Three maximum penalties converted by Akram Afif that he himself caused gave Qatar the victory against Jordan, led by the Spanish coach Tintin Márquez, who retained the Asian Cup crown for the second time in its history. He made Afif magic, becoming the competition’s top scorer with eight goals in seven games. The Al Sadd striker was the hero of the host team. He celebrated his hat trick big penalty. After marking the first one, he went to one of the chambers and took out some cards from one of his socks, showed one of them and, emulating a magician, exchanged it for another.
After doing the second, which broke the tie and ended up leading to the Qatari victory, he did something similar but revealed the trick by showing both sides of the card. It was the way to celebrate their historic afternoon, which put Qatar on par with Japan (2000 and 2004), Korea (56 and 60), Iran (68, 72 and 76) and Saudi Arabia (84 and 88), the other teams that managed to retain the Asian crown.
It was an almost unthinkable success for Tintín Márquez’s team, which had only been in office for a month and a half. He was able to renew the team and give a new success, the second, to Qatar.
Jordan, who deserved more luck, dominated the match and had the best scoring chances, was the last obstacle for the local team that previously beat Palestine, in the round of 16, Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals and Iran in the semifinals. The Jordanian team was the great revelation. Without experience in the Asian Cup, they had never made it past the quarterfinals. He reached the final and questioned his opponent’s success. He never gave up. Moroccan Hussein Ammouta’s team, which left behind some of the big favorites, such as South Korea, had too many situations against it. Twenty minutes in, a foul inside the area on Afif resulted in the first penalty for the locals. Akram Afif did not miss from eleven meters and put his team ahead.
Qatar then had to resist the avalanche from Jordan. It was then that goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham supported Márquez’s team. He responded to two attempts by Moussa Al Tamari, in added time of the first half, when he closed in on his opponent. They were the best Jordanian moments. Qatar suffered. Ehsan Manel Ferhan Haddad was also able to score in the second half and Noor Al Rawabdeh on the hour mark. Thus he achieved the sought-after and deserved tie. It was achieved by Yazan Al Naimat who was finally able to beat Barsham after receiving a pass from Ehsan Haddad.
But six minutes later, Qatar took the lead again. Also a penalty. Afif was blocked by Abdalla Nasib in front of the goal. The VAR called the referee again who indicated the eleven meters. The Qatari star did not fail to put the host ahead again. Jordan’s strength was running out, as was its hope of winning. On the edge of ninety, Afif again. It was blocked by the goalkeeper this time, Yazeeb Abu Laila. Again eleven meters. Penalty again. Again a goal from the magician Afif, the one that sealed the success of Qatar and its coach, the Spanish Tintín Márquez.