Accordingly, the 8 best teams participating in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Asian Cup include Tajikistan, Jordan, Australia, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Qatar and Uzbekistan.
The 2023 Asian Cup Round of 16 witnessed two interesting surprises when Iraq lost 2-3 to Jordan, while UAE lost 3-5 to Tajikistan in the penalty shootout (1-1 draw after 120 minutes).
In the quarter-finals, the match between Australia and South Korea attracted a lot of attention. Australia has been showing impressive form since the beginning of the tournament, not needing to "show off too much strength" to still be able to defeat their opponents.
The match between South Korea and Australia is also evenly matched, with the head-to-head record only slightly favoring the Oceanian representative, with 12 wins, 10 draws and 11 losses. The results between the two teams in their last six matches are also similar, with each team winning two, drawing two and losing two. However, Son Heung-min and his teammates will want to get revenge on Australia after their defeat in the 2015 Asian Cup final.
In addition, the match between Iran and Japan also attracted the attention of countless fans. Japan and Iran are two "giants" of Asian football and are also candidates for the championship. This is also the second consecutive Asian Cup where these two teams will face each other in the knockout round on the journey to the throne.
Japan and Iran have a balanced head-to-head record, with six wins, six draws and six losses for each team. However, in the last seven matches, Iran has only beaten Japan once. Most recently, Hajime Moriyasu's team crushed Iran 3-0 in the 2019 Asian Cup semi-finals. Iran's squad has not changed much since the match five years ago, while Japan has changed about half of its squad.
Hosts Qatar came from behind to beat Palestine 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals and secure their place in the finals. The next obstacle the reigning Asian Cup champions will have to overcome is Uzbekistan, who eliminated the last Southeast Asian representative from the tournament.
Qatar is rated higher and has home advantage. However, defeating Uzbekistan is certainly not an easy task.
The remaining quarter-final match of the 2023 Asian Cup is the match between Tajikistan and Jordan. The Tajikistan team has made one miracle after another in their first participation in the Asian Cup. The 106th ranked team in the world surprised everyone by finishing second in Group A to reach the knockout round for the first time, then eliminated the UAE in the round of 16 on penalties to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
Now, Tajikistan is determined to continue its fairy tale in Qatar by winning another match against Jordan, who defeated Iraq 3-2 in a dramatic match.
The four quarter-final matches will take place on February 2 and 3.
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