The four teams that made it to the semi-finals of this year’s Asian Championship are Iran, Qatar, Jordan and South Korea. Of these, the first three are from West Asia, while only South Korea is from East Asia.
In theory, South Korea are the favorites to win the title after Japan was eliminated. However, in reality, the road to the title for coach Jurgen Klinsmann's team will be bumpy.
South Korea (red shirt) represents East Asia in the semi-finals
First, Korea’s semi-final opponent was Jordan, who drew 2-2 with Korea in the group stage. Also in the group stage match of this tournament on January 20, Korea had to rely on an own goal by Jordanian center-back Yazan Al-Arab in injury time to regain 1 point.
Therefore, although Korea is rated higher than Jordan, this semi-final match is not easy for the East Asian team.
If Jurgen Klinsmann’s team defeat Jordan, their opponent in the final will be the winner of the other semi-final between Iran and Qatar. Of these, Qatar is the defending champion, the host team, and also the team that defeated South Korea in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Asian Cup.
That year, Qatar beat South Korea 1-0 thanks to a goal by midfielder Abdulaziz Hatem. This player in particular and many faces in the Qatar team in general are still present at the 2023 Asian Cup. That means the force of the West Asian team that defeated South Korea 5 years ago has not changed much compared to the present.
The other opponent that Korea could face in the final, if Korea beats Jordan in the semi-finals, is Iran. Iran's players are not inferior to Korea in all aspects, from physique, physical strength to experience. In fact, in terms of technical quality, Iran's players are slightly better than Korea's players.
Technical factors and physical strength are also factors that help most teams in West Asia to be more even than teams from East Asia.
Apart from South Korea, the only teams from East Asia that are highly rated are Japan (but Japan was also just eliminated by Iran in the quarter-finals).
Japan (blue shirt) defeated by Iran
Other representatives from East Asia, present at this year's Asian Cup, include China, Hong Kong (China), Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the very weak Vietnam team. All of these teams were either eliminated after the group stage or after the round of 16, making the balance of power between West Asia and East Asia increasingly unequal as the tournament progresses.
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