Al-Rayyan, Qatar – In the thunderous atmosphere of Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, history was made.
Jordan will play for the first time in the tournament final Asia Cup.
And they will do it worthy, He weighs the bliss And Musa Al-Taamari Inspiring their team to a 2-0 victory over South Korea. In what was also The Chivalrous Ones’ first continental semi-final.
Giving their opponents no chance, they proved disciplined, strong, resolute and, above all, lethal, eliminating their most formidable foes in a way that would have left South Korea able to blame no one but itself.
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In fact, before the match, Jordan coach Hussein Amouta spoke above all about the need to improve his tactics. “You will not see any competing team with less passion, less focus, or less will to win,” he said. “We need to focus, we need to develop our tactical side.”
Just over 24 hours later, as his players streamed onto the field to celebrate, he was validated. The Moroccan has achieved success and will now have the opportunity to cement an unprecedented legacy.
Meanwhile, the golden generation of Taeguk warriors saw an opportunity to end their country’s long wait for another Asian title. 64 years of waiting will now turn into at least 67 years, for players like the 31 year old Son Heung-minThere will be no guarantees about how much they will be able to contribute when the tournament reaches Saudi Arabia in 2027.
Undoubtedly, an autopsy will begin immediately, even on players like Son Lee Kang In Head to the airport to return immediately to their clubs in Europe. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann will certainly be in the spotlight.
Because while a semifinal exit in itself carries no shame, South Korea’s exit on Tuesday night carried with it a sense of inevitability, a nagging sense that this wasn’t some kind of major upset so much as this team was, finally, no… Allowing the opponent to get away any longer would create opportunities and then seize them.
Its supporters have dubbed the South Korean style “zombie football”. It was a sign that they were able, in some way, to bring themselves back to life and find a way to keep moving forward.
They scored in the 91st minute to draw with Jordan in the group stage. And in the 94th minute of the 3-3 draw with Malaysia. In the 99th minute, the Saudi team preserved its match in the round of 16 before moving to penalty kicks. They scored in the 96th minute to force extra time with Australia in the quarter-finals and then in the 104th minute to win it.
Resilience, team spirit and a refusal to stop running and fighting are actually incredible qualities – some coaches focus on the core of the teams they are trying to build.
But orchestrating a stunning run of late comebacks and necessarily heart-stopping goals requires one to fall into a hole from the start. A zombie can only bite if it reaches the point of death first and its victim proves unable to escape its grasp.
By the end of the first 45 minutes in Al Rayyan, Jordan had sent ten shots on goal Jo Hyun Woogoal, four of them missed the target, compared to only four served on this goal Yazid Abu Lailawith none of these attempts actually being on a path that would have gotten them to the goal.
This was despite their 61% possession resulting in 31 involvements in the final third compared to 16, and 13 passes into their opponent’s penalty area compared to Jordan’s seven.
This was a familiar script to the one read against the Socceroos a few days ago, a technically gifted side packed with fearsomely gifted forwards crashing like waves against an opponent placed in a strong position to succeed and then execute.
South Korea were playing uninspiring football, with no real sense of creativity and an apparent amount of sloppiness. Meanwhile, as soon as Jordan got the ball, they were immediately looking to get forward and create threats.
In just the fifth minute Nizar Al-Rashdan He took advantage of a high turnover and fired a shot towards goal, forcing Joe into the play. after a minute, Ihsan Haddad It was launched from nowhere farther away but still had enough power to send panic among his opponents.
In the 19th minute, with his team officially not having the chance to enter the penalty area, Son crossed the ball higher and shot a powerful shot into the net, but it was returned for offside. Four minutes later, his team made its first clear attack Seol Young Woo He reached the sideline but Lee blasted his shot over the bar.
But Al-Naimat quickly threatened, stepping forward and forcing Joe into a save in the 25th minute before sending a scissor kick high and wide a few moments later. And almost immediately after, a terrible pass from… Kim Young Joon –Playing as part of almost everything-Ulsan HD Back line with seoul and Jung Seung-hyun after Kim Min JaeCommentary – He sent a direct pass to Al-Taamari, who moved forward and shot high and wide.
Jordan was coming and South Korea needed a circuit breaker.
They came close to a good final 15 points in the first half. They were denied a penalty kick thought to have been won by Seoul after VAR moved to cancel it, The Arabs weigh Who was actually wrong. Hwang In-beom Seoul lifted a cut back over the bar from the top of the six-yard box on the stroke of half-time with a chance that should have been buried.
But unlike previous games, Jordan wasn’t going to let them off the hook.
Just eight minutes into the second half, a disastrous pass from… Park Young Woo Keim ran into all sorts of trouble, allowing Taamari to steal the ball away. Al-Naimat moved quickly to surgically weave his way between the retreating centre-backs and receive the ball his way perfectly, before finishing over the top of Joe.
The Jordanian contingent of 42,850 fans in the stands, which felt like most of them, exploded. If you didn’t bring earmuffs, you’ll soon wish you had.
At this point, if you are South Koreans, you may be worried but not afraid yet. You would have come back from this before, after all. Zombies and so on.
However, when Al Taamari moved forward, Hwang dropped as he did so, shooting the ball into the bottom corner of the net, and that’s when she started to panic. 2-0.
Saudi Arabia and Australia scored just one goal, and now South Korea is showing clear signs of fatigue after needing to play 120 minutes in two consecutive matches against two good and strong teams. In fact, perhaps the Socceroos and the Green Falcons can take some solace from toning down their win over Jordan.
However, the Taeguk warriors tried to fight back. Cho Joo-sung He was thrown into the net after the first goal and Lee stepped into the Jordan defense in the 70th minute, but was denied by a brilliant sliding challenge by Muhammad Abu Hashish.
But in another difference from previous games, they weren’t trying to smash into a parked bus. Jordan were clearly holding back more than they did, but Al-Naimat’s surge forward in the 87th minute still gave the opposition a reason to pause.
And when Cho was booked for diving in the immediate aftermath of that attack when he tried to get something at the other end, the writing appeared on the wall. Individual talent will not be enough.
Klinsmann opened his press conference by saying that Jordan deserved to win. He was right.
