Jordan’s first trophy or Qatar’s second in a row – 2024-02-10 12:02:12

Qatar played in the World Cup for the first time in 2022 as a host. In the three matches of the group, the visitors could not smile even once. Rather, they lost everything and floated in the sea of ​​sadness. Although their presence on the world stage has faded at home, they have regained the opportunity to forget that sorrow. Qatar is on the verge of celebrating the trophy in front of its own countrymen. They will play in the final of the Asian Cup on Saturday at the Lucille Stadium. With nothing to lose – this ‘terrible’ mentality they will face Jordan, who have made history by reaching the final of the Asian Cup. Now it’s time to make it a fairy tale.

With strong teams like South Korea, Japan, Iran and Australia, there should not be a lot of people imagining Qatar-Jordan in the final. But these two Arab teams are on the stage to decide the title after overcoming all the obstacles one by one. Qatar and Jordan are waiting to answer critics who question their capabilities.

Qatar won all three of their group matches to reach the knockout stages. And Jordan went on to lose to South Korea after a winning start. But at the last moment they were forced to draw with a suicide goal. Jordan advanced to the last sixteen as the third team in the group with four points from three matches. Then the country changed. Jordan sent away the heavyweights Iraq, Tajikistan and got South Korea again. They ignored the Koreans, using the confidence of reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Cup for the first time.

On the other hand, the number of people who considered Qatar as the favorite despite being the host was very few. Last year they finished with just one win out of seven matches, losing six of them. So the Qataris may have been in doubt about their country. That team defeated Palestine, mighty Japan and Iran in the title fight.

Jordan’s Moroccan coach Hussein Amouta was criticized for spending the year 2023 badly. “I am very pleased with our achievement,” he told reporters ahead of Saturday’s final. Because it was a personal challenge. When the team loses, the coach is blamed. When they win, they say it’s because of the morale of the team. I hope we respond to the critics, 99 percent of the time I don’t listen to them since I realize none of this is helpful.’

Qatar won the 2019 Asian Cup after defeating Japan. Team in the finals for the second time in a row. Qatar captain Hassan Al Haydos proudly said, ‘I am very proud to be a part of this squad. A month before the start of the tournament, no one thought that we would reach the final. No one could have imagined that we would perform like this.’

The two coaches hugged each other in front of the shiny silver trophy weighing 15 kg. But Qatar’s coach Marquez Lopez said that all the brotherhood of the two Arab countries will be forgotten when the match whistle blows.

The coach who took charge of Qatar in December said, ‘The match between two brotherly countries. But there must be competition between the two brothers, each prefers to win. We know the relationship between the two countries is very strong but in the end we will have a fierce rivalry in this game.’

Jordan and Qatar have met 23 times so far. Qatar won 12, lost six. The two teams met just before the start of this tournament. But Jordan can take inspiration from that January match, as they beat Qatar 2-1. The team is eagerly awaiting a repeat of that result, coming to the brink of a fairy tale. On the other hand, Qatar is desperate to have the final death bite to celebrate the trophy at home.