In the semifinals of the 2024 Asian Cup, South Korea lost 0-2 to Jordan and missed the final. They have not won the Asian Cup again for 64 consecutive years since winning the title in 1960, which is a dismal record. What is surprising is that in the past 12 Asian Cups, from 1976 to the present, the South Korean team's record is almost the same as that of the national football team.
Jordan are ranked 87th in the world, which is lower than the national team's record of zero goals in the group stage, but they almost beat South Korea in the group stage, beat Iraq 3-2 in the quarter-finals, and beat Tajikistan 1-0 in the quarter-finals. In contrast, although the South Korean team has a lot of talent, this Asian Cup has been stumbling, and reaching the semi-finals is more a matter of luck. However, they clearly ran out of luck in this game.
After the opening kick-off, South Korea dominated the majority of possession, while Jordan relied on quick counter-attacks and accurate long-range shots to threaten the opposition goal. In the 32nd minute, South Korea's Lee Jae-seong missed a chance to break the deadlock with a header that hit the post. The first half ended in a 0-0 draw. In the second half, Jordan, who had more shots on goal, paid off, and in the 53rd minute, they used an aggressive tackle up front to play a brilliant counter-attack, and Nejmat shot into the net with a light shot to make it 1-0. Then, in the 66th minute, Tamari burst into the top of the penalty area after receiving the ball in the midfield, shook off the defense and shot again through the ten fingers of South Korean goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo, and the Jordan team completely sealed the victory.
Although South Korea's captain Son Heung-min made eight breakthroughs in the game, five of them were successful, which was the highest in the game. But he didn't shoot or make key passes, and he looked isolated on the pitch. Compared with Jordan's 17 shots on goal and 7 shots on target, South Korea only had 8 shots on goal and no shots on target. In fact, after a series of tough wins over Saudi Arabia and Australia, South Korea were already considered favourites to win the title, but they suffered a heavy defeat against Jordan's starting line-up, who were valued at just €9.48 million.
At this point, the South Korean team's journey in the 2024 Qatar Asian Cup has come to an end, and their embarrassment of 64 years without a championship will continue. The Asian Cup was officially launched in 1956, and the Korean team won the first two championships. However, after that, they never reached the top of Asia. It is worth mentioning that the national football team won the third place in the Asian Cup finals for the first time in 1976, although the strength of the two teams is very different now, but in the past 48 years of 12 Asian Cup competitions, the South Korean team and the national football team have a similar record.
Since 1976, the national football team has reached the finals of the Asian Cup 11 times in a row, and reached the finals of the Asian Cup in Singapore in 1984 and the Asian Cup on home soil in 2004, with a record of 2 runners-up, second runner-up, second place, 4th place, 3 times to the quarterfinals) and 3 group stage exits).
South Korea, on the other hand, has a record of 2 runners-up and 2nd runner-ups, 3 quarter-finals, and 1 group stage failure (1984). In this Asian Cup, they stopped in the semi-finals. In addition, in the 1984 and 1992 Asian Cup qualifiers, the South Korean team was eliminated.
To sum up, the South Korean team, which has failed to qualify for the Asian Cup finals twice since 1976, is even slightly inferior to the national football team's record. Despite their abundance of talent and the fact that they are considered to be the undisputed super-class team in Asia, South Korea are a slightly inferior presence on the Asian Cup stage.
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