Drama-filled Asian Cup fuels 2026 World Cup hopes
Eight direct spots and one intercontinental playoff berth are up for grabs for Asian Football Confederation sides at the expanded 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Asian Cup in Qatar, which concludes with Saturday's final between the hosts and Jordan, suggests that the region's traditional heavyweights now have some serious competition.
"Asian football has improved a lot," South Korea coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in Doha. "The quality has risen over the last 10, 15 years dramatically." His strongly fancied side were subsequently beaten 2-0 by Jordan in the semi-finals while pre-tournament favourites Japan crashed out in the quarter-finals to Iran, who then lost to Qatar.
"All of the teams at the Asian Cup have a lot of quality and we have had difficult games because they are getting better," said Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, whose team conceded at least one goal in every game.
Teams have mostly found success by playing positive, attacking football, while games have generally been close. The biggest margin of victory at the tournament was matching 4-0 wins for Australia and Jordan over Indonesia and Malaysia respectively. Notable successes have been Jordan, whose high-tempo attacking style made a mockery of their world ranking of 87, and debutants Tajikistan, who reached the quarter-finals.
Hong Kong, the lowest-ranked team, were competitive despite losing all three games, giving Iran a real scare before going down 1-0. Another so-called regional minnow, Malaysia, pulled off a famous 3-3 draw with South Korea. South Korea skipper Son Heung-min thought he had scored the winner from the spot in the 94th minute, only for Malaysia to grab the leveller in the 105th minute.
"They fought until the end,"
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