China News Service, Beijing, February 4 (Zhang Mengzhe) On the 3rd local time, two more semi-final seats will be selected for the Asian Cup in Qatar. The Iranian team relied on a penalty kick at the last moment to defeat Japan, the favorite to win the championship, 2:1; Qatar and Uzbekistan tied 1:1 in regular time, and the host finally won 3:2 in the penalty shootout.
The Japanese team did not encounter many challenges in the 1/8 finals before, easily defeating the Bahrain team with a score of 3:1 to advance; while the Iranian team's frontcourt attack line suffered heavy losses in this campaign, and the team's top scorer Taremi was last game. The game was dyed "red" at the end of the game, resulting in the suspension of the game.
After the game started that day, the Japanese team continued to seek offensive opportunities in the midfield and frontcourt. In the 27th minute, Hidemasa Morita dribbled the ball from the wing and then pushed the ball into the goal, opening the scoring for the team. In the 54th minute, the Iranian team retaliated. Azmoun sent a through ball, and Mohebbi received the ball and pushed the goal to help the team equalize the score.
In the 64th minute, Azmon pushed aside two defenders and scored the ball, but the goal was disallowed due to offside. In the 4th minute of stoppage time in the second half, the Japanese team's defense made a mistake while it was busy. Itakura Kou put a shovel in the penalty area to "send a point", and Jahanbakhsh made a free throw to complete the winning goal.
In the end, the Iranian team eliminated the favorite Japanese team 2:1 and advanced to the semi-finals of this Asian Cup. At the same time, the Iranian team successfully "revenge" - the Iranian team lost to the Japanese team 0:3 in the semi-finals of the last Asian Cup.
In the last quarter-final, the host Qatar team faced the Central Asian team Uzbekistan. In the 27th minute, the Uzbekistan goalkeeper made a serious mistake when handling a cross from Qatar and the ball rolled into his own goal. Then the Uzbekistan team found an opportunity through intensive defense. In the 31st minute, Shukurov's shot in the penalty area changed direction and the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.
After changing sides and fighting again, the Usbekistan team made a comeback. In the 59th minute, Hamrobekov fell to the ground and scored with a shovel to help the team equalize the score. In the final moments of the game, both teams missed several opportunities to score the opponent's goal. The battle ended in a draw during regular time, and the game was dragged into overtime.
In the 117th minute, Qatar player Ali hit the side netting from a small angle and missed the chance to win. Finally, the game entered a penalty shootout. In the end, Qatar eliminated Uzbekistan with a penalty kick of 3:2 and a total score of 4:3.
At this point, all the top four seats for this Asian Cup have been selected, and the semi-final matchups have also been announced: the "Tai Chi Tigers" South Korean team will face the Jordan team, and the "Persian Cavaliers" Iran team will face the host Qatar team. (over)