At 23:00 on the evening of February 10, Beijing time, the Asian Cup final began, with Jordan playing against Qatar.
In the first half, Afif opened the scoring from the penalty spot, and in the second half, Yazan equalised and Afif scored a hat-trick from the penalty spot.
In the end, Qatar defeated Jordan 3-1 and successfully defended the Asian Cup title.
With the successful defense of the title of the host Qatar, this Asian Cup has shown the real "strength" of Chinese football, but it has also allowed the whole Asian world to see the strength of Chinese referees.
After the game, Ma Ning, the referee from the Chinese Football Association, became the focus.
In particular, the Jordanian football community has questioned and dissatisfied with Manin's decision.
Because he awarded Qatar three penalties, and it was with a hat-trick that Qatar won the game.
According to media sources, referee experts from Jordan believe that two of Manin's three penalty decisions were wrong and only one was correct.
The referee expert said that Ma Ning's first penalty was wrong, because the attacking player Afif took the initiative to touch the thigh of the defender, and such a deliberate penalty should not be awarded.
Regarding the second penalty, the Jordanian referee expert said that there was no problem, although Manin was prompted by VAR to award the penalty, but it was indeed a defensive foul in the penalty area, and there was no problem in awarding the penalty.
Regarding the third penalty award, the Jordanian referee expert said that it was Afif who deliberately created physical contact with the defender and should not have been awarded a penalty.
Although Jordanian referee experts questioned Manin's decision, it took a lot of courage for Manin to give the home team three penalties in the final.
After the game, many media and referee experts in the Chinese football community almost recognized Ma Ning's penalty performance.
Because all three penalty decisions have a certain basis, and there is no problem with each penalty award separately, Jordan as the losing side is not satisfied with the decision.
Although the Chinese men's football team did not qualify for the Asian Cup group, the outstanding performance of Ma Ning's team in the Asian Cup final still brought certain gains to Chinese football and the Chinese Football Association.
If Chinese referees can maintain a world-class level of law enforcement, then in turn, it can also drive Chinese football to the world.
Of course, if Chinese football wants to improve, it still depends on the cultivation of talents, which also requires the joint efforts of several generations.