The Strength Gap between Teams in the Asian Cup Narrows
Tianjin Daily (Reporter Shen Wei) In the early hours of yesterday morning, Beijing time, as the Oman team drew with Thailand 0:0, the first two rounds of the Asian Cup group stage ended. The strength gap between Asian teams is narrowing.
According to the format of this Asian Cup, 16 of the 24 participating teams will qualify for the knockout rounds. Under this special competition system, only five teams qualified in advance after winning two consecutive games, namely: Qatar, Australia, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The traditional strong teams Japan and South Korea were blocked in the second round of the group stage, and there is still a theoretical probability of elimination.
On the whole, the performance of the West Asian teams in this Asian Cup is obviously better than that of the East Asian teams. Although the West Asian teams are far less star-studded than the Japanese and Korean teams, the overall collaboration ability and personal strength of the players are not inferior to their opponents. It is no accident that the Jordanian team can beat the South Korean team to temporarily top the group. Half of the players on this team are playing for European clubs. Among them, Tamari, who has performed well, currently plays for Montpellier in Ligue 1.
Looking at the overall strength of Asian football, as the strength of some traditional underdogs improves, the gap between teams is narrowing. The Indian team, which was participating in the Asian Cup for the first time, had a solid defense that left the Australian team helpless. The Palestinian team drew with the UAE team, but this was still the case where the penalty kick opportunity was not grasped. The underdogs of the past are becoming more and more difficult to look down upon.