Amr Obaid (Cairo)
The Asian Nations Cup and its African counterpart entered the “final meters” stage, which will decide the continental race here and there, and reveal the name of the crowned champion in the end. However, the battles in the eighth and quarter-finals witnessed difficulties, excitement, and complications, which the teams of the two continents clearly agreed upon this time, as The results were not decided easily in 75% of the Round of 16 matches, as well as the Round of 8, in remarkable scenes during the “fiery” elimination confrontations.
During the 24 matches held in the two rounds in the African and Asian Cup of Nations, 11 matches ended with one of the two teams winning by a single goal, at a rate of 46%, including 4 with a score of 1-0, which gave Guinea the qualification card in the round of 16 at the expense of Equatorial Guinea with a goal in the 98th minute. After its rival missed a penalty kick through its top scorer, Emilio Nsaoui, Cape Verde succeeded in repeating the matter against Mauritania, with a goal from a penalty kick in the 88th minute.
While only 6 matches were decided with a comfortable margin and a “calm scenario”, as Angola surpassed Namibia by 3 goals at the beginning of the round of 16, and Nigeria crossed Cameroon with a 2-0 victory, which was the result of South Africa’s victory over Morocco itself, even if the “boys” faced difficulty and tension before The Lions missed the penalty kick and the winner scored a late relief goal, and the Republic of the Congo beat Guinea 3-1 in the African quarter-finals.
As for Asia, the “ease” was limited to Australia’s huge victory over Indonesia in a “four-way” victory at the opening of the quarter-final, which is the same round that saw Japan pass the Bahrain hurdle with a two-goal margin during the 3-1 victory, while the quarter-final witnessed strong fiery clashes. Saabah did not know “calm” at all, with most of the round of 16 matches.
The confrontations of the two stages in the two continents, “brown and yellow”, witnessed the resort to penalty kicks 7 times, with a percentage approaching a third of the confrontations, 4 times in the Asian Nations Cup and 3 in the African Nations, through which Tajikistan qualified for the round of 8 at the expense of our team, and this was repeated with Korea. The South African team faced Saudi Arabia and Iran faced Syria, while the Qatari team advanced to the semi-finals on penalties at the expense of Uzbekistan, while the African round of 16 witnessed the qualification of Côte d'Ivoire at the expense of Senegal, as well as the Republic of the Congo against Egypt, while the round of 8 was held by South Africa. Against Cape Verde on penalty kicks.
9 elimination matches witnessed the scoring of late and “fatal” goals as well, which led directly to victory or pushed the competitors towards extra time and penalty kicks, at a rate of 37.5% of the total matches of the 16th and 8th round in the two continents’ championships, and the funny thing is that Côte d’Ivoire topped the scene in Africa, just as South Korea did in Asia, where the “Elephants” achieved a fatal draw against Senegal in the round of 16, 4 minutes before the end of the match, so the hosts later succeeded in progressing to the round of 8 via penalty kicks, and in the quarter-finals, the Côte d’Ivoire team remained trailing by a goal until… The 90th minute saw him score the equalizer, before he snatched the ticket to the semi-finals with a “killer” goal in the 121st minute!
The South Korean national team followed the same path in the Asian Cup, where it saved itself from exit in the round of 16 by scoring the equalizing goal against Saudi Arabia in the 90th + 9th minute of normal time, leading the match to penalty kicks and succeeding in passing the “Green”, and in the In the quarter-finals, the “Tigers” scored the equalizer against Australia this time in the 90th + 6th minute, but changed the “scenario” and scored the winning goal in the 104th minute of extra time. The Jordan-Iraq match also witnessed “the height of excitement” with the “Nashama Remontada.” Who scored two goals in the 95th and 97th minutes to snatch the ticket to qualify for the quarter-finals, which was scheduled for a “crazy” date on both continents, with South Africa passing at the expense of Cape Verde on penalties 2-1 after missing 6 kicks, while the result was 3-2 in favor of Qatar. Uzbekistan's score after missing 5 kicks.
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