
And they won't face particularly strong opponents too soon in the knockout rounds.
Defeating Palestine in the 1/8 finals and Uzbekistan in the 1/4 finals are not easy to qualify, but it is much better than meeting "Japan, South Korea, Iran, Australia and Saudi Arabia" in advance.
In the semi-finals, it is inevitable to face the strong teams.
Iran scored Qatar in the opening three minutes, and the hosts finally felt the danger of being out.
You know, before that game, Qatar had suffered a 6-game losing streak against Iran.
When they're 1-0 down, it's easy to fall apart.
But Qatar gave a different answer this time, Afif completed 1 pass and 1 shot, Ali scored the winning goal, Qatar defeated Iran 3-2 and successfully advanced to the final.
In the end, Qatar defeated Jordan in the final to lift the championship trophy.
Now that the Asian Cup has come to an end, let's take another look at Qatar's journey to the title:
Group stage (1): Qatar 3-0 Lebanon
Group stage (2): Qatar 1-0 Tajikistan
Group Stage (3): Qatar 1-0 China
1/8 finals: Qatar 2-1 Palestine
1/4 Finals: Qatar 1-1 Uzbekistan (3-2 on penalties)
Semi-finals: Qatar 3-2 Iran
Final: Qatar 3-1 Jordan
Qatar's "Golden Generation" –
Fans often refer to the "golden generation" of such and such a national team. For example, the Portuguese "golden generation" led by Figo and Rui Costa, the Chilean "golden generation" led by Sanchez and Vidal, the Croatian "golden generation" led by Modric and Rakitic, and the Belgian "golden generation" that has been shining in recent years.
There is no doubt that the Qatari team, with Afif, Ali and Haydos, is the "golden generation" in the history of Qatari football.
The reason for the rapid rise of Qatari football has long been known to many fans.
Since his teenage years, players such as Akram Afif and Moez Ali have played together for Qatar and have achieved good results.
In the 2019 Asian Cup, this group of players ushered in an explosion.
They have won seven of their seven games, scoring 19 goals and conceding just one. On the way to the championship, he defeated Lebanon, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Japan, and stood on the top of Asia for the first time with an extremely strong attitude.
In that Asian Cup, Moez Ali scored 9 goals and Akram Afif registered 10 assists, both of whom shocked Asian football with exaggerated statistics.
After winning the Asian Cup for the first time, what "adventures" did the Qatari team experience?
In the summer of 2019, the Qatari team traveled to Brazil to participate in the Copa America.
They drew 2-2 with Paraguay, lost 0-1 to Colombia and lost 0-2 to Argentina.
Although he missed the group qualification, his performance was remarkable.
In the summer of 2021, the Qatari team traveled to the United States to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The intensity of the US Cup is much lower than that of the Copa America, and this time Qatar played all the way to the semi-finals, where they lost 1-0 to the United States.
Moez Ali is tied for top scorer with four goals and Afif is joint for first place in assists with three assists.
In the winter of 2021, the Qatari team participated in the Arab Cup, and this time they were the hosts.
At home, they won 3 games and 3 wins in the group stage, defeated the United Arab Emirates in the quarterfinals, and lost to Algeria in the semifinals.
In the end, in the battle for the third and fourth places, he defeated Egypt through a penalty shootout and won the third place.
In addition to participating in various cup competitions around the world, Qatar also participated in the European zone of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
At that time, they were placed in the same group that Portugal were in, and they only played games, but they didn't count the results.
At the same time, Qatar did not leave the Asian qualifiers behind, as they topped their group at the round of 40 and then did not enter the round of 12.
Although this series of training actions did not bring Qatar a point in the World Cup.
But their continuous efforts will still allow the team to be trained and improved.
Back in Asia, Qatar is still a top team.