Although there are not as many upsets in the Asian Cup as in the Africa Cup, it is precisely because of this that the upsets in the Asian Cup are more real and precious. In fact, for a competition, there can be underdogs, but not too many. We can compare the current situation of the Asian Cup and the African Cup, also to the quarterfinals, the Asian Cup has Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran and other strong teams surviving, but what about the African Cup? Nigeria may be the only decent strong team, right? Obviously, the exit of Senegal, Egypt, Morocco and other strong teams contributed to the upset, but it also made the success of the Africa Cup of Nations further reduced. For most neutral fans, isn't it all about watching the big names in action? Achraf, Mazraoui are gone, and there is a group of players left who can't be named, what else does it mean?
The Asian Cup is very balanced in this regard, the number of strong teams has been retained to the maximum, and there are one or two dark horses, which makes fans not only continue to pay attention to the performance of big-name players such as Son Heung-min and Kaoru Mikasa, but also expect those dark horses to continue to create miracles.
Speaking of which, we have to lead to today's topic - is it possible to have "Greek mythology" in this Asian Cup?
In fact, in the 04 Euro Cup, there was only one dark horse in Greece, but they went black to the end and performed a dark horse one-man show. Greece have a tough style of play, a strong body, and a combination of speed and impact, which forms a strong sense of intimidation and pressure for those teams with strong technical flow, so Portugal, France, and Spain have no advantage in front of them. Of course, Greek mythology is called a myth because it can't be used often. But for a second-tier European team like Greece, it is enough to seize such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach the top of Europe.
In this Asian Cup, there is a team that, in every way, really has a Greek feel.
I'm talking about Tajikistan, of course.
The level of awareness of domestic fans about Tajikistan has suddenly increased in the past ten days. After all, the national football team is in the same group as them. If there was a vague idea of the team before the game, now we are very familiar with them. The team outside the world ranking 100 is really not bad in terms of strength. In the match with the national football team, Tajikistan has an overall advantage, 0:0 is a pity for them, but it is a blessing for the national football team. In the face of the host Qatar, Tajikistan only conceded one goal, and from the perspective of the field, Qatar did not have much advantage.
What really gave Tajikistan a dark horse was when they eliminated the UAE in the quarterfinals. The UAE is considered a second-rate team in Asia, and Tajikistan, as a newcomer to the Asian Cup for the first time, can do this, in addition to being strong enough, but also have good luck in the tournament. This is essential from the point of view of creating miracles.
Once magical, look forward to a second time. It's already in the quarter-finals, anything can happen. It is worth mentioning that Tajikistan's opponent in the quarterfinals Jordan can be regarded as an upset all the way to the present. This also means that there will definitely be a dark horse in the top four. Judging from the previous matches, Tajikistan seems to have found a way to deal with West Asian teams, and they deserve to be favored.
If Tajikistan does make it to the semi-finals, it will be only two steps away from the Asian version of Greek mythology. Although they will definitely face Asian superpowers such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia, just like Greece defeated France, the Czech Republic, and Portugal in succession, nothing is impossible in the final stage. Moreover, Tajikistan, as a Central Asian team, like Greece, also has strong physical confrontation ability and tough playing style, which is still quite troublesome for strong teams such as Japan and South Korea.
Although the probability is extremely low, we might as well pay attention to Tajikistan's performance, and maybe surprises will come inadvertently.