Qatar has won the Asian Cup twice in a row, and it has to let Asian football face it. If in the past, the top teams in Asia were only Japan, South Korea, Isa and Australia, then now, Qatar is really added. Although the level of Asian football is far less than that of Europe and the United States, it also has its own charm. As the highest level of competition in Asia, the Asian Cup also has a long history and wonderful stories. Although there is no team in Asia that is considered the top team in the world, there are also strong confrontations in Asia, which is also the scene we are most happy to see.
From this point of view, in the last Asian Cup final, Qatar played Jordan, although there was a dark horse bonus, but it always gave people a feeling of not being enjoyable. After all, we would rather see the battle of the Asian powerhouses, which appeared in the final of the Asian Cup. Even, even Qatar, because it has just been promoted to the top class in Asia, cannot represent the foundation of the Asian Cup.
If you want to talk about the top matchup in the Asian Cup final, it will be counted once in 2015, Australia vs. South Korea. 2000 is also counted once, Japan against Saudi Arabia. Of course, there was Saudi Arabia against China earlier, and China in the 80s was definitely a first-class team in Asia, so at that time, the national football team appeared in the Asian Cup final without any sense of disobedience.
In fact, since the 80s, the previous Asian Cup finals have basically guaranteed that two of Asia's top teams will face off. There are still fewer examples of dark horses like Jordan reaching the finals. However, there is a strange thing in the history of the Asian Cup, which can be called the matchup of the Asian derby, which has never been staged in the final.
Saudi Arabia vs. Japan, Saudi Arabia vs. China, Australia vs. South Korea, including Kuwait vs. South Korea, Japan vs. Australia, and Iran vs. South Korea, which we mentioned earlier, are all strong dialogues, but there is really no showdown, which can be called an Asian derby.
The strange thing is, why did Japan vs South Korea never take place in the Asian Cup final?
Japan and South Korea, the two poles of East Asian football, have faced each other countless times, but they have never met in the Asian Cup final. Is the confrontation between Japan and South Korea an Asian derby? Although there are still strong teams such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Australia in Asian football, if you look at the results of the World Cup, can the West Asian teams compare with Japan and South Korea? Japan is definitely the Asian team with the best results in the World Cup, although it still can't break through the bottleneck of the round of 16, but the experience of qualifying from the group four times is unmatched by any Asian team.
As for South Korea, even if we don't mention the black semi-finals of the '02 World Cup, if you look at the 2010 and 2022 World Cups, South Korea has at least reached the round of 16, right? In that regard, they have already surpassed Iran and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, even when South Korea are out of the group, they often play classic upsets, such as beating Germany 2-0 in the 2018 World Cup.
Therefore, in Asia, Japan and South Korea are the two teams with the straightest waists in the World Cup, and if the match between them cannot be called the Asian Derby, then the other teams will not be able to touch the concept of the Asian Derby. Although Japan and South Korea both belong to East Asia, and there is a bit of overlap in the region, as if it is more reasonable for East Asia and West Asia to choose one team each to form the Asian derby, the question is, who will make the West Asian team not compete? Let's wait for Saudi Arabia to qualify from the World Cup group for the second time, or Iran to reach the quarterfinals once.
In the last Asian Cup, Japan and South Korea had a chance to meet in the finals, but this time both teams were not very strong, Japan lost to Iran in eight and four, and South Korea lost to Jordan in the semifinals. If all goes well for both teams, they can meet in the final. But football has no ifs. Hopefully, in the future Asian Cup final, we can see the Asian derby matchup. I'm sure it won't be too far away.