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The reason why dark horses are dark horses is because they have completed miracles within a specific time, and on the other hand, it also shows that their magic will not last too long, otherwise, they will not be called dark horses, but can be directly positioned as a strong team. Take Greece in the 2004 European Championship, for example, after creating the myth, Greece was immediately beaten back to its original shape and did not enter the 06 World Cup. It's ironic that the European Championship champion can't make it to the World Cup, which shows that Greece is just a second-rate team in Europe, but it has achieved a balance of strength and luck in those two years.
Let's take a look at the Asian Cup, which has just ended. There are also many dark horses in this Asian Cup, which must be impressive to our national football team, after all, we were very optimistic in the group stage, except for Qatar, we are the strongest, but the two 0:0 knots slapped the face, it turns out that Tajikistan and Lebanon are not worse than us at all, and even stronger. Especially Tajikistan, the national football team is pressed all over the field, and this is the first time that people have participated in the Asian Cup.
And when Tajikistan broke through the UAE, the halo on this team was even more dazzling, and people even saw in them the possibility of Greece in 04.
Until, they lost to Jordan in the quarter-finals.
In fact, Jordan is the biggest dark horse in this Asian Cup. The results speak for themselves, Jordan made it to the final, and is only one step away from achieving Greek mythology. Moreover, Jordan met South Korea twice, both of which had the advantage, and even defeated South Korea directly in the semifinals. In the end, they were unable to beat the hosts, Qatar, which may be regrettable to many.
However, has Jordan really transformed into a first-class team in Asia by virtue of the runner-up result in the Asian Cup? In fact, just like Euro 04, the results of a major tournament cannot be used as evidence of continuity. If we look at Jordan's results in 2023, we will see that their quality is not yet the top in Asia.
For example, in January 2023, they lost to Japan 1:6. Although it was a friendly match, the score was too different. Then there is the World Preliminaries, Jordan is in the same group as Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Pakistan. Perhaps in the eyes of many, Jordan is second only to Saudi Arabia in this group, and it should not be a big problem to qualify. But after two rounds, Jordan finished third, losing to Saudi Arabia and drawing with Tajikistan. Maybe Pakistan will let them put their points up, but to be honest, it's really hard to say which Jordan or Tajikistan is stronger or weaker these days. The 1:0 in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup does not mean that Jordan is stronger.
After the Asian Cup, Jordan's world ranking rose to 70th, a significant increase. But it is undeniable that Jordan's world ranking was very low before, and it was even inferior to the national football team. Although the world ranking cannot fully locate the strength, it at least has some reference significance. At the very least, Jordan is not yet able to compare with Japan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Iran and other teams in the front.
After the madness of the Asian Cup, Jordan is likely to be beaten back to square one in the World Championships. In extreme cases, they may not even make it to the round of 18, after all, Tajikistan in the same group is becoming more and more elusive and difficult to deal with. Hopefully, Jordan's magic is not a flash in the pan.