ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The Qatar national team successfully defended its Asian Cup title after beating Jordan 3-1 in the 2023 Asian Cup final at Lusail Stadium, Saturday, February 10 2023, thanks to Akram Afif’s three penalty goals.
Jordan are playing in their first ever Asian Cup final and are looking for their first major trophy.
However, they were unlucky and had to bite the bullet to see Qatar win in front of 86,492 fans including Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and FIFA president, Gianni Infantino.
Qatar took the lead through Afif’s penalty goal. Yazan Al-Naimat gave Jordan hope when he scored the equalizer in the second half.
However, their dreams were shattered when they conceded two goals from penalty kicks, which Afif executed again. With the addition of these three goals, Afif became the top scorer in this tournament with eight goals. He also earned awards as the best player and most valuable player in the tournament.
Qatar national team coach, Marquez Lopez, welcomed his team’s success.
“I congratulate the people and players of Qatar. We are very happy after winning this difficult match, the tension in the match was very high,” he said.
“Maybe we didn’t play beautiful football today, but everyone remembers the winner. I’m very happy for Akram, he deserves to win all the awards,” said the Spanish coach.
Jordanian coach Hussein Ammouta assessed that his team did not play optimally.
“We were not focused in the first half and we made mistakes. There were many easy opportunities to score but we didn’t do it. The timing of the two penalties (in the second half) was very wrong,” he said.
“But I want to congratulate the players. They have gained confidence and opened their horizons for the future. Maybe we can win in the next tournaments.” (ATN)
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