Jordan 2-0 South Korea On February 6, 2024, Beijing time, the Qatar Asian Cup ushered in the semifinals between Jordan and South Korea, which is also another meeting between the two teams after the group stage. In the last 17 years of the Asian Cup, every team that has eliminated Iraq has reached the final. So from a metaphysical point of view, Jordan has a clear upper hand. And Nizar's return from injury and starting also strengthened the Jordanian team's midfield. Compared with their opponents, the Jordan team is undoubtedly the side with lighter psychological baggage.
On the other hand, South Korea, the favorite to win the tournament, has more problems. In terms of personnel, the team's defensive stalwart Kim Min-jae was absent due to the accumulation of yellow cards, and Klinsmann could only push the aging Kim Young-kwon to the starting line-up, which laid a hidden danger for the team's defense. In the previous two knockout matches against Australia and Saudi Arabia, South Korea played the full 120 minutes. In terms of physical fitness, the "Taiji Tiger" has obvious disadvantages.
After the opening, Jordan, which had a physical advantage, immediately increased its pressing efforts and accelerated the pace of attack, which made the South Korean team, which started slowly, extremely uncomfortable, and frequently made active ball errors in the backfield. Within five minutes, Nizar and Haddad threatened South Korean goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo with two powerful shots from outside the box. Although Son Heung-min then scored a hanging shot, the goal was ruled invalid because he was offside.
However, after a suspected penalty was cancelled by VAR, the South Korean team finally regained some feeling. Li Gangren's upside-down golden hook in the penalty area hit the post of the goal. Li Gangren's wonderful barb action also caused bursts of screams from the fans.
But not long after, Namat staged another attack in the South Korean team's penalty area, and Zan surprised the South Korean team in a cold sweat. In the whole half, the Jordan team created 4 times as many shots as the South Korean team, and if it weren't for the brave performance of goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo, the South Korean team would have fallen behind the Jordan team.
After a 15-minute half-time break, South Korea's ball problems still did not improve. After catching another passing error from Park Yong-woo, the Jordan team finally scored the goal. In the 53rd minute of the game, Tamari broke the ball and went straight forward, and Namat, who was inserted into the penalty area, immediately got a one-handed chance and scored the ball steadily to help Jordan take a 1-0 lead.
Seeing that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, Klinsmann immediately made personnel adjustments, replacing Park Yong-woo, who was performing poorly, with high school striker Cho Gyu-sung, and allowing Hwang In-beom and Lee Jae-sung to play at the back in order to stabilize the situation. But at this time, Jordan was already playing momentum, and it was impossible to contain it at all. In the 66th minute of the game, Tamari, who had just provided an assist to his teammates, first used a 90-degree movement to change direction past Jung Seung-hyun, and then broke through the South Korean team's city with a long-range shot from the edge of the penalty area, rewriting the score to 2-0. The Jordanian fans in the stands also fell into a frenzy.
With the referee's three whistles, the game ended. With goals from Namat and Tamari, Jordan defeated South Korea with a score of 2-0 to reach the final of this Asian Cup, creating Jordanian football history again. As it turned out, it was more than just luck that the team was able to draw with South Korea in the group stage. And a shining player like Tamari may also deserve a higher league stage.
On the other hand, the South Korean team, which was eliminated to win the championship, will inevitably be criticized by the outside world. In fact, taking the initiative to avoid the "losing character" of the Japanese team in the group stage has already caused the team to lose momentum. The inconsistency between the thinking of domestic players and European players also doomed the team to failure. With the exception of a debut win over Bahrain, South Korea have never won a game in 90 minutes. To put it mildly, the South Korean team was quite lucky to be able to get past Saudi Arabia and Australia. Perhaps the Korean Football Association should also think about whether hiring Klinsmann was the right decision.