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Qatar Beats Jordan To Retain Asian Cup Title
On February 10, 2024, Qatar’s players celebrated their victory in the AFC Qatar 2023 Asian Cup final football match against Jordan at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha.
The hosts, Qatar, secured a 3-1 win, with Akram Afif emerging as the home hero by scoring a hat-trick of penalties.
This triumph marked the culmination of a month-long tournament that featured 24 teams and a series of thrilling matches.
Qatar’s success in retaining the Asian Cup title will also help erase the memories of their disappointing performance in the previous World Cup, where they lost all three games, making them the host with the worst record in the competition’s history.
The final took place in front of a crowd of 86,492 spectators at Lusail Stadium, the same venue that hosted the World Cup final 14 months earlier. For Jordan, it was their first-ever appearance in an Asian Cup final, making it a significant milestone in their football history.
Ranked 87th in FIFA’s global rankings, 29 positions lower than their opponents, they found themselves trailing in the first half when forward Afif calmly converted a penalty for his sixth goal of the tournament.
Qatar thoroughly deserved their lead at halftime, but Jordan fought back and equalized through Yazan Al-Naimat’s clever finish.
However, the underdogs’ level scoreline lasted only six minutes, as Afif once again found the back of the net from the penalty spot after the referee consulted the VAR and reviewed the incident on his pitch-side monitor.
This time, there would be no comeback from Jordan, and Afif completed his hat-trick in injury time with another penalty goal, once again following a VAR intervention.
As the final whistle blew, the jubilant Qatari substitutes rushed from the bench and joyfully tossed Afif into the air.
