5 things we learned from Jordan’s Asian Cup semifinal win over South Korea

Jordan's players celebrate after defeating South Korea at the end of the Qatar 2023 AFC Asian Cup semi-final football match between Jordan and South Korea. (AFP)
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Updated 07 February 2024
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5 things we learned from Jordan’s Asian Cup semifinal win over South Korea

  • Coach Hussein Ammouta proves his pedigree with stunning 2-0 victory that shows little should be read into pre-tournament friendlies

Jordan produced the shock of this AFC Asian Cup by defeating South Korea 2-0 to move into Saturday’s final against the winner of the other semifinal between hosts Qatar and Iran.

Here are five things we learned from the epic match.

Jordan have announced their presence to the world.

There was real emotion at the final whistle, as you would expect at the end of a victorious semifinal, especially a first one.

Jordan has long been a solid national team in Asia and have reached quarterfinals before, as well as the final round of qualification for World Cups, but for the first time they are making headlines, not just in the continent but also around the world.

For Asian fans, Jordan may have been respected, but not especially exciting; a team built on a solid defense and strong teamwork, with Amman long being a tough place to go because of the tight stadiums and intimidating crowds. This is not a team that has traditionally been box office, but this is changing. At this Asian Cup, Jordan have been exhilarating to watch.

Millions of people are waking up to the fact that this Jordan team can go all the way and are a lot stronger than the ranking of 87 suggests. Whatever happens on Saturday against either Qatar or Iran, it has already been a real ride.

Lessons learned from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia were the better team for most of their second-round clash with South Korea. The Green Falcons scored early in the second half and looked quite comfortable until the final stages.

Then they sat deeper and deeper and invited attack after attack from the Koreans. There was no surprise when Cho Gue-sung headed home the equalizer in the 99th minute and from that moment on, there looked to be just one winner.

Jordan did not follow Saudi Arabia’s example. They kept pushing for the second goal and even when that came, they came close to scoring a third. In all, it was a brave performance.

“There is no need to respect the opponent more than necessary,” coach Hussein Ammouta said. “I looked at the statistics of the last five games. Korea conceded eight goals. We can score again. We knew we had it. Our attackers are great, but we created five chances in the first half. We were able to score on our first attack of the second half.”

Attack really is the best form of defense.

The two goalscorers deserve the headlines

Too often the players who score the goals get all the attention, but this time it is hard to disagree, as Yazan Al-Naimat and Mousa Taamari earned all the praise in the world.

The latter usually grabs the headlines for his undoubted skills and the fact that he is one of the few players in the region to play for one of the big leagues in Europe. Taamari was magnificent once again, and his goal was not only one of pace, skill and vision but also killed off any Korean hopes of a comeback.

Al-Naimat, who plays his club football in Qatar, matched his famous teammate step for step. He was a constant offensive threat and almost scored what would have been  perhaps the goal of the tournament. He then got the goal with a perfect dinked finish, one that any striker in the world would be proud of.

It was, of course, a team effort, but with forward players like this, Jordan can go all the way.

Too much should not be read into build-up results.

It is amazing to think just how under the radar Jordan were before it all started. It is hard to blame the pundits. though — the form in the build-up was truly poor. There were five defeats and two draws in the seven games in the second half of 2023 after Ammouta took the job.

Indeed, Saudi Arabia went to Amman in a World Cup qualifier in November and won fairly comfortably, and if anyone had said then that one of the two teams would be in the Asian Cup final a few weeks later, everyone would have assumed that the Green Falcons were being talked about.

Jordan started the year with a 2-1 win over Qatar, but then were thrashed 6-1 by Japan just a few days before the tournament started. Not just that but they finished in third place in the group and have since looked very good, indeed.

There were genuine doubts about Ammouta before it all started and no expectations for the team. The coach proved the doubters wrong and reaffirmed his pedigree. And the team’s exploits in the past three weeks show that football is not a science and that sometimes the common wisdom can be turned on its head.

Teamwork and tactics beats stars.

Korea have the big-name stars, such as Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae, who play for some of the biggest clubs around. There is no doubt that there was talent in the Taeguk Warriors, but these famous names had little impact on the game.

Korea did not seem to have much of a game plan and were taken aback by the intensity of the Jordanian game. They cannot say they were not warned, as the group stage game ended 2-2 only because of a last-minute Jordanian goal.

Korea were made to look second rate, and this is partly because of Jordan preparing so well for this game, getting the tactics right and then working so hard to execute the game plan. It is not enough to have star names; you need to have everything else. At the moment, Jordan have both.


BBC’s Match of the Day unveils new hosts to replace Lineker

Updated 15 January 2025
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BBC’s Match of the Day unveils new hosts to replace Lineker

  • Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman will share presenting duties on the iconic show
  • Cates, Dalglish’s 49-year-old daughter, is part of Sky Sports’ presenting team and will continue in that job alongside her new Match of the Day role

LONDON: Match of the Day, the BBC’s flagship Premier League highlights program, has unveiled three new hosts to replace Gary Lineker, including the daughter of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish.
Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman will share presenting duties on the iconic show, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, when current host Lineker steps down at the end of this season.
Cates, Dalglish’s 49-year-old daughter, is part of Sky Sports’ presenting team and will continue in that job alongside her new Match of the Day role.
“Once I sit in that chair and the theme music starts, I just know that’s going to be a really incredible moment,” she said.
“I’ve worked with a lot of the pundits before and they’re all fantastic, so I’m just looking forward to getting started.”
Former Tottenham, Barcelona and England striker Lineker is the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, earning £1.35 million ($1.65 million) a year, and has been the face of Match of the Day for 26 years.
Lineker, 64, will remain on the BBC’s coverage of the FA Cup next season and is also set to present shows during the 2026 World Cup.
In August 2016, Lineker made good on a promise to present Match of the Day in his underpants after his boyhood club Leicester won the Premier League.
But he was briefly taken off air by bosses in Match 2023 after comparing the language used to launch a British government asylum policy to the rhetoric of Nazi-era Germany on social media.
In solidarity with Lineker, a number of fellow presenters and pundits including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright refused to appear on the program.
An episode was reduced to 20 minutes and aired without its host, pundits and commentary before Lineker was reinstated just over a week later.
“Gary has done a phenomenal job at Match of the Day for the last 26 years, he’ll be missed greatly and we all still get to enjoy him on our screens across some of football’s greatest tournaments,” the BBC’s director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski said.
Match of the Day, which was first broadcast in 1964, averages around four million viewers each week during the Premier League season.
For decades, the show with the memorable theme tune was a Saturday night institution, but audiences have dropped significantly from its peak in the 1970s and 1980s.


Man City and Chelsea both draw in Premier League after late goals

Updated 15 January 2025
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Man City and Chelsea both draw in Premier League after late goals

  • City conceded in the 82nd minute and again two minutes into stoppage time in a 2-2 draw

MANCHESTER: Manchester City showed more fallibility in squandering a two-goal lead to draw at Brentford in the Premier League on Tuesday as Chelsea's slump deepened despite a last-gasp equalizer.
City conceded in the 82nd minute and again two minutes into stoppage time in a 2-2 draw after Phil Foden scored twice for the struggling champions, who are battling to simply qualify for the Champions League this season.
Chelsea salvaged a 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth thanks to Reece James' free kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time but saw their winless run in the league extend to five games.
West Ham beat Fulham 3-2 for a first win under new manager Graham Potter.
First-place Liverpool were playing third-place Nottingham Forest in the late game.


Pressure builds on Dortmund boss Sahin after loss at Kiel

Updated 14 January 2025
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Pressure builds on Dortmund boss Sahin after loss at Kiel

  • Dortmund were heavily favored against their promoted opponents
  • Kiel have now won two of their last three to boost their chances of avoiding a direct relegation

KIEL, Germany: Borussia Dortmund’s struggles in the league continued with a 4-2 loss at Holstein Kiel on Tuesday, raising the heat on under-fire coach Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund were heavily favored against their promoted opponents, who sit second-last in the table, but were overrun as Kiel scored three goals in 22 first-half minutes.
Shuto Machino, Phil Harres and Alexander Bernhardsson found the net to have Kiel up by three at half-time.
Dortmund’s Gio Reyna and Jamie Gittens scored in the second half but the visitors could not pull off an unlikely comeback, with Jann-Fiete Arp scoring Kiel’s fourth in stoppage time.
Kiel have now won two of their last three to boost their chances of avoiding a direct relegation.
With half the season played, Dortmund sit eighth, 14 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.
Questions will continue to be asked of coach Sahin, who replaced Edin Terzic in the summer, despite the latter taking Dortmund to the Champions League final in June.
With want-away forward Donyell Malen joining Aston Villa just an hour before kick-off, Sahin handed teenage forward Julien Duranville a starting XI debut.
In cold, foggy conditions on Germany’s northern coast, Dortmund dominated possession for much of the first half-hour, but were unable to break through the dogged hosts.
With 27 minutes gone, Kiel forced Julian Brandt into an error near his own penalty box, Bernhardsson then found Machino who blasted in the opener.
Harres, a fourth-division player this time last season, doubled Kiel’s lead with a clever header on the counter shortly afterwards.
Kiel hit a third just before half-time, Bernhardsson tapping in a Harres cross to have Dortmund reeling.
Sahin made four attacking changes in the opening 15 minutes of the second half as Dortmund pursued an unlikely comeback.
But despite goals by Reyna and Gittens, the visitors were unable to find a third, with local boy Arp scoring in the dying moments to seal a famous Kiel win.
Later on Tuesday, champions Bayer Leverkusen can close the gap on league leaders Bayern Munich with a victory at home against fifth-placed Mainz.


Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus to undergo surgery for ACL injury

Updated 14 January 2025
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Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus to undergo surgery for ACL injury

  • “Gabby will undergo surgery in the coming days and will soon begin his recovery,” Arsenal said
  • He is expected to miss the rest of the season

LONDON: Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus will undergo surgery for an ACL injury sustained in the team’s FA Cup loss to Manchester United on Sunday.
The Premier League club on Tuesday confirmed the Brazil international’s injury after completing scans of his left knee.
“Gabby will undergo surgery in the coming days and will soon begin his recovery and rehabilitation program,” Arsenal said in a team statement.
He is expected to miss the rest of the season, though no timetable was specified.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had earlier warned that the forward’s injury was “not looking good at all.”
Second-place Arsenal, which host Tottenham on Wednesday, are already without Bukayo Saka due to a hamstring injury.
The team are “actively looking in the market to improve the squad” during the January transfer window, Arteta added.
“It would be naive not to do that because it is always an opportunity to evolve the team and improve the squad, especially with the circumstances,” he said.
“So yes, we are looking and we are trying and let’s see what we are able to do.”


Jurgen Klopp says fans of Red Bull clubs ‘deserve good football’ as he defends new role

Updated 14 January 2025
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Jurgen Klopp says fans of Red Bull clubs ‘deserve good football’ as he defends new role

  • “I thought, do they not deserve good football?” Klopp asked, referring to the Leipzig supporters
  • Watzke said he remained friends with Klopp, but that they would no longer be able talk about Dortmund

SALZBURG: Jürgen Klopp’s charm offensive as Red Bull’s head of global soccer began in Salzburg, Austria on Tuesday when the former Liverpool manager was officially presented in his new role and hit back at critics of the move.
Klopp’s decision to join the energy drinks giant to develop its branded soccer clubs around the world has confounded fans of his previous clubs – particularly in Germany, where as coach he led Mainz to Bundesliga promotion in 2004, then Borussia Dortmund to Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012.
On Sunday, Klopp was in Leipzig to see the Red Bull-backed team reclaim fourth place with a 4-2 win over Werder Bremen.
“I thought, do they not deserve good football?” Klopp asked, referring to the Leipzig supporters. “I really felt they deserve it. And it’s not only there, it’s in Salzburg, the football fans in New York deserve it if they want to be part of that journey, in Japan, in Brazil, they deserve support, improvement, all these kind of things. That’s why I want to do it. I love football.”
But Klopp is joining an organization that’s seen by many soccer fans in Germany as the antithesis of everything they love about the game.
Supporters in Mainz responded with protests when Red Bull announced Klopp’s signing in October.
“Have you forgotten everything we gave you?” asked one banner during a match against Leipzig, referring to Klopp’s tearful farewell speech when he left the club after 18 years as a player and coach in 2008.
Klopp’s decision also stung in Dortmund.
“Jürgen knows full well he could have almost picked his job at Borussia Dortmund,” the club’s chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke told Sport Bild last month.
Watzke said he remained friends with Klopp, but that they would no longer be able talk about Dortmund. Watzke had previously said that Leipzig only existed as a marketing campaign.
“Football is played there to get a drinks can to perform,” Watzke said in 2016.
The Red Bull website pays tribute to co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz for developing “not only a new product but also a unique marketing concept” when he launched the drink in 1987.
Red Bull, which announced record turnover of 10.5 billion euros in 2023, started locally when it began investing in extreme sports in Austria in 1988. It branched into motorsport in the following year by sponsoring Austrian Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger, and went international in 1994 by sponsoring windsurfers Robby Naish and Björn Dunkerbeck.
The company’s foray into soccer started in 2005 when it bought SV Austria Salzburg and rebranded the club with its own livery. Despite opposition from the club’s supporters, violet was discarded in favor of Red Bull’s red and white, and the club was renamed Red Bull Salzburg.
The company repeated the feat in Germany in 2009 when it purchased the playing license of fifth-tier SSV Markranstädt, and rebranded the club as it had Salzburg. The club was named Rasenballsport (lawn-ball-sport) Leipzig as the company was prohibited from using its name for the club. But it financed the team’s steady ascent to the Bundesliga, which it reached in 2016.
Klopp will oversee a stable of Red Bull-backed clubs around the world that also includes New York Red Bulls, Bragantino in Brazil and Omiya Ardija in Japan. The company also has a minority stake in second-tier English club Leeds, and is set to become a minority stakeholder in French second-division club Paris FC, which Klopp observed in action on Saturday.
“I think if you want to understand you can understand, if you don’t want to understand, you will not. That’s how it is,” Klopp said of the criticism.