In the third round of Group E of the Asian Cup, South Korea played against Malaysia and attracted a lot of attention. The result of this match will determine the group standings and the fate of the knockout stage against Japan. South Korea, the favourites, naturally do not want to meet Japan in the round of 16. As a result, many believe that this match could feature deliberate point control by the Korean team. The aptly named "dark horse" Bahrain team has also become a major variable in the process of the group final. Interestingly, in the end, South Korea drew with Malaysia and Bahrain won against Jordan. This meant that Bahrain topped the group and South Korea advanced as second, successfully avoiding a showdown with Japan.
Group E is particularly confusing, with Jordan temporarily in first place, South Korea and Bahrain in joint second, and Malaysia already out early. Ahead of the third round of the group stage, South Korea played against Malaysia. If South Korea wins, the points will reach 7 points and have a chance to top the group. And if South Korea draw with Malaysia, then Bahrain will finish first in the group, regardless of the result of the match, while South Korea will advance as second place. In the other match, Bahrain will win over Jordan and will be the top of the group. If Bahrain draws with Jordan, then Jordan will qualify in first place with 4 points. The situation in the third round of the group stage is very clear, and South Korea only need to draw Malaysia to avoid facing Japan, whether they end up in first or second place.
Although South Korea's head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in his pre-match press conference that he would go all out to win, from the Korean team's point of view, there was no need to risk the victory. The matchup with Japan is not beneficial for either side, and both sides will suffer. South Korea has managed to advance to the next round, so even if they lose, they will be able to avoid meeting Japan. However, it is likely that South Korea will not want to finish third in the group, as it means that the opponents in the first round of the knockout rounds will be stronger. Therefore, South Korea are likely to deliberately play for a draw, and only one point is the ideal situation for South Korea. Although the opponent in the knockout round is likely to be the Saudi team who won Group F, it is still much better than meeting Japan. Of course, there are also fans who believe that if the South Korean team cannot defeat the Malaysian team, it means that the game is match-fixing, after all, the difference in strength between the two sides is too big. There are also some fans who believe that the goal of the South Korean team is to win the championship, whether it is against the Japanese team in the 16-8 knockout round or against the Japanese team in the final, in fact, there is not much difference, it is better to meet the Japanese team as soon as possible and have a happy matchup.
South Korea took the lead at the start of the game, but Malaysia quickly managed to take a 2-1 lead. South Korea's Lee Gang-in equalised. Son then took the lead again in the 94th minute, but in the 104th minute, Malaysia equalised and the final score was fixed at 3-3. It was a thrilling match with seven reversals of qualification, which was really interesting. South Korea achieved the result they wanted, and Japan no longer needed to be afraid. The result of this match also meant that the Jordan team risked losing to the Bahrain team, and the first place became third. Although Jordan also managed to advance, their defeat was actually a match-fixing.
In the Asian Cup group E match, the process of the South Korean team's qualification was full of twists and turns. South Korea, the favourites, adopted an aggressive strategy in the tournament to avoid a showdown with Japan. Although in this match, the South Korean team was overtaken by the Malaysian team at one point, but finally drew with the opponent with a score of 3-3 and successfully advanced. The result of this match also caused controversy among fans, with some believing that the South Korean team deliberately drew and others believing that the match was match-fixing. In any case, South Korea managed to advance in the group stage and avoided the Japanese team for themselves. For them, this is a satisfactory result.