Asia Cup final: Jordan vs Qatar - Tips and predictions as Akram Afif looks to play starring role
- Samuel Wright
- 10 February 2024
Current Asian Cup holders and hosts Qatar will be aiming to retain the trophy in their own backyard when they take on Jordan in the final of the competition on Saturday (15:00 GMT).
This is set to be the first-ever meeting between these two teams in the Asian Cup competition.
Qatar won the competition back in 2019 when they defeated Japan 3-1 in the final in Abu Dhabi. This was the country’s first-ever Asian Cup triumph and they will hope to become the first back-to-back winners of the tournament since Japan were successful in both 2000 and 2004.
They made it past the group-stages in impressive fashion taking maximum points seeing off the likes Lebanon, Tajikistan, and China without conceding a single goal in the process.
The hosts have found things a little bit more difficult in the knockout stages. They made it past the Round of 16 by picking up a narrow 2-1 victory over Palestine which was followed by a nail-biting penalty-shootout victory over Uzbekistan in the quarter-final, and they edged a five-goal thriller when beating Iran 3-2 in the semi-final.
Jordan will not only be hoping to defeat Qatar in their own country but they will also be aiming to win the Asian Cup for the first time in their history. Before this tournament, they had never made it past the quarter-final.
The country’s route to reaching their first-ever final of this competition has not been an easy one, but the Chivalrous began the group-stage in the best possible way when they thrashed Malaysia 4-0.
The rest of the group-stages were difficult though as they went on to concede a late equaliser in a draw 2-2 with South Korea before losing 1-0 Bahrain in their final group game. Jordan ended the group-stages with four points and advanced to the knockout stages as one of the best third-place teams.
They won all three of their games in the knockout stages within the 90 minutes and their Round of 16 victory over Iraq was their most dramatic victory of all.
Jordan trailed 2-1 going into second-half stoppage-time but two goals right at the end earned them a 3-2 win and sent them through to the last eight.
They then saw off Tajikistan 1-0 in the quarter-final before a memorable 2-0 triumph over South Korea in the semi-final.
Qatar's player to watch is vastly experienced Akram Afif, who has spent time in Spain for Villareal and Sporting Gijon. He has been in fine form in the Asian Cup so far with five goals in his six appearances in the competition, so is worth backing to strike again in the final.
For Jordan Yazan Al-Naimat has three goals in the Asian Cup with three goals and two assists to his name so far, so he also might be worth a dabble.
Though Jordan kept two clean sheets on the way to the final, including shutting out South Korea, home advantage from a team that have already netted eleven goals should see them broken down eventually.
Expect a tight game, but with both teams to score, and a slim Qatar win looking the most likely.
Key stats
- The two teams have faced each other five times in total with Qatar winning once, Jordan winning twice, with two draws
- Qatar have won 12 of their last 13 Asian Cup games within 90 minutes
- Jordan have scored the most goals outside of the box in this tournament with five
- Jordan defeated Qatar 2-1 in a pre-tournament warm-up in early January
- The only country to ever lose an Asian Cup Final as hosts was China back in 2004
