Asian Cup 2023: Qatar retain title as Afif sweeps individual honors
Sudesh Baniya at Lusail Stadium
If it was meant to be anything close to the previous finale at Lusail, it would have been two talismanic forwards keeping each other on their toes one after the other.
Except, this time around, the twist was not on the cards – Akram Afif and Qatar came out as obvious winners, slotting all three penalties and surviving scares from the equalizer.
Afif, fittingly, was crowned the tournament’s highest scorer and the most valuable player later on, mirroring his performance in the tournament on the night when expectations were higher than ever for the hosts.
In a tie that was pitted as the battle between Akram Afif and Mousa Al-Taamari, it was the Qatari attacker who enjoyed much of the first half, starting with a run in the ninth minute, only to be denied by Yazeed Abulaila at the near post.
The Maroons started on full throttle, constantly pelting attacks in the Jordanian box early on in the first half.
The resulting corner offered Mohammed Waad a chance to hit the target, but the ball flew above the crossbar, missing everything on its way.
Qatar’s captain Hassan Al Haydos looked to be the most inspired player on the pitch by far, putting his body on the line for defensive duties, as well as linking the two flanks. Almoez Ali was played through by Al Haydos in the twelfth minute, yet the striker had his shot blocked by Salem Al Ajalin towards the right.
Although Jordan managed to get a shot in, courtesy of Yazan Al-Naimat in the 16th minute, it was Abdallah Nasib’s error in the box that swung the momentum against the recovering Al Nashama side. Nasib fouled Afif inside the box, who then converted the penalty to score his sixth of the tournament.
In another successful execution of planting the ball in the box to threaten the opposition box, Lucas Mendes came close to scoring with a header, forcing Abulaila to pull off a save.
A valiant block from Qatar’s makeshift left wingback, Mohammed Waad to deny Al-Taamari in the dying minutes of the first half’s added time meant the Annabi retained the lead going into the second half.
Jordan showed glimpses of their finest moments in the early minutes of the second half, aggressively pressing Qatar in the midfield and trying to hit on the break. Both Yazan Al-Naimat and Mousa Al-Taamari were relatively more involved in their duties, and a move emblematic of their performances in the tournament ultimately resulted in a couple of shots on Qatar’s goal.
First, it was Ali Olwan’s overhead kick that went wide of Barsham in the 57th minute that started a sequence of Jordanian attacks – one that continued with an Ehsan Haddad shot to force a save off Barsham at the near post. The resulting corner yielded another overhead kick, this time Yazan Al Arab executing it, forcing an acrobatic save off the Qatari keeper, ultimately ending the sequence with a Mousa Al-Taamari backheel that went wide of the post.
It was Yazan Al-Naimat’s header off captain Haddad’s cross that brought Hussain Ammouta level with the Qataris, which only lasted for six minutes, courtesy of another Afif goal from the penalty spot. Afif slotted it past Abulaila, this time towards his left after deceiving the Jordainan keeper to go the wrong way.
Afif came back to test Abulaila again in the 83rd minute, this time with a freekick around the wall, forcing a full-stretch save.
Jordan’s quest for an equalizer, however, took a hit after conceding the third penalty, this time too after a VAR check. It was Almoez Ali who lifted the ball and let his counterpart take it in the fifth minute of added time to up his tournament tally to eight.
The Al Sadd winger chose to go towards the bottom right this time after sending the opposition keeper the wrong way.
It was then a relatively comfortable period for Annabi, who dealt with Jordanian threats within their midfield – much like their campaign: turbulent and on the edge throughout, but a comfortable outcome and convincing conclusion.
