Win is win
Qatar's 3-1 victory over Jordan in the 2023 Asian Cup final has become a topic of discussion for many reasons.
The sensitive decisions of referee Ma Ning and VAR, the three penalties awarded in the final (to a single team) which are rare, as well as Qatar's unconvincing play. Apart from the three penalty goals, Qatar did not play better than Jordan. The hosts were even pressured.
Qatar wins Asian Cup 2023
However, amidst the emotional mainstream debates of fans, let's look at all three penalties that Qatar were awarded against Jordan. The first two situations were diagonal turns from the edge of the penalty area into the middle to "trap" the opponent, while in the final phase, Akram Afif proactively rushed into the Jordanian goalkeeper to earn a penalty, at a time when the Jordanian defenders were still hesitant, thinking that Qatar's number 11 was offside.
Qatar deliberately tried to get penalties at every opportunity, and it can only be said that the home team was more cunning than Jordan in just a few moments. It is not uncommon in football to trap opponents in the penalty area to find a penalty. In the match against Australia, Son Heung-min also won a penalty for Korea in the 90+5 minute, in a situation where he admitted to intentionally causing the opponent to commit a foul.
Qatar's problem is just that... there were too many penalty situations like that, making the final not the football performance that all of Asia was waiting for. Jordan was too naive, and Qatar did not need to be beautiful, as long as they won. The team's sophistication was "refined" from both success (winning the 2019 Asian Cup) and humiliating failure, when they lost all the group stage of the 2022 World Cup. A failure that many people mocked, Qatar spent a lot of money to organize the World Cup just to have a lesson that lasted only 3 matches.
Overall, Qatar's 2023 Asian Cup title is not as convincing as 2019. Five years ago, Akram Afif and his teammates were crowned champions with an unprecedented record: all-wins. Qatar defeated many strong teams, including Saudi Arabia (2-0), Iraq (2-0), South Korea (1-0), UAE (4-0), before defeating Japan (3-1) to win the championship. Even in the final, coach Felix Sanchez and his team only conceded a goal for the first time.
Qatar is more cunning and cunning than Jordan
At the 2023 Asian Cup, Qatar won controversial matches against Tajikistan (1-0), Jordan (3-1), and struggled to overcome teams of equal caliber such as Uzbekistan or Iran, all thanks to individual moments or mistakes made by their opponents. However, that is football. The result is the most important, and can overshadow doubts (without basis), controversies and even regrets.
Reaching the top of Asia? Not yet!
Winning the 2023 Asian Cup helped Qatar become the fifth team to successfully defend the title of Asia's No. 1. But will this achievement help coach Tintin Marquez's team stand on par with the likes of Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Australia?
Certainly not. Because the Asian Cup is not the only measure. The frequency of participation in the World Cup (and the mark created in this playground), the number of superstars, the quality of the national championship, the level of the club, the football culture... are the factors that combine to create a football powerhouse, instead of a few pure titles.
Before hosting the 2022 World Cup, Qatar had never even qualified for the World Cup. The West Asian representative had made it to the final qualifying round a few times, but usually finished in one of the bottom two positions. In youth tournaments, Qatar's football achievements were relatively poor: it had never won the U.23 continental championship, and had never qualified for the Olympics.
Qatar team needs more achievements to catch up with the top group
At the club level, Qatari representatives such as Al-Sadd, Al Duhail, Qatar FC, Al-Rayyan... are hard to match the power of Japan and South Korea. In terms of the number of players playing in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Iran all have at least 10 faces. As for Qatar, all the players participating in the 2023 Asian Cup are... playing domestically.
Qatar's success over the past five years has come from two factors. Firstly, the talented players trained at the Aspire Academy, notably Akram Afif and Almoez Ali, have developed well and become pillars of the team. At the 2019 Asian Cup, Ali was the top scorer, Afif was the king of assists. And in this year's tournament, Afif won the top scorer title with 8 goals, also winning the title of best player of the tournament.
Focusing on youth training and developing raw diamonds is a wise strategy that Qatar has followed over the past 15 years. In addition, Qatar has also strongly developed football infrastructure, not only to serve the World Cup, but also to create a foundation for the future.
With a population of only 2.7 million people and no sporting tradition, it is hard to believe that Qatar can rise to parity with Asian powers that have been ahead by 20 or 30 years, such as Japan and South Korea. After the talented generation of Afif and Ali, will Qatari football have another generation of players to replace them, or will it fade away? That is a story of the future.
To rise to the ranks of Asian giants, Qatar must maintain its presence at the World Cup, gain more achievements in youth tournaments (like the upcoming U.23 Asian Cup finals), and perhaps need more real stars to go abroad. To take off, the Qatar team needs more than a runway like the Asian Cup.
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