Our reporter Li Li

　　Before the start of the Asian Cup in Qatar, the Jordanian team ranked 87th in the world and 13th in Asia. The Chinese men's football team is ranked 79th in the world and 11th in Asia. Now, the Chinese men's football team was eliminated early in the group stage, but the Jordan team reached the final.

　　How did the Jordan team become a "dark horse"? What "black" did they rely on to reach the finals?

Defeat multiple opponents and reach the finals

　　Defeating South Korea 2-0 in 90 minutes, Jordan reached the Asian Cup final for the first time in history.

　　Before the semi-finals with the South Korean team, many people were not optimistic about the Jordan team. After all, their advancement was a bit of a fluke - they only finished third in the group stage; they fell behind the Iraqi team in the 1/8 finals, and then one player was sent off because of their opponent. They scored two consecutive goals to comeback; in the quarter-finals, they relied on their opponent's "own goal" to narrowly defeat Tajikistan, the lowest-ranked team in the world among the top eight, 1-0.

　　But many people did not expect that facing many stars of the Korean team, the Jordanian team was not conservative at all. In the first half, their number of shots was far ahead of the Korean team 12 to 4. In the second half, the Jordan team's efforts paid off. With goals from Naimat and Tamari, they defeated the South Korean team 2-0 and successfully advanced to the Asian Cup finals.

　　Before this Asian Cup, in terms of world ranking, the Chinese team was slightly higher than the Jordan team; in terms of worth, the two teams were similar, with the Chinese team at 11.33 million euros and the Jordan team at 13.13 million euros. But compared to the Jordanian team, the results handed over by the Chinese team were "horrible" - three games in the group stage, two draws and one loss, with only 2 points and no chance of qualifying, and ultimately ranked 18th among the 24 participating teams.

　　As the Jordan team successfully advances to the Asian Cup finals, their world ranking will also be greatly improved. The current real-time ranking has surpassed the Chinese men's football team.

Focus on youth training to create “dark horses”

　　Although the world ranking before the game was low and the promotion process was a bit lucky, it was not entirely accidental that Jordanian football was able to reach the Asian Cup finals.

　　Fundamentally speaking, the rise of Jordanian football stems from long-term efforts in youth training.

　　In 2019, the Jordan Football Association hired Dutchman Zwiers as technical director to oversee the youth training system. Zwiers is a well-known youth training expert and has previously been in charge of youth training in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates. He presided over the establishment of Jordan's complete youth league system from U15 to U19, and formulated short, medium and long-term plans with the Jordan Football Association to ensure that youth training talents receive adequate opportunities.

　　In addition, the Jordanian team has been hiring foreign teachers since the 1960s. These foreign teachers keep up with world trends and allow the Jordanian team to maintain relatively advanced technical and tactical concepts. The Jordanian team participating in this Asian Cup is led by the Moroccan Amonta, who continues the tradition of the Jordanian team, with a tenacious style, tough defense, and emphasis on ball control and passing and cutting cooperation. Although most of the team's players are playing in their home leagues, they also have high-level overseas players, especially Tamari, who plays for the French Ligue 1 team Montpellier and is playing for the team in the French Ligue 1 this season. In 14 games, he contributed 3 goals and 3 assists.

　　In the final analysis, it is the Jordan Football Association's years of hard work that led to today's "black" end. (Beijing Daily)