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Doha (AFP) – The Asian Cup, memorable for its shocking and dramatic ending, proved the region’s potential and raised hopes that teams can reach new heights at the 2026 World Cup.
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Asian Football Confederation teams can earn eight direct spots and one intercontinental play-off spot in the expanded 48-team World Cup to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Asia Cup in Qatar concludes with Saturday’s final between the hosts and Jordan, suggesting serious competition between the region’s traditional powerhouses.
South Korean coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in Doha that “Asian soccer has improved greatly.”
“Quality has improved dramatically over the last 10 to 15 years.”
His enthusiastic team then lost 2-0 to Jordan in the semi-finals, Japan, the pre-tournament favorites, lost in the quarter-finals to Iran, who lost to Qatar.
“All the teams in the Asia Cup have high quality and the teams are getting better, so we played difficult games,” said Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, whose team conceded at least one goal in every game.
close encounter
The team has largely achieved success by playing positive, attacking football, but the games have generally been close.
The biggest difference in the tournament was Australia and Jordan’s 4-0 wins over Indonesia and Malaysia respectively.
Notable successes include Jordan, whose high-tempo attacking style makes a mockery of world No. 87, and first-timer Tajikistan, who reached the quarterfinals.
The bottom-placed Hong Kong team showed their competitiveness despite losing all three games and gave Iran a real scare before losing 1-0.
Malaysia, another so-called regional powerhouse, played out a famous 3-3 draw with South Korea.
South Korean captain Son Heung-min thought he had scored the winning goal with a penalty in the 94th minute, but Malaysia equalized in the 105th minute.
“They fought to the end,” Song said. “I am very happy that this has spread to the Asian football world.”
Despite all the progress, some teams seem to be treading water or regressing.
India and China returned home without scoring in three games each.
Some of the goalkeepers were also inconsistent at times, with Japan in particular severely lacking in reliable stoppers.
investment
Scott McIntyre, a soccer writer for the website Asian Game, believes the expansion of the World Cup will give smaller Asian nations a reason to invest more in the sport.
“If they are one of the few Asian countries that consistently participate in the World Cup, they should be investing in their domestic leagues,” he told AFP.
“For others, it’s like, ‘If you’re Uzbek or Jordanian, what are your motives?’
“You’d think we wouldn’t be able to play in the World Cup with four spots.”
Asian teams achieved notable success in the group stages of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Japan defeated Germany and Spain, and Saudi Arabia overwhelmed eventual champion Argentina.
Saudi Arabia is investing in soccer and is set to host the 2034 World Cup.
However, South Korea’s performance, which reached the semi-finals as co-hosts in 2002, remains the region’s best World Cup result, and no AFC team has advanced beyond the last 16 since then.
Teams from other federations outside of Europe and South America have fared better, with Morocco taking Africa to its first semi-final of the 2022 World Cup.
Jordan’s Moroccan coach Hussein Ammuta believes the key to strengthening the national team is to get players to play in Europe’s major leagues.
Montpellier’s Moussa Al Tamari is currently the only member of the Jordanian national team to do so, but Amouta believes there are enough Asian players to follow suit.
“Soccer in Asia is developing very well and producing high-quality players that the big teams in Europe are looking for,” he said on the eve of the final.
© 2024 AFP
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